Wajda restrospective in Taiwan
Two continents, two retrospectives, one director. Among Poland’s most prolific directors, renowned the world over for his films, the retrospectives present his cinematic output. The Greek exhibition is the largest presentation of the master director's work in that nation, and one of the most comprehensive to play outside of Poland in recent years.
Andrzej Wajda (born 1926), winner of the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2000, earned his stature among European filmmakers in the late 1950s with his renowned War Trilogy (the films A Generation, Canal and Ashes and Diamonds). Working mostly during a social and cultural thaw in Soviet control over Poland, Wajda created three films looking at the Second World War from a new generation's perspective, whose youth was forged during the catastrophic German occupation and the Soviet control that followed. A Generation (1955) is set in Warsaw in 1943, as young workers join the anti-Nazi resistance. Shot on location around the city, the film reveals its themes with an "expressionistic eye", as the writer Robert Horton puts it. Canal (1957) tracks the last hours of the Warsaw Uprising, a rebellion by Poles and their Home Army against the Germans occupation forces. Ashes and Diamonds (1958) shows the reality of the last days of the Second World War. In a small town, Home Army soldiers receive an order to kill the secretary of the Communist Polish Workers' Party and a representative of the Soviets. In Wajda's War Trilogy, these historically specific films mesmerized audiences with a contemporary symbolism, suspense, sophistication, and their approach to acting. The three features form a landmark in Polish cinema and a cornerstone in the famous Polish School of filmmaking, a movement challenging the national tradition of martyrdom and romantic heroism in art.
"Out of the dramatic situations in historical events, Wajda brings out equally dramatic yet timeless situations, brings shock and emotions from a pure state", Philippe Parrain wrote about Ashes and Diamonds in 1968, in Etudes Cinematographiques. "In all certainty, you can re-create and explain the film Ashes and Diamonds from a historical perspective, but the idea of this film is different - the point is to present a certain lost and defeated lyricism".
The Greek retrospective opens on the 13th of December 2012 – a symbolic date, as the anniversary of martial law's declaration in Poland, on the 13th of December 1981. It is a date of relevance for Andrzej Wajda, whose works are socially and politically engaged. The director turned 85 in March 2011 and received Poland’s highest distinction, the Order of the White Eagle, given to him by the Polish president, Bronisław Komorowski.
Screenings in Greece present all of Wajda’s restored and remastered works, including earlier films from the 1950s, Man of Iron (1981), a Golden Palm winner in Cannes, and recent work including Katyń (2007), about the methodical murder of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet security early in the Second World War, and Sweet Rush (2009). Accompanying the restrospective is a multimedia exhibition of enlarged film stills, shots from sets, film posters and reproductions of Wajda’s auto portraits. A discussion with filmmakers and critics covers Wajda's cinematic output and the significance of his films for the development of Central and East European cinema. The retrospective is organised by the Association Artistic Campaign and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Greece, in cooperation with the National Film Archives of Athens and Warsaw, and takes place from the 13th to the 23rd of December 2012.
The Taipei retrospective runs until the 4th of January 2013, and includes Wajda's films The Birch Wood, Without Anesthesia, Samson, Canal, The Orchestra Conductor, Holy Week, Lotna, Everything for Sale, Hunting Flies, The Ashes and A Generation. All screenings feature Chinese subtitles, and are organised by the Taiwan Film&Culture Association, with the cooperation of the National Film Archives.
For more information on the Athens retrospective, see Polish Embassy in Greece . For more on the Taipei retrospective, see TWFilm
Sources: culture.pl, Amazon
Editor: Marta Jazowska