POLISH FILM CLUB 'OKO'

Film host: Joanna Filipek brings us another film about Solidarity  era: activists prepare a bravura heist, taking out 80 mln from a union bank account just before it is blocked by communist authorities. As always, with English subtitles at Polish Home upstairs, Friday, December 15, 7:30 pm.  We actually mean 7:30 sharp from now on, no waiting for people showing up at 8 pm, as it's hard to start the film discussion late at night, when everybody thinks about safely getting home. 80 Million (Polish: 80 milionów) is a 2011 Polish drama film directed by Waldemar Krzystek. The film was selected as the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist From Hollywood Reporter :   [...] Based on real events, the official Polish entry in the Best Foreign Language Oscar race is a punchy period thriller with a universal feel-good message. Set at the dawn of Poland’s final turbulent decade under the yoke of ...

Film host: our UW Polish Studies Fulbright scholar, Dr. Justyna Budzik , with a story that takes us back to times of rising Solidarity movement. As always, with English subtitles at Polish Home upstairs, Friday, November 17, 7:30 pm.  We actually mean 7:30 sharp from now on, no waiting for people showing up at 8 pm, as it's hard to start the film discussion late at night, when everybody thinks about safely getting home. All That I Love  •  Poland 1981: Behind the iron curtain, Janek, the teenage son of a navy captain, forms ATIL (All That I Love), a punk-rock band whose songs express a frustration with socialism and a desire for freedom, echoing the sentiments of the rising Solidarity movement. At the same time, Janek finds love with Basia, a young woman whose father is part of the movement and disapproves of Janek’s military family. When growing social turmoil leads to martial law, Janek’s relationships and ATIL’s music cause serious consequences for his fam...

No OKO film in October, as SPFF is here, with many great new films! Check their Facebook page for updates here: https://www.facebook.com/seattle.polish.film.festival/ And their schedule, when they upload it here: https://www.polishfilms.org See you at the polish films! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Polish_Film_Festival

OKO celebrates ‘Chinatown’, 1974 film by internationally acclaimed Polish director, producer, writer, and actor  Roman Polanski at Polish Home upstairs, Friday, September 15, 7:30 pm. 'Chinatown' is Polanski's 7th feature-length film. His first one,   Knife in the Water (1962), was made in Poland and was nominated for a United States Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In the United Kingdom he directed three films, beginning with Repulsion (1965). In 1968 he moved to the United States and cemented his status by directing the horror film Rosemary's Baby (1968).  A turning point in his life took place in 1969, when his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, and four friends were brutally murdered by members of the Manson Family. Following her death, Polanski returned to Europe. He made Macbeth (1971) in England and back in Hollywood, Chinatown (1974), which was nominated for eleven Academy Awards. From wikipedia : Chinatown is a 1974 American neo-no...

Film host:  Jola Paliswiat • Friday, May 19th, 7:30 in Polish Home:   Jasminum (2006) Directed, written by Jan Jakub Kolski - Comedy, Romance Crew: Camera (color), Krzysztof Ptak; editor, Witold Chominski; music, Zygmunt Konieczny; production designer, Joanna Doroszkiewicz; costume designer, Ewa Helman-Szczerbic. Reviewed at Cairo Film Festival (competing), Dec. 7, 2007. Running time: 109 MIN. With: Janusz Gajos, Grazyna Blecka-Kolska, Wiktoria Gasiewska, Adam Ferency, Krzysztof Pieczynski, Monika Dryl, Patrycja Soliman, Boguslaw Linda, Krzysztof Globisz, Grzegorz Damiecki, Dariusz Juzyszyn, Franciszek Pieczka. This film, like ALL OKO movies, will be shown with the English subtitles, BUT there is no trailer on the web with English subtitles. The peaceful world of a monastery, in a small town Jasmine, is destroyed by the arrival of monument restorers, Natasha, along with her daughter Eugenia. The legend associated with the monastery bode revelation...

Film host: Ania Cholewinska ''Gods'" (original title: 'Bogowie'), is a 2014 bio/drama, by Lukasz Palkowski, At Polish Home upstairs, Friday, April 21, 7:30 pm. It depicts the early career of cardiac surgeon Zbigniew Religa. Despite harsh reality of the 1980s Poland, he successfully leads a team of doctors to the country's first human heart transplantation. I MBD here ... From Wikipedia :   [...]  Gods (Polish: Bogowie) is a 2014 Polish dramatic feature film directed by Łukasz Palkowski. It is based on the life and career of Polish cardiac surgeon Zbigniew Religa, who performed the first successful heart transplant in Poland in 1987. The movie received the Golden Lions award for best film at the 39th Gdynia Film Festival (2014) and the Eagle at the Polish Film Awards (2015). Production of the film took place in autumn 2013. As of January 2015, the film has been seen by 2.2 million viewers. [...] The Guardian review:  You wouldn’t think a fi...

Film host:  Hanna Gil, translator of the film's English subtitles - you will have a chance to ask her about the process of caption translation. 'Reverse' (original title: 'Rewers') is a 2009 Polish (dark) comedy film, directed by Borys Lankosz. Polish Home upstairs, Friday, March 17th, 7:30 pm Sharply scripted and impeccably realized Lankosz’s debut feature is a darkly comedic portrait of romance, familial bonds, and political intrigue. The film follows Sabina Jankowska (the angular and attractive Agata Buzek), an unassuming singleton working as a poetry editor in Stalinist Warsaw. Sabina’s lack of even a prospective husband is a point of constant contention for her well-meaning, though meddlesome, mother and grandmother. At their behest (and as a result of their scheming) Sabina entertains a number of suitors, all of whom fail to interest her – until Bronislaw Falski mysteriously enters the scene. Praised for its black humour, attention to character, an...

Film host: Ryszard Kott Man of Marble (Polish: Człowiek z marmuru) is a 1976 Polish film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It chronicles the fall from grace of a fictional heroic Polish bricklayer, Mateusz Birkut (played by Jerzy Radziwiłowicz), who became the symbol of an over-achieving worker, in Nowa Huta, a new socialist city near Kraków. Agnieszka, played by Krystyna Janda in her first role, is a young filmmaker who is making her diploma film (a student graduation requirement) on Birkut, whose whereabouts seems to have been lost two decades later. The title refers to the propagandist marble statues made in Birkut's image. From the 2014 review by Philip French in The Guardian : [...] A major milestone in Polish cinema, Man of Marble comes from a period of political thaw, moderate affluence and agonised self-questioning between the end of hardline postwar Stalinism in the 1950s and the return of authoritarianism, which culminated in the imposition of martial law in 1981. Conte...