Still from Jerzy Kawalerowicz's "Mother Joan of the Angels", photo: Polfilm/East News
Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polański, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Andrzej Munk, Jerzy Skolimowski, Wojciech Jerzy Has: The Poland Film Festival presents 18 Polish classics with Japanese subtitles.
"After the horrors of the Nazi occupation and repressive postwar Soviet domination," as Philip French writes for The Guardian, "Polish cinema suddenly took off in the mid-50s to become a major international force." Andrzej Wajda’s Kanał / Canal (1957) and Popioł i diament / Ashes and Diamonds (1958) screen at the Poland Film Festival in Japan, early masterworks from the famous Polish Film School, which brought international recognition to Polish cinema in the 1950s. Both films challenge national traditions of martyrdom and romantic heroism in art, and conclude a trilogy set at the end of the Second World War, their symbolic imagery revealing sweeping social and political changes in Poland after the German occupation. The lead actor in Ashes and Diamonds, Zbigniew Cybulski, became famous for his portrayal of a young man whose idealism faces humiliation and defeat after the occupation, and the deaths of friends and the woman he loves. Wajda is particularly popular in Japan. He was awarded the Kyoto Award by the Inamori Foundation in 1987, then invested the prize money in building the Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology in Kraków.
Jerzy Skolimowski, who debuted in 1960 as a scriptwriter for two other films screened in the Japanese festival, Wajda's Niewinni czarodzieje / Innocent Sorcerers and Roman Polański's Knife in the Water, represents the generation of filmmakers that followed the Polish Film School. Termed the Third Polish Cinema, the group was formed of artists brought up during the war but too young to take active roles in it (Wajda was born in 1926, Skolimowski in 1938). In Jerzy Plażewski's book Historia filmu dla każdego / A History of Film for Everyone, he writes "This third cinema searches for the truth about itself, i.e., about the time of the communist stabilisation which gave rise to moral problems... and required people to define their attitude towards the world around them and its ethical norms." Skolimowski's Bariera / Barrier from 1966 screens at the festival. In the film, a student (Jan Nowicki) abandons his way of life and wanders, suitcase in hand, seeking a place in life, literally and metaphorically. In him, two attitudes clash: resignation or a readiness to live according to accepted patterns ("little stabilisation"), and remnants of youthful rebellion, the refusal to accept a lifestyle focused on making money. Skolimowski particpates in the festival on the 25th of November, taking part in a discussion about Polish cinema.
The festival showcases Ixjana, the new film by Skolimowski's sons, Michał and Jozef. Ixjana is a thriller and metaphysical drama about betrayal, friendship and the importance of women in a man’s life. A young writer, Marek, winds up at a ball thrown by an eccentric millionaire, known as the king of publishers, and finds out that his debut novel will be published. Alcohol and psychotropic pills cause him to black out. He reaches nirvana and commits murder. On regaining consciousness, he doesn’t remember anything, then takes a metaphorical walk through hell to get to the truth.
The festival tips its hat again to Polish history with two films looking at the undaunted spirit of a nation under communism. Art of Freedom and Political Dress are from the series Guide to the Poles. The former is a documentary about great Polish mountain climbers, whose unsurpassed fervor allowed them to defeat huge odds and join the world’s elite climbers. Political Dress portrays fashion as a personal weapon against the oppressive regime during communist-era Poland, showing those who rebelled against an army of uniform people.
Other films screened at the Poland Film Festival in Japan:
Jerzy Kawalerowicz : Cień / Shadow, Prawdziwy koniec wielkiej wojny / Real End of the Great War, Matka Joanna od Aniołów / Mother Joan of the Angels, Pociąg / Night Train
Andrzej Munk: Człowiek na torze / Man on the Tracks, Eroica, Zezowate szczęście / Bad Luck, Pasażerka / Passenger
Wojciech Jerzy Has: The Saragossa Manuscript, Jak być kochaną / How to Be Loved
Kazimierz Kutz: Ludzie z pociągu / Night Train, Nikt nie woła / Nobody's Calling
Roman Polański: Nóż w wodzie / Knife in the Water
Tadeusz Konwicki: Ostatni Dzień Lata / The Last Day of Summer
Janusz Morgenstern: Do Widzenia, Do Jutra / Goodbye, See You Tomorrow
Screenings take place at the Theater Image Forum (Tokyo) and the Doshishisya University (Kyoto). The Poland Film Festival in Japan is co-organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. After the event, the films will screen in selected cinemas in other Japanese cities including Osaka, Nagoya.
For more information see: Poland Film Festival Japan
Sources: culture.pl, Encyclopedia Britannica, The Guardian Film page
Editor: Marta Jazowska