POLISH FILM CLUB 'OKO'

  Because of the pandemic, our Polish movie screenings are not possible at this time. So instead, for every month we miss, here is a movie suggestion to watch at home. "The Polish Film Festival Miami, in partnership with the Embassy of Poland in Washington, D.C., invites you on a journey through Poland in “Late Summer Nostalgia.” We will present four films that will introduce you to the less-often tread nooks and crannies of the Polish imagination."   https://www.pffmiami.com/ 8/27 - 9/2   Goodbye, Till Tomorrow (1960) , Dir. Janusz Morgenstern 8/27 - 9/9   Double Trouble (2017) , Dir. Marta Karwowska 9/03 - 9/9   Papusza (2013) , Dir. Joanna Kos-Krauze & Krzysztof Krauze 9/10 - 9/16   Strawberry Wine (2007) , Dir. Dariusz Jabłoński  

"Comedy vs. Communism: A Retrospective of Polish Cult Comedies from Communist Times celebrates film as a tool of resistance to totalitarian tyranny and political satire as a means of beginning the process of reestablishing political liberty. Please join us in watching these films and then meet with Dr. Anna Draniewicz, Research Fellow in VOC’s Polish Studies program for a Q&A during which she will answer the inevitable questions arising from the films and their portrayal of the surreal life in communist Poland." ( https://www.victimsofcommunism.org/events/comedy-vs-communism?fbclid=IwAR2nbL-N1UuxZURCtG3kZLPdTmpHS7t4Kyu7HVu2_AvutFJI9Ij8QVTynT8 )

Because of the pandemic, our Polish movie screenings are not possible at this time. So instead, for every month we miss, here is a movie suggestion to watch at home. Fanatic (available on Netflix) Based on famous copy-paste text by Malcolm XD, it is a story about addiction, fanaticism, and obsession. One ordinary family, so many problems. Cast: Piotr Cyrwus, Anna Radwan, Marian Dziedziel, Mikolaj Kubacki, Lukasz Szczepanowski Trailer (in Polish):

Because of the pandemic our Polish movie screenings are no longer possible. So instead, for every month we miss, a movie suggestion to watch from home. This is episode 4 of the series, our June replacement. Ucieczka z kina Wolność (Escape from the Liberty Cinema), available on Netflix and Amazon Prime This absurdist black comedy, a winner of several Polish Film Festival awards, follows the state censor, played by Janusz Gajos, and his daily life of altering press statements or modifying film dialogues. He appreciates the cat-and-mouse game of trying to suppress anything forbidden in the face of steady efforts to sneak something past him. To him, "Censorship is necessary. Censorship is an art. A good censor should be an artist." However, one day at the Liberty Cinema, a commercial movie theater near his offices, the characters on the movie screen start speaking out of character and refuse to speak the lines written for them. They are even joined by Tom Baxter, a...

Because of the pandemic, our Polish movie screenings are not possible at this time. So instead, for every month we miss, here is a movie suggestion to watch at home. This is episode three of the series (May replacement). The Mire (available on Netflix) Poland, early 80's, the middle of a small, forgotten town. In the local forest a young prostitute and a communist activist are brutally murdered. At the same time a couple of teenagers commit a suicide. Two journalists of a local newspaper are investigating the crimes. The more they dig around the more they find themselves in a "mire" which is extremely hard to get out of. In addition to a great plot, the music in this series is phenomenal! Cast: Andrzej Seweryn, Dawid Ogrodnik, Piotr Fronczewski, Magdalena Walach i Zofia Wichlacz. Trailer (in Polish):

Because of the pandemic our Polish movie screenings are no longer possible. So instead, for every month we miss, a movie suggestion to watch from home. This is episode two of the series (our April replacement).    Recommendation by Marzena Szlaga Remembrance (available on Amazon Prime) "Remembrance” is a German-Polish co-production (Polish title: Zagubiony Czas ). The film is based on a true story of Jerzy Bielecki and Cyla Cybulska. Young Polish resistance officer, Tomasz Limanowski, is captured and sent to Auschwitz II (in that role- charismatic Mateusz Damięcki) where he falls in love with a German-Jewish girl, Hanna Silberstein, a prisoner of the women slave labor camp. They manage to escape the Nazi camp but unforeseen coincidence and betrayal of Tomasz's family member prevents their unification. They meet again 30 years later. This is a story of young unfulfilled love, fight for freedom, suffering and perseverance, and also about the struggle of life in ...

Because of the pandemic our Polish movie screenings are no longer possible. So instead, for every month we miss, a movie suggestion to watch from home. This is episode one of the series our March replacement). Essential Killing (available on Amazon Prime) Skolimowski at his best: frigid winter landscape, a prisoner on the run. And you, the viewer, who could clearly see from the get-go: there is no chance for survival. A "pure, elemental story," with a contemporary setting. If a trailer makes you think it is a political tale, don't quite believe it. As Roger Ebert put it: "Despite the contemporary setting, "Essential Killing" makes little point of politics. Yes, the man is Taliban and yes, he's tortured, but there are no speeches and precious little dialogue by anyone, let alone the Gallo character. It's  pure action, and then you're free to find your own parallels." If you are interested to read more before watching, this is probabl...

Icarus. The legend of Mietek Kosz, Polish with English subtitles   Inspired by true events, a story of a blind piano genius who died in tragic circumstances and whose life we see through select episodes depicting the most influential moments in his life and career. As a child, Mietek loses his sight and his mother places him in the care of the nuns in Laski. This is where Mietek discovers that music may be his way of seeing the world again. Mietek goes on to become a brilliant classical and jazz pianist known both in Poland and abroad. The film won 6 awards at Gdynia Film Festival in 2019, for the best feature film (Silver Lions), actor, cinematography, costume design, make-up, and score, and is nominated in several categories in 2020  Polish Film Academy Awards Orły (Eagles).                                ...

Due to the recommendations from public health agencies to avoid bringing groups of people together in close proximity for events and gatherings, we are cancelling our March showing. Update: due to Gov. Inslee's stay-at-home order, we are cancelling our April movie screening. Update: Polish Home is closed for now. We hope to see everyone in September. Stay safe!

Testosterone, Polish with English subtitles Would a wedding without a bride work? But of course. Provided you have the best Polish male actors and an excellent screenplay. As a waiter finishes setting the tables for the wedding party, the limousine arrives. Except instead of the newlyweds, three angry men jump out, dragging another one along. Soon they are joined by the groom. The wedding party after the wedding that didn’t take place because the bride escaped from the altar turns into a series of fights, toasts, squabbles, discussions, surprising twists and turns. What do women really want? What do men really want? And what is love? ( https://naekranie.pl/filmy/testosteron) Cast: Piotr Adamczyk, Borys Szyc, Maciej Stuhr, Krzysztof Stelmaszyk, Cezary Kosiński, Tomasz Karolak, Tomasz Kot Trailer (in Polish):

A Grain of Truth, Polish with English subtitles A tense and well constructed dark thriller, based on  one of the Zygmunt Miłoszewski's crime novels, murder mysteries that weave together modern Polish reality with its recent historical past. An effective and seasoned prosecutor Teodor Szacki (Robert Więckiewicz) has moved from Warsaw to Sandomierz, a picturesque but provincial town, where he finds himself investigating an unsual murder case. Szacki is an outsider, battling his own demons, the surroundings are unfriendly, and a painful tangle of Polish-Jewish relations complicates the investigation. Shot in neo-noir style, with mysterious and dark undertones, further enhanced by the music of Abel Korzeniowski. Cast: Robert Więckiewicz, Jerzy Trela, Magdalena Wałach Trailer:

Citizen, Polish with English subtitles " Forrest Gump meets Fellini in this enjoyably irreverent Euro farce" (Hollywood Reporter) Need we say more? 60 years of Polish most recent history through the eyes of an ordinary man, Jan Bratek (Jerzy Stuhr), who looks back at his life while in a coma... Polish Forrest Gump? Polish Fellini in 8.5 weeks? Perhaps. But first and foremost Jerzy Stuhr's comedic parable of his generation's reality and times. Why else would a Polish comic icon decide to write, produce, direct, and act in his own movie. Cast: Jerzy Stuhr, Maciej Stuhr, Sonia Bohosiewicz, Barbara Horowianka, Magdalena Boczarska, Janusz Gajos  Trailer:    ***** There will be no OKO screening in December due to the holiday season. Merry Christmas everyone! See you in January!

Volhynia (Hatred) Polish with English subtitles "About love in inhuman times", the film is set in the 1939-1943 time frame and its central theme is the ethnic tension that rearises among the local Polish and Ukrainian community amidst the German and Russian invasions. Zosia, a Polish girl in love with a Ukrainian boy, tries to survive the massacre. The screenplay was based on the collection of short stories titled Hate (Polish: Nienawiść ) by Stanisław Srokowski. The film received 9 Polish Film Academy Awards, Orły (Eagles) , in 2017, and 3 Złote Lwy Awards (Golden Lions) at the 41st Gdynia Film Festival . "What makes it tough is that the terror is brought to you by the people you know well, your next door neighbors, your spouse or even your brother." (ktrelski https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3577643/?ref_=rw_urv) Cast: Michalina Łabacz, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Wasyl Wasylik, Adrian Zaremba  Trailer: ***** OCTOBER is the month of Seattle Polish Fil...

In Heaven as it is on Earth, Polish with English subtitles A feel-good film about life in a small, quiet Polish village near the eastern border in the 1990s, where everyone knows everyone else. A good combination of boy-meets-girl, humor, suspense, and a little action, when a lovely Russian girl arrives at the scene as a consequence of a bus robbery. The feel of the small Polish village ruled by the local parish priest is practically palpable. This heart-warming comedy won several awards at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia in 1998, including an audience award, best director, screenplay, supporting actor, and sound. Cast: Jan Wieczorkowski, Ira Łaczina, Krzysztof Dzierma, Andrzej Zaborski • • • • • Film club OKO will be on vacation all summer - no films till September. have a great summer!  

Afterimage, Polish with English subtitles Powidoki is the final film by the great Polish director, Andrzej Wajda, and a story about another great Polish artist, an avant-garde painter and art theoretician, Władysław Strzemiński. The film covers the post-war period of Strzeminski’s life who, in the Stalinist era of social realism and art’s servitude to the collective, dares to believe in artist’s autonomy and abstract art. Despite his fame, communist past, and a war hero status, Strzeminski’s refusal to compromise leads to his persecution, dismissal from his professorial position, and erasure from the museums’ walls. De-credentialed as an artist, he is unable to continue his work. The story of Strzeminski becomes the story of Polish artists, their struggle to maintain artistic integrity and their resistance against intellectual tyranny. It is worth noting that Wajda selects for the film the music of another great Polish artist of this era, a modernist composer, Sir Andrzej P...

Between March 15 and April 6, you - the audience - have a chance to decide on the next movie (all with English subtitles). Follow this link for film titles, short descriptions, and to vote: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T5YSYKJ   And the winner is - or rather are - with the identical number of votes: Róża and Tatarak Róża (Rose) Directed by Wojciech Smarzowski Poland, 2011 Drama, War 90 minutes Polish with English subtitles Winner of 6 Polish Film Academy awards, Orły (Eagles), for the best film, director, screenplay, actress, supporting actor, and music score, and the winner of the audience choice award. The film is set in the post-war Mazury region, a border territory, which becomes part of Poland as a result of the Potsdam Agreement after World War II. The tensions of long and complicated history of the region inhabited over the years by Mazurians, Poles, and Germans, further devasted by the war, Soviet soldiers, resettlement drama, and the ...