Village May 4 – May 8. Six feature films as well as numerous documentaries and shorts will be screened, and filmmakers and performers will speak with audiences
throughout the five-day event.
The festival opens with a selection of documentaries by Krzysztof Kieslowski (the legendary director of Three Colors: Blue, White, Red), followed by the New York premiere of Rite of Passage (Mała matura 47). Janusz Majewski has directed a semi-autobiographical meditation on navigating adolescence in the aftermath of World
War II between the residue of German occupation and the oncoming brutality of Soviet oppression.
Introducing the opening night events will be Professor Annette Insdorf, Director of Undergraduate Film Studies at Columbia University and author of Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski. Kieslowski’s presence will be felt throughout the festival, just as it continues to be felt in the Polish film industry.
A selection of the director’s short films, made when he was a student at Poland‘s highly regarded film school in Łodz, will also screen on Friday, May 6., 2011.
One of the major highlights of this year’s event is director Jerzy Skolimowski’s Essential Killing, which will screen on May 6. Starring New York actor/artist/
filmmaker, Vincent Gallo, Skolimowski employs the “war on terror” and the CIA’s operation of “black sites” — secret prisons around the world — to explore the
contradictions of the human experience and its inextricable relationship with the physical landscape in which we live. Skolimowski was awarded the Special Jury
Prize at the 2010 Venice Film Festival for Essential Killing while Gallo was named winner of the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his wordless performance. Likewise, the
Mar del Plata Film Festival honored Essential Killing with its Best Film award while Gallo, again, was named Best Actor.
Among the features chosen to screen at this year’s festival is Erratum, director Marek Lechki’s feature film debut. It tells the tale of a young man whose boss sends him to
his hometown to pick up a car shipped from the U.S. As he encounters numerous figures from his past, however, what was intended to be a quick trip becomes an
emotional journey that brings him face-to-face with a forgotten past.
How to Get Rid of Cellulite (Jak się pozbyć celulitu), the initial collaboration between acclaimed director Andrzej Saramonowicz and Warner Brothers Entertainment
Polska, is a modern comedy about women who come to realize that men and cellulite have a lot in common: they are both difficult to get rid of. This marks the film’s New
York premiere.
Seasoned director Jan Kidawa Blonski is represented in this year’s line-up with Little Rose (Różyczka), set in Poland‘s Communist era. It tells the tale of a young woman
who splits her time between her husband and her lover, slowly coming to the realization that she is simply a pawn of the brutish Polish security apparatus out to disgrace her husband.
Rounding out the features program is the Closing Night film, Eve, co-directed by Adam Sikora, a well-known cinematographer and screenwriter, and Ingmar Villqist,
one of Poland‘s most popular contemporary playwrights. It tells the story of a woman who, confronted with poverty, fights for her family, her stability and her dignity. In
addition to closing the festival, Eve will also screen on May 7 with lead actress Barbara Lubos-Święc and the film’s producer present for a Q&A with the
audience after the film.
In addition to the features program, a long list of documentaries and short films from Poland will be receiving their New York premieres at the 7th NYPFF.
This year’s poster, which captures the melding of Poland and New York in a colorfully atmospheric way, was created by Rafal Olbiński.
Screeners for most titles available to the press upon request. Tickets for all screenings can be bought at www.bilety.com or starting one hour before screening time at Anthology Film Archives,
32 Second Avenue, NY, NY.
Prices are $15 per ticket for adults and $9 per ticket for students and seniors. Tickets for opening and closing night events and films are $20.
For more information, please go to www.nypff.com.
Following is a complete schedule of films and scheduled appearances of visiting talent.
FOR OFFICIAL SCHEDULE FOR 2011 NEW YORK POLISH FILM FESTIVAL: