Noticias

★★★★☆ "Polish films are... boring..." claims Engineer Mamon in Marek Piwowski's The Cruise (1970), widely considered the country's original 'cult' film. A tongue-in-cheek microcosm of the Communist state in which it was produced, it sits perfectly within the third volume of Second Run's excellent Polish Cinema Classics series alongside Krzysztof Zanussi's Camouflage (1977) and Wojciech Marczewski's Shivers (1981). Both of the latter filmmakers were featured in Volume 2 of the series and whilst neither film here quite matches the defining masterworks produced previously, this is another impressive triptych that proves Mamon wrong and showcases three distinct approaches to challenging the social order.

To begin with a disclosure: I was granted free admission to this year’s True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri, and the festival paid for my travel and lodging as well. I still hope that I’m able to provide insight into the films I saw there.Bitter LakeSince attending the True/False Film Festival last month, I’ve been chewing on some ideas that Adam Curtis, the gifted essay filmmaker behind The Century of the Self and All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, shared in a lecture-cum-multimedia presentation that he called “Unstoryfiable.” Over the course of an hour, Curtis identified what he considered the major philosophical problems of our time, the unifying theme being a general failure of imagination in western culture. We’ve become a civilization obsessed with data, he argued; in our determination to predict the immediate future based on patterns of past behavior,...

★★☆☆☆ Krzysztof Zanussi position as Poland's moral cinematic conscience is presumably the one he was playing up to for his latest film, Foreign Body (2014). Best known for films that betray her fierce intellect - a la Camouflage (1977) or The Illumination (1973) - this is an entirely different kind of prospect. Imagine, if you will, a psycho-sexual thriller involving high-powered business women, nuns, and a naive Italian Romeo. Now imagine such a film but with every hint of mirth or eroticism stripped and replaced with po-faced allegory. Various national maladies regarding the church and commercialism are also thrown into the mix. If it all sounds like something of a mess, then you're forming a fairly good picture.

★★★★☆ If all of life is a beautiful equation, then madness is re-running it over and over with the expectation of a different outcome. This is the cycle that young idealist Witold (Tadeusz Bradecki) finds himself entrenched in during The Constant Factor (1980), Krzysztof Zanussi's withering critique of corruption in Communist Poland. Unlike his other two lauded films that screen this week as part of the 13th Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, it forgoes gymnastics - formal in Illumination (1973) and verbal in Camouflage (1977) - in favour of a more straightforward, but no less thematically rich, drama. Captured in cold hues, it subdues intellect in favour of a more poignant personal narrative.

★★★★☆ Krzysztof Zanussi is a filmmaker that has, for much of his career, been considered by many as the cinematic conscience of Poland. There is arguably no clearer demonstration of this than during a purple patch towards the end of the 1970s and into the following decade in which he turned an unflinching eye on various facets of his society during a politically charged period. Camouflage (1977) certainly fits this bill, probing the cultural landscape of the time via a theoretical academic discourse. However, as with much of the director's oeuvre it is a work not just about the immediate, but dizzyingly rich in the depth and breadth of its thematic concerns.

On Wednesday 8 April at 6pm, the BFI will host a screening of Krzysztof Zanussi's dialectic satire Camouflage (1977) - followed by a Q&A with the great filmmaker - to launch this year's Kinoteka Film Festival in London. For the event's thirteenth year, it is expanding its horizons and offering a bumper selection of Polish cinema which will run from 8 April - 29 May and will not only be available to those who dwell in the capital, but also the rest of the UK via a tour in concert with the BFI. The festival has always been keen to introduce unwitting British audiences to the incredible masterpieces in Polish cinema history alongside contemporary fare, and this year the classics take pride of place with much-beloved offerings from the likes of Andrzej Wajda, Kieślowski, Munk, Has and many more.

Martin Scorsese Presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema brings together 24 films chosen by Scorsese, including The Last Day of Summer and Camouflage [pictured].

Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, BFI Southbank and Filmhouse Edinburgh are collaborating on a national UK tour of Polish cinema.

Martin Scorsese Presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema brings together 24 films chosen by Scorsese, all restored and digitally remastered to 2K resolution, as well as a series of contextual workshops, talks, exhibitions and special guests, all with the aim of exploring Polish film culture.

Scorsese commented: “These are films that have great emotional and visual power – they’re ‘serious’ films that, with their depth, stand up to repeated viewings. There are many revelations in the season and whether you’re familiar with some of these films or not, it’s an incredible opportunity to discover for yourself the great power of Polish Cinema, on the big screen.”

The season includes films from the likes of Andrzej Wajda, [link...

(L-r) Director, Iffi, Shanker Mohan, Krzysztof Zanussi, Director Polish Film, Anna Bromley and Director Pib, (M&C), Manisha Verma

“Internet may build a completely new society or it may destroy us, so the big challenge is to find a balanced way,” renowned Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi said while talking to media in Goa. He will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the opening ceremony of 43rd International Film Festival of India today.

Talking about censorship Zanussi said, “Censorship is an ugly method of improving our life and added that Police states tackle this problem in a harsh way, while democratic nations do it in a far more reasonable manner”.

Zanussi has produced more than 80 films and documentaries. Some of them are, Camouflage, Family life, The Silent Touch, The Contract, Revisited, The Structure of Crystal , The Spiral and Constant Factor. His 1973 film The Illumination will be screened during the ten day festival.

Panaji, Nov 20: Renowned Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi known for producing acclaimed films like Camouflage, Family Life, The Silent Touch, The Contract and Revisited will be honoured with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the 43rd International Film Festival of India (Iffi) here on Tuesday.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to 73-year-old Zanussi during the opening function of Iffi here.

The award is conferred on an eminent international film personality for outstanding contribution to the world cinema and it carries an amount of Rs10 lakh,.