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POLISH FILM FESTIVAL
The Polish Heritage Club is one of the sponsors of the annual
Polish Film Festival at UW-Madison. The festival became an
established tradition of celebrating and promoting the most
recent and accomplished Polish movies.
Shows are free to the public.
Seating is limited and provided on a "first come, first served" basis.
Films are screened in the original language with English subtitles.
The annual festival is organized by the UW-Madison Polish Student Association
in collaboration with the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature and
the Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Film Comittee.
Movies screened in 2016 at the 26th
Annual Polish Film Festival
Sunday, November 20, 1pm
KAMPER
(2016, dir. Łukasz Grzegorzek)
Thirty-something Kamper is the eternal boy who has it all: a beautiful wife he loves, a large apartment, a super car, and a dream job of video game tester (the fantasy of many teenagers all over the world). A comedy, in which this scruffy Warsaw hipster’s reluctance to grow up lands his otherwise great marriage on the rocks.
Sunday, November 20, 3pm
KARBALA
(2015, dir. Krzysztof Łukaszewicz)
Based on the true events in the Operation Iraqi Freedom (official name of Iraq War until 2010), the movie is a tale of 40 Polish and 40 Bulgarian soldiers defending the Karbala City Hall against the outnumbering forces of Mahdi Army (Shiite insurgents loyal to Muqtada Al-Sadr). The battle took place in April 2004 and became the biggest Polish engagement since World War II. But it was kept secret for ten years as participating soldiers were officially assigned to non-combat operations such as training Iraqi police and street patrolling.
The Karbala's soundtrack is a creation of Polish-born Cezary Skubiszewski (one of the most accomplished composers in Australian cinema) and features vocals expertly delivered by Lisa Gerrard, an Australian singer, musician, composer and member of the group Dead Can Dance. She is also known for her contributions to soundtracks of movies such as Gladiator, The Insider, Black Hawk Down and solo composed scores to Whale Rider and Baraka. Below are clips with the Karbala's theme and finale with Lisa Gerrard.
Sunday, December 4, 1pm
BLINDNESS (Zaćma)
(2016, dir. Ryszard Bugajski)
Haunted by the horror of her ruthless crimes, a former high-ranking security officer in Poland’s communist government seeks an audience with the Primate of the Polish Catholic Church, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. In the darkest hours of stalinism, Julia Brystiger was known as "Bloody Luna" because she tortured interrogated prisoners with extreme cruelty. She was also personally supervising the Primate's imprisonment in the years 1953-1956.
Sunday, December 4, 3pm
PLANET SINGLE (Planeta singli)
(2016, dir. Mitja Okorn)
This romantic comedy follows the story of two young people meeting on Valentine's Day. Ania is a romantic and prudish music teacher looking for the love of her life, while Tomek is a cynical host of a controversial comedy TV show. He seizes an opportunity to increase the show's popularity by striking a deal with Ania to satirize her dates with men from the Planet Single website. What follows is a series of bizarre encounters revealing the true colors of men from the online dating scene and the naiveté of women they meet.
Highlights of the movies to be screened on December 4th include children singing a tune entitled "The Days We Don't Know Yet" (Dni, których nie znamy). The song is one of many hits of Marek Grechuta (1945-2006), a belowed Polish singer, poet and painter. Listen to the endearing take on the song from the movie "Planet Single" (left) and the Grechuta's original.