Director Andrzej Munk died in a car crash, aged just 39, in the middle of filming. His friend, Witold Lesiewicz, and his colleagues decided to complete the film to what they believed were Munk's intentions and assembled it using the existing footage, Munk's still photographs and a voice-over narration.
Finally released in 1964, the film won main awards at Cannes and Venice and has been described by those who have seen it as an unfinished masterpiece. Andrzej Munk's final movie tells a story of an accidental encounter between an ex-Auschwitz inmate and her Nazi oppressor and is regarded as one of the most important films tackling the Holocaust that was ever made.
Passenger is arguably the greatest feature film to be made about the Holocaust.
- The Observer
The screening is organised by Second Run DVD.
The screening accompanies the UK premiere of The Passengeropera at the English National Opera.
Auschwitz survivor Zofia Posmysz's novel The Passenger inspired both Munk's iconic film Passenger / Pasażerka, and Mieczysław Weinberg's 1968 opera The Passenger. Hailed as 'a work that demands and deserves to be seen', this 20th century masterpiece, by a composer whose music has been characterised as 'Shostakovich with a Jewish accent', now comes to English National Opera in David Pountney's shatteringly intense staging, conducted by Sir Richard Armstrong.
The Passenger
dir. Andrzej Munk
Poland, 1960-1963
The screening takes place on the 26th of September 2011 at 19:30 at the Riverside Studios.
Riverside Studios
Crisp Road, Hammersmith
London W6 9RL
Box Office: +44 0208 237 1111
www.riversidestudios.co.uk
Source: Polish Cultural Institute