A Foreigner's Guide to Polish Cinema

small , A Foreigner's Guide to Polish Cinema , Photo from the book Faces of Agnieszka Holland, from left: Andrzej Żuławski, Andrzej Wajda, Agnieszka Holland, Roman Polański, Ryszard Bugajski, Krzys , film_open_photot.jpg

Of all the areas of Polish culture in which a foreigner requires guidance, cinema comes to mind first. Many are acquainted with its international stars, but few know the background story and the gems that haven't yet made it globally. To brush up on your knowledge – or to tackle your complete ignorance – simply select your profile, click and enjoy!

Growing anti-Semitism in the 20s and 30s led a number of Jewish entrepreneurs and artists to leave Poland. They were fleeing frequent pogroms and the extreme poverty that was spreading throughout Austrian Galicia. Hollywood was among the most popular destinations. While in Los Angeles Polish Jews set up the biggest and most important film studios – MGM and Warner Bros, Broadway was created, among others, by the Shubert Brothers from Wejherowo, Poland. Sam Goldwyn, best known for being the founding contributor and executive of several motion picture studios in Hollywood, was born in Warsaw as Szmul Gelbfisz. Before he went into the business of films, he was in the glove trade. He changed his name twice. At first, Samuel Geldfisz became Sam Goldfish, and after setting up Goldwyn Productions with the Selwyn brothers, Goldfish turned into Goldwyn. He knew he had struck gold with Hollywood and wanted the brand to be associated with his person. That didn't stop his partners from forcing him to sell his shares. He sold them for a million dollars, an unthinkable sum for the time. Other Polish immigrants - the four brothers Aaron, Hirsz, Szmuel and Izaak Wonsal, would also leave their imprints on history. Their father emigrated from Poland in the 1880s and started a new life as Warner. They first lived in Canada and later moved to the United States where in 1903, wanting to get into the new booming film industry, Albert and Sam (Aaron and Szmuel) opened their first theatre, the Cascade, which they rapidly turned into a cinema. A mere four years later, they owned a chain of 15 cinemas, and soon expanded into the film distribution and rental business. In 1918, the Warner brothers bought property and established the film studio Warner Features, Hollywood's third film studio after Paramount and Universal (co-founded by Mark M. Dintefass – an emigrant from Tarnów). With the success of films featuring Rin Tin Tin, the German shepherd dog, the Warner Bros. became film moguls. In 1927, they released the world’s first "talkie" ( feature film with synchronized sound), Alan Crosland's The Jazz Singer and – as Al Jolson foretold in this milestone movie – "you ain’t heard nothin’ yet!" Two years later, the Warners presented the first all-colour feature length film – On with the Show (1929) – to the world. Their company has since produced thousands of film and continues to be a global leader. Back to the top Pola Negri There were many stars of the silent cinema period. Pola Negri (born Apolonia Chałupiec), a Polish immigrant, was one of the most striking. Negri's early life was marked by the departure of her father, who was arrested in 1902 by the Russians and sent to Siberia. She subsequently moved to Warsaw with her mother, where she enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Ballet. After a period of financial hardship, Negri began a new chapter in her life in 1908 by debuting in Tchaikovsky’s epic, Swan Lake, for which she gained critical praise. Pola worked her way up and gave a solo performance of the Saint-Léon ballet production Coppélia, again achieving commercial success. In 1914, Pola Negri debuted in her first film Niewolnica Zmysłów (Slave to her Senses), directed by Jan Pawłowski. She became the first Polish actress to foster such an onscreen image of desire and intrigue. During World War I, Alexander Hertz's films starring Pola Negri ended up on the German market. Her popularity throughout Europe grew – so much so that Richard Ordyński invited her to Berlin to act in a revival production of Sumurun, to be directed by Max Reinhard at the Berlin Deutsches Theatre. While living and acting in Berlin, Pola first signed with Saturn Films, acting in films such as Mania (1918). Thereafter, she signed fully to UFA and Lubitsch convinced the studio to create a high-end movie with Pola as the star. The following films were born from this venture – each greater than the next: The Eyes of the Mummy Ma, Carmen (1918), and Madame Dubarry (1919). When, following one of his trips to Europe, Charles Chaplin was asked what he had found interesting in Europe, he replied: Pola Negri. With his help and that of others, Negri became a star of 1920's Hollywood. In the summer of 1927, she left for Paris to marry Georgian Prince Serge Mdivani. Way of Lost Souls (also known as The Woman He Scorned), released in 1929 was Negri's final silent film. Her career ended with the beginning of talking films.

Back to the top Marek Koterski "Since Kieślowski, Polish cinema hadn't seen such a persistent author", critic Tadeusz Sobolewski said about Marek Koterski. His autobiographical films are therapeutic. With Nothing Funny (1995), The House of Fools (1984), Day of the Wacko (2002) and We're All Christs (2006) he proved worthy of being called one of the best Polish directors. Through his films, Koterski talks about his own limitations, weaknesses, misogyny, gullibility, arrogance and pettiness with self-awareness and humour. The traits start to seem characteristic to the viewer. "This is only pseudo-exhibitionism. Koterski makes himself mediocre so that everyone may discover himself in one of his protagonists" – Tadeusz Sobolewski wrote in Gazeta Wyborcza. Critics have compared Koterski to American underground comic book writer, music critic and media personality Harvey Pekar. The Pole sees laughter, irony, the absurd as a lifebuoy which helps keep us afloat. Idealism is another such life preserver which forces him to continue directing his own theatre plays, turning plays into film scripts and filming them for the big screen. Back to the top Roman Polański The most recognised Polish filmmaker, Roman Polański started off as a child actor in a Kraków theatre. His acting talent presaged a future in the film industry – but in front of the camera rather than behind it. See photographs of Polanski as an actor He was discovered by Antoni Bohdziewicz, a director and pedagogue who saw Polański on stage for the first time in 1953. He offered him a role in the film Trzy opowieści (Three Stories). It wasn't long after that the future director played in Andrzej Wajda's big debut film – Generation. The film marked the beginning of Polanski's path because it gave him an incentive to study filmmaking. He went to the Łódź Film School. From the beginning, Polański's films were hard to categorise by Polish standards. He wasn't concerned with the same topics as the other upcoming directors. His films didn't tackle national traumas and history. He created his own cinematic world, grappling with loneliness and memory, sexuality as a tool of domination, and the relation between human urges and social roles. After Knife in the Water, in 1962, Polański left for France. His films garnered awards at international festivals: the FIPRESCI Award in Venice, special mentions in Tehran and Panama, and an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1963 (it lost to Fellini’s 8 1/2). This success allowed Polański to pursue his cinematic projects. After filming Repulsion and Cul-de-Sac, Polański went to Hollywood, where he created the masterpieces Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown. He was arrested in the U.S. in March 1977 and charged with seducing and raping Samantha Geimer, then a minor. After a year’s battle in court – of the judge's abuse, Polański recalled that "I was treated like a mouse that a huge bored cat simply plays with" – he fled the U.S. hours before the official proclamation of the sentence, never to return there again. Since, then he has filmed mainly in France: The Tenant, Tess, Frantic, Venus in Fur. In 2003, he received an Oscar for Best Director for The Pianist. Back to the top Agnieszka Holland Alongside Polański and Pawlikowski, Agnieszka Holland is the second living Polish director to work predominantly outside of Poland. She studied at the Prague Film School (FAMU). After graduating in 1971, Holland returned to Poland to work as an assistant director on Krzysztof Zanussi's Illumination and later, on Stanisław Latałło's Letters from our Readers. She also worked with Andrzej Wajda and his X Film Studio. She wrote several scripts with Wajda before directing her own films, which were soon winning awards at festivals. In Poland, she gained notoriety as part of the Polish New Wave. Her international breakthrough came with Angry Harvest (nominated for the Oscar in 1985), Europa, Europa; Olivier, Olivier, The Secret Garden and Washington Square. She takes part in international coproductions and has directed episodes of American TV series The Wire, The Killing and Cold Case. In 2010, Agnieszka Holland was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work directing the pilot episode of the HBO series Treme, which revisits New Orleans after Katrina. Her films In Darkness, about a sewer worker who decides to save Jewish lives during World War II, received an Oscar nomination in 2012. Burning Bush, an HBO series about the factual story of Jan Palach, who set himself on fire in 1969 in an act of protest against the military aggression of the Warsaw Pact countries against Czechoslovakia, came out in 2013. Back to the top The Polish cinematographers mafia Janusz Kamiński, photo: ZUMA Press / Forum Poland has many great cinematographers who are the unknown faces behind many box office hits. Andrzej Sekuła worked alongside Quentin Tarantino on Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms and Reservoir Dogs. Janusz Kamiński has been Steven Spielberg's inseparable collaborator since Schindler's List. They worked together on Saving Private Ryan. Other off-screen talents include Sławomir Idziak, who filmed Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, Andrew Niccol's Gattaca and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Dariusz Wolski was the cinematographer on Pirates of the Caribbean, Paweł Edelman has worked for Polański and on the Oscar-winning Ray, Piotr Sobociński filmed Ron Howard's Taken and Andrzej Bartkowiak was behind the camera on Speed, Lethal Weapon 4, The Devil's Advocate, and Dante's Peak. Among the younger Polish cinematographers is Michał Englert, who was the cameraman on Arie Folman's Congress and Magdalena Górka, who did the camera work for I'm Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix, a 2010 mockumentary film.

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