Gdynia on the Horizon. Cooperation with T-Mobile New Horizons
This year, during the 15th editon of T-Mobile New Horizons International Festival, screenings will be held of Paul Mazursky’s film from 1989 entitled “Enemies: A Love Story”, which is an adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel. One of the main roles of this amusing and moving tale about a group of New York’s immigrants struggling with their experience of Holocaust is played by Małgorzata Zajączkowska, a member of the jury of the Main Competition of the 39th Gdynia Film Festival.
“Paul was curious of people. He was capable of stopping by and talking to a petrol station worker as attentively as he would with a familiar director,” says Małgorzata Zajączkowska, who used to be friends with Mazursky for many years. “That is why his films are so multidimensional. After he decided to work with me in the film “Enemies: A Love Story”, it took him as many as three years to raise the funds for this undertaking. At that time, he talked to me many times, not about the film though, but about our lives, children, personal issues. When it came to the making of the film, he frequently referred to our conversations in order to build the character.”
The actress mentions that Paul did not expect such a success of “Enemies…”. Finally, Studio FOX decided to invest in his production. Initially it seemed that a film about a Jewish immigrant family would attract only specific communities. In contrast, the film gained significant popularity in big cities, it was awarded many prizes and nominated by American critic associations (among others, from New York) as well as nominated for an Oscar – in recognition for the screenplay and the roles of Anjelika Huston and Lena Olin.
It is worth mentioning that Paul Mazursky, as a member of the American Film Academy, submitted Andrzej Wajda’s candidature for an Oscar for the work as a whole, which the Polish director obtained in 2000. He was honoured by the Polish Ambassador in Washington with the title of „Amicus Poloniae”, awarded to the U.S. citizens for their contribution to the building of the Polish-American relations, especially for the popularization of the achievements of the Polish culture, science and promotion in the United States.
The screening of the film will be held on 26th July 2015 (Sunday), and its special guest will be Małgorzata Zajączkowska. The screening and the meeting will be hosted by Michał Oleszczyk, the Artistic Director of the Gdynia Film Festival. Asked about the idea of reminding “Enemies…” to the audience, Oleszczyk answers: “This screening is intended to pay a tribute to the late Mazursky, who is one of my favourite American directors, and at the same time to honour the work of an outstanding Polish actress who for years has been reconciliating her performances in the country with her acting career in the United States. Mazursky’s film is a beautiful evidence of the fact that the world cinema benefits thanks to the Polish talents and topics, and the idea behind Gdynia on the Horizon is to show the points of tangiency of the Polish and international cinema. It would be difficult to pinpoint a more beautiful example for that than “Enemies…”, Oleszczyk emphasises.
And on 30th July 2015, also during T-Mobile New Horizons, a special lunch will be organized within Polish Days and hosted by the Gdynia Film Festival’s Directors, Leszek Kopeć and Michał Oleszczyk. In this way they want to emphasise their joy resulting from the cooperation with New Horizons and to show that the aims of the two events are similar and reaching them takes place within a creative and friendly exchange of experiences.
