OUTSTANDING GUESTS AND THRILLING HITS IN LAST DAYS OF THE 31. POLISH FILM FESTIVAL IN AMERICA
The final days of the 31. PFFA bring a lot of excitement, because of filmmakers coming to meet the audiences and their incredible movies.
Director Jacek Papis will attend Q&A following screenings of his very new documentary feature about the stars of silver screen in prewar Poland HOLLYWOOD OVER THE VISTULA RIVER.
In light and witty way, this film tells the story of Polish cinema from its beginnings until the start of World War II. Rising on the wave of enthusiasm generated by Poland’s newly regained independence, the films of this era created a unique generation of stars, Adolf Dymsza, Eugene Bodo, Hanka Ordonówna, Jadwiga Smosarska, and Pola Negri who went on to have an international career in Germany and Hollywood. The outbreak of World War Two interrupted further development. Some of the stars did not survive the war, some were prisoners in concentration camps, and others emigrated abroad. “Hollywood on the Vistula” brings the memory of these forgotten stars and expands our ideas about Poland’s pre-war films.
The movie is showed in Copernicus Center on Thursday, 11/21 @ 7:00 PM. and in Gallery Theatre on Friday, 11/22 @ 8:45 PM.
Director Lech Majewski and producer Filip Jan Rymsza will discuss their spectacular production VALLEY OF GODS (in English) starring John Malkovich and Josh Hartnett.
The story is based on the Navajo Indian legend about deities locked in stones of the Valley of the Gods. The second storyline focuses on Wes Tauros, the richest man on Earth. Leading an eccentric life after a personal tragedy, Tauros buys the rights to uranium mine in the Valley of Gods, desecrating the Indian holy grounds. The third story focuses on John Ecas, Tauros’ employee who is tasked with writing his boss’s biography.
The showings are in Copernicus Center on Friday, 11/22 @ 7:00 PM. and in AMC Village Crossing 18 on Saturday, 11/23 @ 7:30 PM.
Actor Pawel Wilczak, actress Marysia Sobocinska and producer Jaroslaw Bolinski will answer questions about their new tragicomedy MISTER T. which will be released theatrically in Poland on December 25th.
1953, Warsaw, rising from ruins of war, is a place where anything is possible including the absurd, the surreal, and the Kafkaesque. Mister T is an established writer who knows this from his personal experience. Living in a shabby hotel run by the writer’s association, he supports himself by tutoring a beautiful student helping her to prepare for the A-level exams that will complete here high school education. They are having a passionate romance. A young small-town man who aspires to become a journalist moves into the flat next door, and Mr. T becomes his master and teacher. When the agents of the secret police come to suspect Mr. T of planning to blow up the Palace of Culture and Science, Stalin’s gift to the People’s Republic of Poland, absurd reality starts to blend with the surrealist world of Mr. T’s writer’s imagination, and the result is both comedic and bizarre.
The Closing Night movie also has two screenings, both on Sunday, 11/24 – at 3:00 PM. in AMC Village Crossing 18 and at 5:30 PM. in Copernicus Center.
One more special recommendation is a new movie by Malgorzata Szumowska THE OTHER LAMB (in English), the most recent addition to the festival line-up. It premiered at the Toronto Int’l FF in September and is scheduled for release in US theatres late April.
The Flock, a group of about 20 women lives in the Pacific Northwest. The sun to their planet is the Shephard. The women worship him with their bodies as well as their faith, as testified by the number of exclusively female children they’ve brought into the tribe.
Life with Shephard is the only life Selah has ever known. Their self-sufficient community possesses no modern technology, and is hidden away in the woods, far from modern civilization. Shephard is the group’s guardian, teacher and lover. Each of the many female members of the group is either his wife or daughter. Selah is pure in faith, but also dangerously headstrong. She was raised as a daughter of Shephard, but it is only a matter of time before she stands to become a wife.
As an encounter with the authorities forces women and Selah to build a new Eden further inland, Selah increasingly doubts her faith, and has strange, bloody visions. The onset of puberty brings with it harsh new rituals, and her first shocking glimpse of what happens to Shephard’s women as they age.
The only screening will be in Copernicus Center on Sunday, 11/24 @ 3:00 PM.
Tickets can be purchased on www.pffamerica.com and by phone @ 773-486-9612.
AMC Village Crossing 18 is located at 7000 N. Carpenter Ave. (by Touhy & Central Ave.). The Copernicus Center is located at 5216 W. Lawrence Ave. (by I-90), and Gallery Theatre at 1112 North Milwaukee Ave. All theatres offer free parking.
- Polish Film Festival in America is officially running until November 24th. The festival is dedicated to Milos Stehlik, eminent promoter of East European Cinema in America, great expert and friend of Polish film.
A full PFFA schedule can be found @ www.pffamerica.com Additional information can be also obtained @ 773-486-9612.
The major 31. PFFA sponsors are: Senate of the Republic of Poland, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Polish Film Institute, Star-Tech Glass, Copernicus Foundation and Society for Arts.
Main media sponsors are: Polskie Radio 1030 AM &104.7 FM., iTVN, Onet, Dziennik Zwiazkowy oraz Monitor.
