Special Screenings at the 49^th  PFF

This year’s programme for the Special Screenings section features five distinctive events organised with the partners of the Festival.

Let us begin with an interesting anniversary. In 1924, i.e. exactly one hundred years ago, Karol Irzykowski’s dissertation entitled The Tenth Muse. Aesthetic Problems of Cinema – a groundbreaking book in film theory, was published. Recalling this fact will serve as a starting point for us to discuss contemporary film criticism. During the event, we will watch a peer of the book, one of Irzykowski’s favourite films, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s The Last Laugh, read extracts from “The Tenth Muse” and discuss the topicality of the author’s reflections in the 21^st century. The discussion will be attended by film critic Joanna Najbor and Michał Oleszczyk, author of the SpoilerMaster podcast. The event will be recorded as an episode of said podcast.

This year, the International Federation of Film Critics FIPRESCI, the world’s oldest association of film critics, has become a partner of the festival. Together we have prepared a screening, which aims to look at Polish cinema through the eyes of foreign journalists. This year, the important Polish film was selected by Marina Fabbri, who has chosen Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Camera Buff. The meeting after the screening will be hosted by Paola Casella, vice-president of FIPRESCI, and the conversation will revolve around the film, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Jerzy Stuhr, Polish fascinations and Marina Fabbri’s friendship.

The Educational Film Studio is celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year! To celebrate, we would like to invite you to a screening of films made at WFO. We have entitled it Games and Figures, because the films selected by the Artistic Director of the Polish Film Festival Joanna Łapińska are about the figures with which people organise their world and the games that these figures use. This is a selection of six powerful, expressive titles. The featured films include: The Gal and the Fiend (directed by Piotr Szulkin), ABC Book (directed by Wojciech Wiszniewski), Essay (directed by Andrzej Barański), Grandmamauntsistercat (directed by Zuza Banasińska), Skiing Scenes with Franz Klammer (directed by Bogdan Dziworski) and War Song (directed by Marek Koterski). After the screening, a meeting with Andrzej Baranski, Zuza Banasińska, Bogdan Dziworski and Marek Koterski will be hosted by Michał Oleszczyk.

The Documentary and Feature Film Studios is also celebrating its 75^th anniversary. For this occasion, we will present at the festival a selection of Teatroteka, produced as part of the Studio’s original project combining the world of film with the world of theatre. Teatroteka are screenings which are the result of cooperation between young, debuting playwrights and experienced, recognised film artists. Audiences in Gdynia will get to watch: Variable Interest Rate by Teresa Czepiec, Jamaica by Bartosz Paduch, Dancing with the Victim by Luiza Budejko and Too Slow by Jakub Roszkowski.

Meanwhile, The National Film Archive Audiovisual Institute invites you to Double Impact. As part of this event, a set of two films will be shown: first, Marek Piestrak’s Curse of Snakes Valley, followed by Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. The screenings will be preceded by a lecture by film expert Dr Miłosz Stelmach, and the event will also include a meeting with writer Jakub Żulczyk and director Marek Piestrak.

Special screenings at the 49^th FPFF:

1. One hundred years in the ‘kingdom of movement’. A conversation about Karol Irzykowski on the centenary of the publication of “The Tenth Muse” | Partner: SpoilerMaster podcast

The Last Laugh, director: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. Hosted by Michał Oleszczyk and Joanna Najbor

2. International Federation of Film Critics FIPRESCI

Camera Buff, director: Krzysztof Kieslowski. Meeting with Marina Fabbri (FIPRESCI film critic), hosted by Paola Casella (FIPRESCI Vice-President)

3. Games and Figures. 75^th years of the Educational Film Studio

The Gal and the Fiend, directed by: Piotr Szulkin
ABC Book, directed by: Wojciech Wiszniewski
Essay, directed by: Andrzej Barański
Grandmamauntsistercat, directed by: Zuza Banasińska
Skiing Scenes with Franz Klammer, directed by: Bogdan Dziworski
War Song, directed by: Marek Koterski

Screenings combined with a meeting with Andrzej Barański, Zuza Banasińska, Bogdan Dziworski and Marek Koterski, will be hosted by Michał Oleszczyk.

4. 75^th years of the Documentary and Feature Film Studios. Teatroteka screenings

Variable Interest Rate, directed by: Teresa Czepiec
Jamaica, directed by: Bartosz Paduch
Dancing with the Victim, directed by: Luiza Budejko
Too Slow, directed by: Jakub Roszkowski

5. FINA: Double Impact

Curse of Snakes Valley, director: Marek Piestrak. Pre-film lecture by Miłosz Stelmach. After the film, meeting between Jakub Żulczyk and Marek Piestrak
Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by: Steven Spielberg

The 49^th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia will take place on 23^rd–28^th September 2024.