30th Polish Film Festival in America, the most extensive annual showcase of Polish film out of Poland and one of the largest film events in Chicago will take place in Chicago from November 3 to 18, 2018 in three major cinemas: AMC Rosemont 18 (9701 Bryn Mawr Ave.), Facets Cinematheque (1517 W. Fullerton Ave.) and Gallery Theatre (1112 N. Milwaukee Ave.). The festival will show over 70 Polish feature, documentary and animated films. And among them numerous box office hits and crowd pleasers shown simultaneously with their premiere releases in Poland.
Festival Program includes a great many fantastic movies. A variety of feature films, from a Polish submission to the Academy COLD WAR by Pawel Pawlikowski to Kashubian epic saga THE BUTLER by Filip Bajon to SILENT NIGHT, the inundated with awards debut by Piotr Domalewski. Plethora of splendid films by women filmmakers: BACK HOME by Magdalena Lazarkiewicz, MUG by Malgorzata Szumowska, FUGUE by Agnieszka Smoczynska, and NINA, a debut by Olga Chajdas. A variety of exciting movies from young directors: WOREWOLF by Adrian Panek, CHAIN REACTION by Jakub Paczek, and MY FRIEND THE POLISH GIRL by Ewa Banaszkiewicz and Mateusz Dymek. Netflix’s crowd-pleasing comedy POLKA KING by Maya Forbes on Jan Lewan’s, a king of Polka, struggles with a law, and Chicago-based director Kuba Luczkiewicz’s promising first feature EVERY 21 SECONDS. And finally, a very new comedy/drama HEART WANTS WHAT IT WANTS by Filip Zylber. Needless to add, surprise screenings always bring films in a huge demand, which are kept in secret until a very last moment and they never disappoint.
The PFFA documentary line-up guarantees the best films recently made in this genre in Europe, just to mention OVER THE LIMIT by Marta Prus, ZHALANASH – EMPTY SHORE by Marcin Sauter, THE BEKSINSKIS. SOUND AND PICTURE ALBUM by Marcin Borchardt, REPUBLIC OF POLAND. RELOADED by Anna Ferens, EUGENIUSZ KWIATKOWSKI by Miroslaw Bork. Too many to give all titles.
Every year, the festival applauds new names in Polish cinema – young talented directors with their short feature films. This time is no exception, but some of the names have been already recognized like Piotr Domalewski and Damian Kocur. The young artists explore different subjects of interest and offer fresh ways of storytelling, sometimes even mind-boggling.
One of special attractions in this year’s repertoire are screenings of Polish masterpieces in a very impressive showcase organized by the Polish Filmmakers Association. The best ever and most important Polish films, many of them digitally reconstructed, will be presented on free screenings, at times with special guests and introductions. The list of films include: ASHES AND DIAMONDS, THE PROMISED LAND and MAN OF MARBLE by Andrzej Wajda, THE PIANIST by Roman Polanski, NIGHTS AND DAYS by Jerzy Antczak, WARSAW 44 by Jan Komasa, VOLHYNIA by Wojciech Smarzowski, and short ANIMATED HISTORY OF POLAND by Tomasz Baginski.
The PFFA never forgets about the youngest generation. The Animated TV Film Studio from Poznań, well known to the PFFA audiences, offers again a continuation of their terrific POLISH FAIRY TALES.
Last but not least, the PFFA brings the best names in Polish cinema as the festival guests who come to meet our audiences and participate in ever interesting Q&A sessions. In this anniversary edition, we will have a great honor to meet Oscar-winning director Pawel Pawlikowski, beautiful and extremely popular Polish actress Alicja Bachleda-Curus (she will introduce a newly reconstructed version of THE GATEWAY OF EUROPE by Jerzy Wojcik with her outstanding leading role), acclaimed directors Filip Bajon and Magda Lazarkiewicz, actors Maciej Zakoscielny and Sebastian Fabijanski, and many other leading professionals of cinema.
A full schedule can be found here.
The 30th Polish Film Festival in America is possible thanks to a generous support from the Senate of the Republic of Poland, Polish Film Institute, LOT Polish Airlines, Star-Tech Glass, Inc. & Society for Arts, and numerous other prestigious individual and corporate donors.
Media sponsors: 103.1 FM, Radio Chicago, Polish Daily News.
