Held from May 2-7 the Polish Film Festival celebrated its 13^th year honoring the distinguished film director Andrezej Wajda and the Wajda School which he established with Wojciech Marczewski in 2002. Numerous productions from graduates of that school as well as the opening film of the festival Afterimage introduced by Marten Scorcese and Ashes and Diamonds by A.Wajda were important parts of the festival program.  Wajda , who passed away in October 2016 days at the age of 90 after Afterimage premiered in Poland, is probably the best known representative of the Polish cinema holding many international awards including the Oscar and Berlin’s Golden Bear for his life time achievements. Poland is probably the most eminent East European film making country and produced 49 feature films in 2016, many receiving several awards for its films from Sundance, the Locarno fest, and the Berlin film festival to name but a few. Success for the Polish film industry is largely due to support from the Polish Film Institute founded 11 years ago when only 800,000-tickets were sold compared to 52 million admissions last year of which 13 million were received by Polish films. The institute provides half of the budget of the films it supports, up to 70% for debut features and co-funds about 30 co-productions each year.   Including single screen facilities Poland has 1600 cinemas and enjoys steady growth in the box office reaching $231 million in 2016, an increase of 16% from 2015. The audience for feature films is expanding with two local VOD services as well as the launch of Netflix in late 2016 which will include local content and Showmax in February 2017.  Support for the Polish Film Festival was provided by public Polish agencies, the Association of Polish Filmmakers, and other sponsors.

Afterimage, Andrezej Wajda, 2016.  In his last feature Wajda continues his presentation of the socio- political turmoil prompted by the rapid changes of post war Poland and he shows in this biopic how an artist is impacted by the rise of Stalinist thinking. He re-constructs the last years of the well-known painter Strzeminski who is oppressed by the proponents of the official socialist realism art form.  As a professor at the Lodz National School of Fine Arts he gained prominence and a following for his abstract painting and his unism theory of arts. With the imposition of communism in Poland, modern art forms were shunned and pressures exerted to conform.  Though physically handicapped, Strzeminski refused to comply with the demands of the Ministry of Culture and its party functionaries. He lost his position at the university, was ejected from the artists’ union, forced to leave his apartment and descended into poverty, a fate mitigated by support from his students. The system prevailed and he died. Wajda presents flawless settings in this film and actors with an outstanding performance such as Boguslaw Linda who plays the painter and Katazyna Kobroin as his daughter. As with his other features the issues enacted are a learning experience for the audience.

The Last Family, Jan P. Matuszynski, 2016. With the actions restricted mostly to their apartment the director dissects in this bio-pic the family of the cult artist Zdislaw Beksinski known for his surrealist post-apocalyptic paintings.  He suffered from an irrational fear of spiders, had strong sexual fantasies, and was obsessed with videotaping his household. His wife Zofia was religious and precariously held the family together while their son Tomasz sufferd from impotence, suicidal ideation, and impulsive neurotic behavior. The family is completed by the mothers of Beksinski and Zofia living in the same apartment, and an occasional friend, an art collector living abroad. Covering 28 years of the family biography we accompany Bekinski through the foibles, aberrations and death of all members of the family and his own passing.  The Last Family reflects is a striking portrait of the micro pathology of a family.

How to be Loved   Woijciech Jerzy Has, 1963    On a trip from Warsaw to Paris Felicja a famous actress that recalls her experience with Wictor, an actor she hid from the Gestapo in her apartment for several years. He was accused of killing a collaborator.  There was no audience he could address in his isolation and he became distressed. Felicja became attached to him, though he did not reciprocate. While she worked in a bar he had no exit from her place.  Her apartment was searched by the Germans and one of the soldiers raped her. After the war, she was not allowed to work as an actress because she was suspected of having worked with the enemy. Wiktor is not able to work, disappears and turns into an alcoholic. When Felicja tracks him down she tries to help him again to no avail. He commits suicide. In 1963 the film received awards at the San Francisco Film Festival for the Best Actress (Barbara Krafftowna) and Best Screenplay. The performances of both in this dark drama is remarkable. The actor Zbigniew Cybulski also excelled in Wajda’s 1958 feature Ashes and Diamonds

Blindness, Ryszard Bugajski 2016    Blindness is directed by Bugajski who worked with Wajda and like him refused to collaborate with the communist regime. His theme for Blindness, coming to terms with the past, is certainly in line with the themes  Wanda covers in his films. In Blindness   he tells the story of Julia Brystygier a woman who worked as a sadistic interrogator in the fifties and was charged with keeping the catholic clergy in line. Now she searches for relief from the horrors she inflicted on others and her cruel treatments of suspects. Now retired, and feeling remorse, she seeks  an audience with the cardinal of Poland. Kept waiting in a home for the blind, she encounter a priest blinded while he was her prisoner. She also interrogated  the cardinal for the secret police. Her discussions with him increase rather than diminish her anxiety.  Her quest for new meaning in her life seemingly cannot be met.  Maria Mamona, who is married to the director, gives an extraordinary performance in this period piece merging her individuality with the role. No matter how deep her angst and nightmares are she retains complete control.

Providing close insights into Wajda’s work is the 2009 documentary Andrzej Wajda: Let’s Shoot. Four young documentary film makers, former students of Wajda, filmed him over several months when he was working on Katyn  a feature on the murder by the soviet secret service of thousands of Polish officers in 1940. Wajda’s style of directing, the interaction with actors and technicians, his sense of mission, as well as his private self in moments of failure and success are recorded in this intimate portrayal.

Claus Mueller  filmexchange@gmail.com