Special screenings at the 51st PFF – Polish Film Festival

We’ll begin with Agnieszka Holland’s seminal film Europa, Europa, which explores the individual’s entanglement with history and the struggle to preserve one’s identity – or rather, as the almost unbelievable story of Solomon Perel illustrates, the conflict between two identities: the true one and the false one, adopted in order to survive. The screening will coincide with an event accompanying the 51^st PFF, namely Alek Nowak’s play Głos Potwora, directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, with a libretto by Robert Bolesta, loosely inspired by Agnieszka Holland’s film. The opera’s creators have drawn on the language of myth to tell a contemporary story and examine the sources of the emotions that have shaped human experience for centuries – fear, hatred and love. In their interplay, we seek out that which remains constant in human nature.

As the opera’s director, Agnieszka Smoczyńska, says: Agnieszka Holland’s ‘Europa Europa’ tells the story of Solomon Perel, a young Jewish man who goes into hiding within the ranks of the Hitler Youth in order to survive the Holocaust.  The fear of being exposed and the constant struggle to conceal the truth lead him to lose his identity and deny who he really is. To this day, I feel that these two personalities coexist within me: Solomon Perel – a Jew – and Joseph Perjell – an Aryan. ‘Even now, when I’m watching a historical film and I see a swastika, I feel like standing up and giving the salute’ – Perel recalled. In Holland’s film, the protagonist’s experiences and emotional reactions intertwine with the ruthless logic of high politics. Alek Nowak’s opera, scored for countertenor and choir, transposes these emotions into the realm of music: a single voice versus the world. Robert Bolesto, the librettist, universalises Perel’s story by transposing it into the world of Greek myths. The immortal Medusa fights for her life – she stands face to face with Hades, the god of death. We return to the sources to understand the mechanisms that lead to destruction: of oneself or of the world.

The inclusion of both a film and an opera performance in the PFF programme will allow us to examine the process of adaptation – the translation of a story from the language of film into that of opera. Agnieszka Holland and Agnieszka Smoczyńska will discuss this process in the context of the film.

A powerful commentary on the modern world will be provided by the Teatroteka screenings, produced as part of an original project by the Documentary and Feature Film Studio, which brings together the worlds of film and theatre. Teatroteka are film adaptations resulting from collaborations between young, emerging playwrights and directors and experienced filmmakers. Audiences in Gdynia will see Jan Bujnowski’s Zero and Tomasz Fryzło’s The Shelter Builders. Both productions offer an accurate diagnosis of the ills of the modern world, though each does so in its own way. The Shelter Builders by Teatroteka presents the obsessions and fears of today’s world in the form of a black comedy. Zero, on the other hand, is a moving, intimate drama that paints a poignant picture of teenagers caught up in a crisis and its consequences.

We’ll be closing the Special Screenings of the 51^st PFF – as has now become a festival tradition – with an off-cinema screening! This time, we’ll be watching a legendary film – What Do You Think About It, Gałuszko?, directed by Maciej Cuske and Marcin Sauter. We’ll be watching this iconic example of independent cinema in Gdynia from a restored print during the film’s first public screening in this version! What Do You Think About It, Gałuszko?, the debut film by both directors, shot on a shoestring budget, set in Wdzydze Tucholskie in Kashubia, it is a black comedy and crime film rolled into one. It is also an expression of their passion and great love for cinema, a beautiful tribute to the tenth muse.

As Maciej Cuske says: ‘What Do You Think About It, Gałuszko?’ was the culmination of our shared journey as independent filmmakers. Before that, we’d been dabbling in cinema for years. And I’m not ashamed to call it that. Cinema was everything to us: a breath of fresh air, freedom, the most wonderful way to spend time together. A lot of things didn’t work out for us, because we were shooting on amateur film stock and had to learn everything ourselves. Finally, we dreamt of making a proper film that we could show in cinemas, and after which all the film studios would open their doors to us. At least that first dream came true... We shot the film in a sleepy fishing village in Kashubia in 1997. We invited our friends and the villagers to appear in the film. It took us another three years to save up the money to develop the film, digitise it, edit it and add the sound. We had no budget whatsoever, but thanks to the kindness of many people, we managed it. The premiere took place in Bydgoszcz in 2000, and a year later the film was screened at the Gdynia Film Festival in the independent cinema section. We are happy that, 25 years on, we can bring it back to audiences at the same festival. We are putting the finishing touches to the remastering of the film to bring out every detail from the film stock, and we are very keen to see how it will be received all these years later.

Special screenings at the 51^st PFF:
Europa Europa, directed by: Agnieszka Holland and a meeting with Agnieszka Holland and Agnieszka Smoczyńska. Hosted by Magdalena Jackowska 

Accompanying event: opera Głos Potwora, composed by: Alek Nowak, libretto: Robert Bolesto, directed by: Agnieszka Smoczyńska | Opera Bałtycka (Gdańsk), 24^th September, 7.00 p.m. (ticketed performance)

Teatroteka WFDiF: 
The Shelter Builders, directed by: Tomasz Fryzeł
Zero, directed by: Jan Bujnowski 
Screening followed by a meeting with Agnieszka Będkowska, director of the Documentary and Feature Film Studio

What Do You Think About It, Gałuszko?, directed by: Marcin Sauter, Maciej Cuske and a meeting with the directors