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How a cult filmmaker embarked on the most ambitious sci-fi production in the history of Polish cinema – and how it all came crashing down.

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Still from ‘On the Silver Globe’ directed by Andrzej Żuławski, 1988, photo: Capital Pictures / Film Stills / Forum

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In the summer of 1976, the late Polish film director Andrzej Żuławski, responsible for infamous cult classics such as The Devil (1972) and Possession (1981), was given a green light to shoot the most expensive film ever made in Poland. On the Silver Globe was meant to be a massively ambitious science-fiction epic set on the Moon, showing the birth of a new civilisation, and produced without the benefit of modern special effects. But things didn’t quite go to plan.

The huge ambitions of a temperamental and demanding director combined with the financial and technological realities of 1970s Poland meant that the production faced an uphill battle from the first day of shooting. But with over 70% of the film already shot, and the end almost in sight, On the Silver Globe unexpectedly fell victim to the whims of a Communist Party hardliner and was relegated to cinematic history.

How do you make a space opera without Hollywood special effects in a state-run economy? What were the crew doing in Mongolia? Who was Janusz Wilhelmi and why did he shut down the production? And does the story ultimately have a happy ending?

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Time stamps

[01:24] Intro
[02:56] Flying to the Moon
[05:10] Economic strife & a controversial director
[07:20] Making a space opera without special effects
[10:09] The Gobi Desert as the Moon
[12:10] Production delays & cost overruns
[16:15] Script changes & Hamlet monologues
[18:37] A burning Shern
[22:03] Wilhelmi arrives on the scene
[25:55] ‘It’s over, lads.’
[29:38] Is this how the story ends?
[33:54] Credits

Further watching

On The Silver Globe // fragment of the film after digital restoration, on Kadr Film Studio’s Youtube channel.

Further visiting

Wrocław Film Studios // If you happen to be in the beautiful South-Western city of Wrocław, you can visit the building that used to house the Wrocław film studio, which served as a base for the film, as well as such classics as The Saragossa Manuscript by Wojciech Jerzy Has. These days it houses a state-of the art special effects studio, but remains the home of the surviving costumes and props from On the Silver Globe.

Credits

Written & produced by Peter Wolodzko
Edited by Wojtek Oleksiak & Adam Zulawski
Hosted by Nitzan Reisner & Adam Zulawski
Scoring & sound design by Wojciech Oleksiak

Thanks

We’d like to thank Andrzej Jaroszewicz, Andrzej Seweryn, Stefan Kurzyp, and Jerzy Śnieżawski for talking to us. Thank you to Michał Zabłocki for sharing with us his in-depth understanding of the film's production. A special thanks to Maria Duffek, costume designer at the CETA audiovisual technology centre in Wrocław for her help and extensive knowledge. And lastly, many thanks also to Daniel Bird for guiding us through the strange world that is On the Silver Globe.

andrzej żuławski

polish cinematography

science fiction

polish sci-fi films