POLISH FILM CLUB 'OKO'

There will be no OKO film in November, but plenty of opportunities to see Polish films, as the 19th Annual Seattle Polish Film Festival (SPFF) is coming to town.... SPFF runs November 4-5-6 and November 11-12-13 (two consecutive weekends) at the newly remodeled SIFF Cinema at the Uptown ,  located 511 Queen Anne Avenue North, Seattle.  Tickets are $10 at the door. The Festival’s feature movie is Black Thursday set to show on Sunday, November 6 at six o’clock p.m. This film will be followed by a Question and Answer panel discussion and a second film, Poland in Freedom . For the full schedule and extras - Nov. 6th reception with director Antoni Krauze, producer Kazimierz Beer, actress Ewa Kasprzyk and producer Jakub Michalski;  2-for-1 ticket offer and more -  go to the Festival website at:   http://www.polishfilms.org/ Most movies listed are recent and contemporary, but a few oldies thrown too ( CAREER OF NIKOS DYZMA, 2002; MADAME CURIE, 1947) +  several great looking documen

Do widzenia, do jutra ( Goodbye, till tomorrow ), B&W, 80 min, English subtitles. Directed by Janusz Morgenstern Script: Zbigniew Cybulski, Bogumił Kobiela, Wilhelm Mach. Music: Krzysztof Komeda Cast: Zbigniew Cybulski (Jacek), Teresa Tuszyńska (Margueritte), Grażyna Muszyńska, Barbara Baranowska , Włodzimierz Bielicki, Jacek Fedorowicz, Roman Polański, Eleonora Kałużyńska (voice) and others. Do widzenia, do jutra ( Goodbye, till tomorrow ) is the directorial debut (1960) of Janusz Morgenstern (1922-2011) His other films include Jowita (1967), We Have to Kill this Love (1972), W-Hour (1979), and Lesser of Two Evils (2009). His TV series are Stake Larger than Life (1967-1968), Columbuses (1970), and Polish Roads (1976). Do widzenia, do jutra takes place during the second half of the fifties in Gdansk and Sopot. A young student theatre director, Jacek,(Zbigniew Cybulski) meets a beautiful girl, the daughter of French consul, Margueritte (Teresa Tuszynska). H

ATTENTION - DAY CHANGE:  September  FILM IS FRIDAY, 8:00, not usual Wednesday...    We will try Fridays for a while, and see how that works.... As much as I try to shy from the proliferating vampire movies, I simpy love The Fearless Vampire Killers . This delightful horror commedy directed by Roman Polanski in 1967 is simply one of my favorite movies ever! Polanski also co-wrote the script and has a great role starring as a bumbling assistant to an indomitable vampire chasing professor. He reportedly really enjoyed making this movie and his acting in it. Certainly it looks like it was a happy time for him and his wife (above - she plays the beautiful inn-keeper daughter Sarah who he is smitten with) shooting the film in Europe. Polanski uses his skills masterfully in this film. The movie unfolds as a comedy with a sign of something amiss here or there, soothing and entertaining the viewer, and then delivers a sudden horror out of the blue! And away we go on a breathless roller

ATTENTION:  THE NEXT MOVIE IS 4TH WEDNESDAY JUNE 22 , 7:30 [not regular 3rd, not to be in conflict with   The Legacy of Paderewski concert,  with pianist Piotr Kosinski playing piano in Polish Cultural Center on June 15th] FILM CLUB OKO WILL BE CLOSED JULY AND AUGUST 2011. The JUNE movie will be hosted, and was chosen for your viewing pleasure,  by Leszek C.  See you all there! Big Brawl (or Big Bust , depending on who translates) - Wielka wsypa ;  Dir. Jan Lomnicki, 1992 An action-packed story concerning the rise and fall of a notorious Polish criminal during the first years after communism. As the new Polish government and economy struggle to stay afoot, mobsters and crooks take advantage of the financial chaos left in the wake of the collapse of one system and the establishment of another. Starring veteran stage and screen actor Jan Englert (Kanal; Kiler; The Apple Tree of Paradise), BIG BRAWL captures the reckless atmosphere of this historical moment. Cast: Jan Eng

Oscar is film about the last days of a terminally ill child. Oskar is ten when he meets Niebieska, who is seven years old. They immediately go to bed together, but are afraid to kiss each other in order “not to get pregnant.” They are terminally ill with cancer and are patients in the children’s ward at the hospital. Oskar and Niebieska have no idea how much time they have left. Roza, a hospital volunteer, is their matchmaker. She came out of nowhere and gives sick children hope. Like a prophet, she invents a religion and creates a vision of God for them. But Oskar does not trust God anymore. He has watched a lot of science fiction films where he saw one animal kill another to survive. The one that is hurt suffers before it dies. The God who invented suffering is hard to understand for Oskar. Roza’s God gives children the promise to fulfill their every wish, on condition, that the wishes are only of the spiritual matter and the children can have only one wish a day. A miracle occu

1.)  A short history of Polish cinema - blog post by Andrew Pulver with 24 video clips 2.)   Artists of Gdansk: the shipyard that brought down communism -  10 minutes video by Marcel Theroux And here is your reward for checking-in:

Below are synopsis of the remaining movies from two Lozinski's CDs - I haven't seen any of them (no PAL dvd player), so for compilation below used the booklet that came with the CD set, authored by Tadeusz Sobolewski. Please read and vote for the film YOU would like to see - because most of the films are relatively short we probably will be able to see several top-runners. The poll allows for multiple choices (you can vote for up to 3 movies): 1.  HAPPY END / HAPPY END 1972/16' Lozinski's first film:  real psychodrama taking place in front of camera and exploring themes of herd mentality and aggression of group towards individual.  In this film director for the first time  tries formula which he later uses in many films: artificially provoking situations he needs in order  to probe the mentality of protagonists and reveal something. 2.  ZDERZENIE CZOLOWE / FRONT COLLISION 1975/11' Camera is recreating the life of a model railway worker, for whom his wor

7:30 PM - Marcel Lozinski documentaries (2006 z Polskiej Szkoly Dokumentu).  The set of 2 CDs contains 14 documentaries from the recipient of many international awards, all looking interesting and covering years 1972-1998, so it was rather a hard choice, and this is what I decided to fill 70 minutes of next OKO meeting with: 1. Wizyta/The visit. 1974. 16'  Analyzing the role of media in lives of people under the lenses: Urszula Flis is an attractive media object - she is running a country farm and is also a connoisseur of literature, an intellectual exchanging correspondence with writers. Filmmaker arranges a meeting with a journalist who visits the heroine with preconceived thesis that her country life makes no sense, but Urszula upsets the cart not fitting into this scenario. 2.)  Krol/The King. 1974.  7' Film made by accident on the way back from filming 'The visit'.  With 5 minutes of the tape left, the film tells the story of the bartender, self-described perfec

Matka Joanna od Aniolow, dir. J. Kawalerowicz He teaches Polish film classics in a close focus at UW. Students in Dr. Tomasz Łysak's course of Polish Culture and Society 1944-89 in Film at University of Washington discuss the films trying to move back in time to their release. New episodes each week. Somehow, I cannot upoload the youtube video, but link here, let me know, if the link works; will fix it, if needed: http://www.youtube.com/user/tomaszlysak#p/u/1/qwyydg3G7jA Over at Radio  Wisla there is an interview (in Polish) with dr. Tomasz Lysak: http://www.radiowisla.com/

A case of acute bronchitis stopped me from blogging at the time of seeing the film a week ago at the OKO meeting, but now- a week later - I still can't say I liked it...  I mean it was highly watchable, performance-wise: an old, mean-spirited curmudgeon-genius (old composer, in case of this movie) is fun to watch, especially when played by the great Max von Sydow ruining  the lives of his  companions. The rest of the cast was impeccable, too:  a dutiful, subservient wife played by a british actress, page-like-worshiping Polish music student played by a French-Canadian and an enthusiastic, bubbly young musicologist/secretary/lover, of course - all good fun to watch. The finished symphony was played and  the love-child was born.  But, I agree with  Ewa Bienczycka, who said 'so what?'  in her pre-movie comments (see below the previous post). To me, the plot was highly predictable and tad misogynic, too boot:  everybody serves the genius-artist-master,  for a greater good -

• February 16, Wednesday, 2011 at 7:30 PM -  Zanussi's 'The Silent Touch' (1992) • March 16, Wednesday, 2011 at 7:30 PM - Marcel Lozinski documentaries (2006 z Polskiej Szkoly Dokumentu).  February 16: 'Zanussi's The Silent Touch' (1992), trailer here: From NYT review:   Since his vintage years with Ingmar Bergman, Max Von Sydow has seemingly worked without stop around the world playing roles that don't come up to his instep, wrestling with Satan in "The Exorcist" and suffering serenely as God's son in "The Greatest Story Ever Told." With the exception of "Hannah and Her Sisters" and "Pelle the Conqueror," he hasn't had much to do recently except collect his paychecks. He's one of the cinema's great underused resources. This is the principal reason to see "The Silent Touch," the new British-Polish-Danish co-production starring Mr. Von Sydow, who is Swedish; Sarah Miles, who is English

Set in pre- World War II era. A young man is on a strange train to see his dying father in a sanatorium. But the place is going to ruin and recalls a lot of memories from the past. He is beset by soldiers from the past, colonial black mercenaries, girls from his early life, and his parents. It is an interior adventure, with unusual atmospheric flair and extraordinary sets.   Written by  Polish Cinema Database ATTENTION:  something is not working:  despite of a half a year presence in the Polish Home, Film Club OKO has not worked out its core audience.  We have somewhere between 8-15 people coming for each screening, but with the exception of 2-3 super-loyal fans the audience is changing constantly and I never know  if anybody will come at all (we have no membership).  I do not mind running the club for 3 people, but wondering if I should change the formula to better answer those 3 people wishes, or should I aim at the wider audience.   Not sure if the problem is the day chosen