Viva! Polish Cinema by Polish Cinema

CANNES SPECIAL

Polish Directors: ŻUŁAWSKI WAJDA HOLLAND POLAŃSKI BUGAJSKI KIEŚLOWSKI Cannes, 1990

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“Time To Go”directed by Grzegorz Mołda (2017) PHOTO: MACIEJ MILLER © GDYŃSKA SZKOŁA FILMOWA

KEEP AN EYE 70 years of the Cannes ON US! Film Festival also means 70 years of great films that have influenced the world, including some of the most acclaimed Polish pictures. Throughout its history, the festival has changed not only cinema, but also the way of thinking of its guests, in much the same way that “Man of Iron” changed Poland in 1981. Now Andrzej Wajda’s Palme D’Or-winning film is coming back to Cannes. It will be screened in the Cannes Classic section on May 21st, almost four decades after its premiere, as proof that its legacy is still resonating both in Polish and international cinematography. Making the event even more extraordinary this year is the fact that some of the greatest Polish artists who have achieved huge success in Cannes, including Palme D’or-winning actress Krystyna Janda, cinematographer Artur Reinhart and directors Roman Polański, Ryszard Bugajski, Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Zanussi and Jerzy Skolimowski, will also be here with us. Before the meeting, you will have the chance to read exclusive interviews with some of them about their memories and impressions from Cannes. Also paying us a visit will be some of the New Voices of Polish cinema, including Paweł Pawlikowski, Tomasz Wasilewski and Małgorzata Szumowska. The latter, director of the Silver Bear-winning film “Body”, gave us a look at her road to the international film festivals. May 21st will be a strongly Polish day at the Cannes Film Festival this year and we are extremely excited that they have all agreed to take part in this Polish cinema fest. We are also delighted about the successes of our young Polish filmmakers in the competition sections. Four films will have screenings, including the international co-productions “Frost” by Šarūnas Bartas, with the Polish actor Andrzej Chyra and music

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Polish Filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival Written by Marcin Zawiśliński

Memories from Cannes interviews with

Agnieszka Holland Krzysztof Zanussi Jerzy Skolimowski Małgorzata Szumowska

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Krystyna Janda: Woman of Iron The Polish New Wave Written by Ola Salwa

70 years of Polish Animation Written by Adriana Prodeus

Cover image: Polish directors, Cannes 1990. PHOTO: ŚWIATOSŁAW LENARTOWICZ © ARCHIWUM ANDRZEJA WAJDA ORIGINAL PHOTO: MICHELINE PELLETIER

by Paweł Mykietyn, and “Scaffolding” by Matan Yair, which will be shown in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs and ACID sections respectively. They are the result of the new co-production programme initiated by the Polish Film Institute. Furthermore, “Time To Go”, a short film directed by Grzegorz Mołda, is one of nine films from around the world that will compete for the Palme d’Or in the Short Films Competition, while Aleksandra Terpińska’s feature, “The Best Fireworks Ever”, has been selected for the Short Films section of the 56th edition of La Semaine de la Critique. For us, this year’s Cannes Film Festival will also mark the beginning of our celebration of 70 years of Polish animation. It really is a time of wonderful anniversaries. What else do we have? Director Roman Polański is coming back to Cannes with his new feature, “Based on a True Story”, starring Eva Green and Emmanuelle Seigner. Meanwhile, producer Maria Blicharska will represent Poland in the 18th edition of the prestigious ‘Producers on the Move’ inititative and five Polish producers with achievements in international co-productions will also participate in the ‘Producers Network’ workshop. Finally, the Polish New Horizons Film Festival will present five upcoming films in either the post-production or development stage to sales agents, distributors and programmers in ‘Goes to Cannes’. We have the feeling that this will be a truly unforgettable edition of the festival and we can’t wait to meet you there. Stay calm and keep an eye on us!

Paweł Pawlikowski with the Academy Award for his film “Ida” (2013). It’s the one and only Polish Oscar winner in the Best Foreign Language Film category. © JPISTUDIOS.COM/AKPA

Andrzej Wajda with the Golden Palm for “Man of Iron”, Cannes 1981

POLISH FILMMAKERS AT THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

PHOTO: JERZY KOŚNIK FROM ARCHIWUM ANDRZEJA WAJDY

This is the 70th edition of the International Cannes Film Festival. Over the past seven decades, Polish filmmakers have left an indelible mark on the event. They include two laureates of the Golden Palm, Roman Polański and Andrzej Wajda, as well as the many winners of in-competition and out-of-competition awards. A Great Start

The first Polish filmmakers to leave Cannes with an award were Jerzy Bossak and Wacław Kaźmierczak. During the second edition of the festival (in September 1947), they won the Grand Prix for best documentary film. Their 13-minute film, “Flood”, used short, impressive scenes, illustrated with dramatic classical music, to show one of the biggest floods of the 20th century that hit the country in the spring of 1947. The second film to gain recognition from the audience in Cannes was “Five Boys from Barska Street”. Inspired by the novel of Kazimierz Koźniewski, this moving story of five young men who were unable to adapt to the new situation after the war and resorted to committing crimes gave director Aleksander Ford the 1954 Jury Prize.

Wajda’s Era

“Man of Iron” directed by Andrzej Wajda (1981) PHOTO: RENATA PAJCHEL © STUDIO FILMOWE ZEBRA

“A Short Film About Killing” directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski (1987) © SF TOR

Three years later, Andrzej Wajda arrived on the French Riviera with his second feature film, “Kanal”, the first post-war film about the Warsaw Uprising, which delighted the foreign audience. The jury, chaired by Jean Cocteau, honoured him with the Silver Palm (the Special Jury Prize) and the film was awarded equal first place with Ingmar Bergman’s “Seventh Seal”. The Cannes Film Festival has recognised Wajda’s work several times.

In 1978, his film “Man of Marble” received the FIPRESCI Award, and a year later “Rough Treatment” was awarded the Ecumenical Jury Prize. And finally, in 1981, Wajda became the first Polish filmmaker in history to win the Golden Palm for “Man of Iron”, his film which presented in a very realistic way the strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard and the birth of Solidarity. The symbolic crowning of these awards was the Special Recognition of the Jury award for his exceptional achievements, for his artistic stance and for his film “Korczak”, which was shown outside the main competition (1990).

The Golden Age of Polish Cinema

The first edition of the Cannes Film Festival took place in September 1946 and over the next seven decades the Golden Palms became for European cinema what the Oscars were for American cinema. After the initial successes of Bossak, Ford and Wajda came the time for Jerzy Kawalerowicz, who took his film “Mother Joan of the Angels” to France in the early 1960s. With the unforgettable Lucyna Winnicka in the title role of a prioress possessed by the devil, the story of her intimate relationship with an exorcist priest shocked the Jury so much that it was awarded the Special Jury Prize. However, the true golden harvest for Polish cinema on the French Riviera really came at the beginning of the next dec-

People ade. The manifestation of this, apart from the aforementioned films by Wajda, were the works by Krzysztof Zanussi, Jerzy Skolimowski and Agnieszka Holland. The first of these artists debuted in the Cannes main competition with the film “Family Life” (1971), but it was his two next productions which gained the recognition of the festival juries. Shot seven years later, “Spiral” won the Ecumenical Jury Prize, while “The Constant Factor”, shot in 1980, was awarded the Jury Prize. At the same festival, “Provincial Actors”, Agnieszka Holland’s feature film debut, also won the FIPRESCI Award. Jerzy Skolimowski took a different path to the red carpet in Cannes. He appeared there in the late 1970s as an emigrant, having already been living and working abroad for many years. Made in the UK, his film “The Shout” won the Special Jury Award (1978) and “Moonlighting”, his film made four years later which showed the story of Polish labourers working in London when martial law was imposed in Poland, won him The Best Screenplay Award. He next appeared in Cannes a mere... 26 years later. After a 17-year break from working behind the camera, his thriller about love, “Four Nights with Anna”, inaugurated the prestigious “Quinzaine des Réalisateurs” section.

trayal of Éva Szalánczky, who was involved in a lesbian relationship with her married colleague Livia (played by Grażyna Szapołowska), in the Hungarian film “Another Way” by Károly Makk (1982). Krystyna Janda won an award for her role as Antonina Dziwisz, a young actress forced to inform on her fellow artists in the famous film set in Stalinist Poland, “Interrogation” by Ryszard Bugajski. Also worthy of a mention is Dorota Kędzierzawska, who as a fledgling director had twice been recognised in Cannes. In 1991, “The Devils, the Devils” received the Youth Jury Special Mention award, and three years later she was awarded the Coup de Coeur Award for “Crows”. Over the next few years, many young Polish filmmakers successfully presented their films in Cannes, either in the Un Certain Regard section or in the short film competition. Are the successors of Kieślowski, Polański, Skolimowski and Wajda among them? We will find out in the coming years. Written by MARCIN ZAWIŚLIŃSKI

Kieślowski Known and Recognised

The end of the 1980s and start of the 1990s saw Krzysztof Kieślowski score success after success. He was already a recognised documentary filmmaker and a well-respected feature film director, however, it was only when he made “A Short Film About Killing” as part of his “Decalogue” film series that the doors to Cannes opened up for him. Standing out for its use of novel and previously unseen green-tinged cinematography by Sławomir Idziak, the story of the brutal murder of a Warsaw taxi driver by a young man shook the festival audiences. The film, a parable about crime and punishment, was awarded the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize. Three years later, Kieślowski came to the French coast with his film “The Double Life of Veronique”, which won him the Ecumenical Jury Prize and - again - the FIPRESCI Prize. He last visited Cannes in 1994 when the third part of his trilogy, “Three Colors: Red”, was in contention to win the Golden Palm (eventually losing to Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”). After that festival, Kieślowski announced that he would never make another film. He died on 13 March 1996. Two decades later, at Cannes Classics, the fifth and sixth parts of “Decalogue” were shown among the works of such cinema greats as Andrei Tarkovsky, Miloš Forman and Jean-Luc Godard.

Roman Polański in Cannes

A separate chapter in the history of the festival was written by Roman Polański. Although he has been in regular attendance there since the 1960s, his films have rarely appeared in competition. In 1976, “The Tenant”, in which Polański played the title role, qualified for the main competition while in 2002 he received the Golden Palm for “The Pianist”, the powerful story of a young pianist, Władysław Szpilman, trying to survive in Warsaw during WWII. In 2013, he presented his film “Venus In Fur”, an erotic thriller starring his wife, Emmanuelle Seigner. At the same festival he also presented “Weekend of a Champion” – a biographical documentary featuring Jackie Stewart, one of the most famous Formula One racing drivers in history. Polański had directed the film four decades earlier, and many years later Paweł Edelman had shot several new contemporary scenes. This year Polański is coming back to Cannes with his new feature – „Based on a True Story”.

Actresses and Young Talents

The Cannes Film Festival has proved to be a happy hunting ground not only for those outstanding Polish directors, but also for budding artists just starting out in the film industry. Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak won the award for best female role for her por-

„Man of Iron” directed by Andrzej Wajda (1981) PHOTO: RENATA PAJCHEL © STUDIO FILMOWE ZEBRA

People

Memories from Cannes:

AGNIESZKA HOLLAND MARCIN ZAWIŚLIŃSKi: In Cannes in 1980, your feature debut “Provincial Actors” won the FIPRESCI Award.

AGNIESZKA HOLLAND: That was my first and so far only film to be screened at the festival. For me, it was a fantastic, even sensual, experience. It was my second trip to the West, and my first to France, having been banned from leaving Poland for many years. I spent just 2 or 3 days in France and I remember my friends taking me on a scooter tour around Paris for many hours. I was a young director, and I didn’t fully realise the importance of this event or the award I received there.

PHOTO: ROBERT PAŁKA © SF TOR

After completing “Fever”, and after the imposition of martial law in Poland, you emigrated to Paris. It was closer to Cannes from there.

AH: Well, I went there a few times. Twice with Krzysztof Kieślowski, with whom I had a great time. I also remember the festival in 1990, when Krystyna Janda received the acting award for her role as Antonina Dziwisz in “Interrogation” by Ryszard Bugajski. That’s when that famous photo was taken, the one where I am standing with Roman Polański, Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Żuławski, Ryszard Bugajski and Krzysztof Kieślowski. What are your feelings when you come here now?

AH: On the one hand, this is the Mecca of ambitious cinema, but at the same time it’s a very specific place. Personally, I do not like watching movies in Cannes. However, I do appreciate the festival because the films that qualify for the main competition here are a guarantee of quality. I also believe that every filmmaker should attend at least once. I visit Cannes only if I have some business here, most recently as the head of the European Film Academy. It bores me slightly that it is a sort of boys club, that the line-up of directors is always predictable, but I admit that they are all, without exception, fantastic filmmakers. It’s a matter of regret that Polish films today have such little chance of appearing at the festival. There is no snobbery for them here yet. But I hope the time will soon come! Is it about the level of those films, or rather the changing fashions that characterise the event?

AH: It’s definitely a question of fashion for a certain type of cinema, and for certain cinematography. Fashion is extremely important in Cannes. It is believed that the Golden Palm of Cannes is for European cinema, whereas the Oscars are for the American film industry.

AH: Over the past 10-15 years, that situation has changed a little. An award at Cannes is no longer a guarantee of a film’s global success. And it’s similar with the Oscars. In recent years, the number of films at the big festivals representing so-called mainstream cinema has shrunk. I am talking about films which, while being artistic, personal and innovative, at the same time also appeal to a wider audience. Once, such films won the major prizes at Cannes, but today those often go to more elitist works. In the United States, the Oscars are also increasingly awarded to niche productions. And they do not translate into large takings from ticket sales. For some time, unfortunately, neither the Golden Palm nor the Oscars have been a guarantee that the winning movies will pull in large cinema audiences. Top right: Agnieszka Holland on the set of her film “Spoor” (2017) Bottom right: Krzysztof Zanussi

Memories from Cannes:

PHOTO: MIKOŁAJ RUTKOWSKI © SF TOR

KRZYSZTOF ZANUSSI MARCIN ZAWIŚLIŃSKI: You first went to Cannes in 1971 with “Family Life”, which was in the main competition.

KRZYSZTOF ZANUSSI: Yes. My debut, “The Structure of Crystal”, had already been shown out of competition at Cannes. But I didn’t attend then. I remember going together with Maja Komorowska and Daniel Olbrychski in 1971 in great excitement. I used to have a Trabant back then. In Cannes, I started thinking about exchanging it for another car. I was staying at the Carlton hotel and got into a conversation with a lift attendant there, who was more or less my age, and after work he got into his very nice car. That’s when I realised how huge the material gap was separating communist Poland from Western Europe. What were your first impressions of that visit?

KZ: At that time, Polish films used to compete quite regularly at various international festivals. Only later did I realise that it was something special, as if you had set the world on fire. I remember after the screening of “Family Life”, which was well received, I went with Maja Komorowska and Daniel Olbrychski down the stairs on the red carpet. Nearby, behind the railings, were huge numbers of people who were reaching out their hands for us to touch them. So we walked along and generously reciprocated their smiles. At some point, the barriers finished. We mingled with the crowd and stopped... being

People special. I was inspired by this experience so after I came back to Poland, I wrote the stage play “Unavailable” together with Edward Żebrowski, in which we talked about the effect of unavailability which suddenly and unexpectedly passes. In 1978, you won the Cannes Ecumenical Jury Prize for “Spiral”, and two years later the Jury Prize for “The Constant Factor”.

KZ: Also in 1980, my film “Ways in the Night”, which I had made in Germany, was shown in the “Un Certain Regard” section. I cherish both of those movies and they are both very close to my heart. And what about that new dream car?

KZ: I bought it, but later. In 1980, to kill time while waiting for the decision of the jury, I made an appointment to meet a car dealer who sold me a Fiat Mirafiori. I got packed and was ready to go back to Poland when Tony Molière, my foreign distributor, called me with the information that I was going to get the award for “The Constant Factor”. I remember when I accepted it that I said I had made a movie about scaling peaks and that here – at sea level – I felt that I had scaled other peaks. That’s beautiful.

KZ: The host of the entire gala and all the people gathered in the Palais des Festivals hardly reacted to it, as if they hadn’t even heard it. Imagine my surprise when I walked out onto the street and someone came up to me, thanking me for what I had said. I put it down to television, which had been broadcasting the gala. Close-up on the screen, it had resounded but the audience in the hall hadn’t paid any attention to it. What do you associate with the Cannes Film Festival today?

KZ: It is still the most important and most prestigious film festival in Europe and the world - but it is no longer the biggest. In this respect, it has been overtaken by the Korean Busan. Cannes is a somewhat coquettish event, where the selectors have a lot to say. They usually choose works that are similar to films that have already been awarded. Cannes also has its trends and fashions. There were years when Polish cinema was very popular. Then came the time for Persian cinematography, and now Romanian movies are having their five minutes. What are your hopes and expectations when you come to Cannes now?

KZ: I like to meet other artists and so I participate in panel discussions, which are often very inspiring. If I ever make another movie, I hope it will be shown in the main competition. Or at least in the “Un Certain Regard” section, as happened with my last film, “At Full Gallop”.

PHOTO: MARCIN KUŁAKOWSKI © PISF

Memories from Cannes:

JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI MARCIN ZAWIŚLIŃSKI: It is quite incredible, but the first time you showed one of your films at the Cannes Film Festival was over half a century ago!

JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI: The film was “Walkover”, and it was presented in the “Semaine de la Critique” in 1965. I was in my twenties at the time and so was Jack Nicholson who was also showing his western “The Shooting” in the same section. The friendship which we established then continues until today. What brought you close?

JS: We met through Roman Polański. We saw each other’s films and liked them. We spent a couple of days together in Cannes, having a great time. In the meantime, I learned that the festival in Pesaro was due to start in a few days’ time. With what little money I had, I bought a third-class ticket and went there by train. I got off, taking my film cans with me, and then I saw coming out of the next carriage... Jack Nicholson, carrying his own cans containing his western. As a result, we spent another week together. I also met Miloš Forman, Ivan Passer and Volker Schlöndorff there. That was even more important for me than my stay in Cannes. It made me realise that even though they came from different countries, they were all making similar films. Didn’t you think then about staying in the West?

JS: On the contrary! I returned to Poland hoping to shoot more movies. After “Walkover”, the first obstacles were being placed in front of me. I was not allowed to appear in my next film – “Barrier”. That was after Władysław Gomułka’s famous speech, when he said, “We do not need any more films like ‘Knife in the Water’ or ‘Identification Marks: None’. These are not the heroes we want to see on our screens”. Nevertheless, the following year I was able to appear in “Hands Up!” but the film was banned and withdrawn from the festival in Venice. I fought for that production. I went to comrade Zenon Kliszko, number two on the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party. When I entered his office at eight in the morning, his secretary warned me that I only had five minutes. I frantically tried to convince Kliszko to change his mind. When I had used up my last argument, saying that if the movie did not make it into movie theatres, then I didn’t see myself making another film in Poland, comrade Kliszko got up from behind his desk and said just a few simple words: “Have a good journey”. The next day, a passport was delivered to my home. What was I supposed to do? I left.

Above: “The Constant Factor” directed by Krzysztof Zanussi (1980)

Top: Jerzy Skolimowski

People Four of your films have been shown in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival. All of them were made abroad and two of them received awards.

JS: In 1978, I received the Grand Prix de Jury for “The Shout”. After the Golden Bear in West Berlin, which I received for a film I made in France, “The Departure”, and the Golden Lion in Venice which I got as a lifetime achievement award, that was my biggest festival success. In 1982, “Moonlighting”, a British film of yours, won the Jury Prize for best screenplay.

JS: That was a disappointment for me. The film was a favourite for the Golden Palm but it turned out that the only person on the jury who was against it was the chairman, the leftist writer Gabriel García Márquez. He believed, and argued, that it was an anti-Communist film. And I must admit that to some extent he was right. Five years later, you were on the jury chaired by Yves Montand which awarded the Golden Palm. How did those deliberations go?

JS: Until a certain moment, we made all the decisions jointly with a simple majority of votes. That was until we had to vote for the best actress award. One of the festival representatives, who had been listening to our discussions, informed us that Faye Dunaway was still in Cannes, suggesting that she should receive the award. Yves Montand quickly asked: “Who is in favour?” A few hands rose and immediately it was written in the minutes: “Award for Faye Dunaway”. Then I protested that there had been no discussion of any alternative candidates. I proposed Barbara Hershey, who had been phenomenal in Andrei Konchalovsky’s “Shy People”. It turned out that this proposal unexpectedly gained the support of the other jurors. One of them, the American writer Norman Mailer, told me afterwards, “Jerzy, you have turned the course of history”. In 2008, after a 17-year break from making films, you came to Cannes with your film “Four Nights with Anna”. Why did you come back here?

JS: It was a Polish-French co-production. My producer, Paolo Branco, submitted this film for the main competition but we were offered the “Un Certain Regard” section. We were expecting something more and, in the end, “Four Nights with Anna” opened the 40th edition of the prestigious “Quinzaine des Réalisateurs” section. Before the screening, I told the audience: “I’m happy to be here again. For my friends I have a message: I’m back. And for my enemies I also have a message: I’m back.”

Memories from Cannes:

MAŁGORZATA SZUMOWSKA MARCIN ZAWIŚLIŃSKI: Do you remember your first visit to Cannes?

MAŁGORZATA SZUMOWSKA: It was in 2000. I went with Michał Englert for “Ascension”, our short feature which was presented in the “Cinéfondation” section. For the first time in our lives we landed in a world of total glamour. For Poles from the 1990s, it was a nice shock and a lot of fun. Your second visit to this festival was connected with the film “Antichrist” by Danish director Lars von Trier.

MS: I was the film’s Polish co-producer. To this day, I still remember this trip because it was the most spectacular of all my visits to Cannes so far. I was with von Trier’s team! I remember how impressed I was by Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” when it was shown with him present. It’s undoubtedly the dream of many directors to present their film in the main competition at Cannes. It is difficult but you never know. For now, I’m a typical Berlin-style director, and I’m glad about that because I like Berlinale very much. The third time you went to Cannes was in 2011 with “Sponsoring”, which had been developed as part of the fifth edition of the Atelier de la Cinéfondation.

MS: It was a completely different visit from the previous two. I attended a lot of very interesting pitches, conversations and dinners with producers from all over the world. Such meetings are always a lesson. Why do you submit your films to Berlin instead of Cannes?

MS: It’s not like that. When I finish a film, I try to send it to the next A class festival. In recent years, that happened to be Berlin. On the other hand, it’s also part of the strategy of my foreign sales agent. Besides, the organisers of the Berlin festival have long been interested in me as a director from Poland. It turns out that being a close neighbour does matter. The French are no longer as curious as they used to be about what our cinema is presenting. Today, they are more inclined to watch Iranian or Romanian films. That is why Polish artists are now finding it more difficult to break into Cannes than Berlin. If you had a choice between Berlin and Cannes, where would you submit your next film?

MS: I’d love to try Cannes for a change, as I already know Berlin after all. Agnieszka Holland once said to me: “You know why creators need success at festivals? To have the freedom to create.” I wholeheartedly agree with that, it is why we need awards and festivals. But we shouldn’t go overboard about them and we should just do our thing.

In the last decade Małgorzata Szumowska has become one the strongest voices in Polish cinema. Her films, including „33 Scenes from Life” (2008), „In the name of...” (2013) and „Body” (2015), were awarded at film festivals in Berlin, Locarno and Thessaloniki.

Małgorzata Szumowska PHOTO: JACEK POREMBA © KINO ŚWIAT

KRYSTYNA JANDA Krystyna Janda is one of the most popular and accomplished actresses in Poland. In 1990 she won the Golden Palm for Best Actress for her role as Antonina Dziwisz in Ryszard Bugajski’s “Interrogation”. - I had a small hunch only when a man approached our group and asked us how to pronounce the name „Janda”. But I thought maybe they would be reading out the nominations or just listing the cast of the films – said the actress in the conversation with Ola Salwa. Photo: KATARZYNA CHMURACEGIEŁKOWSKA © AGENCJA KRYSTYNY JANDY

KRYSTYNA Woman of Iron JANDA Ola Salwa: How do you recall your winning night during the 43rd Cannes Film Festival when you were honored with the Golden Palm?

Krystyna Janda: I was not prepared for the award at all. I came to Cannes for the presentation of “Interrogation” and returned to Poland immediately. I had a small child and was pregnant with another, and we were staying in the countryside. A few days later, the producer’s representative found me in that village in the woods, and told me that I had to, or should, go back to Cannes. I thought that maybe the producer – Janusz Morgenstern – and the director – Ryszard Bugajski – wanted me to be at the closing of the festival. I really did not want to go as it was not a good time. But I thought I had to fulfill my duty towards the producer and Polish cinema so I went there. Besides, the movie and the role were really important to me. I arrived in Cannes two hours before the ceremony. I looked around the Croisette for a hairdresser, and finally went to the hotel. And... I fell asleep right

away. The phone woke me up, saying that I had to go to the gala. I quickly got dressed, brushed my hair and ran to the car that was supposed to take me to the red carpet. All this was quite traumatic and stressful. And still you did not suspect anything?

KJ: The gossip going around was that the favourite was Inna Churikova, who was starring in the film “Mother” by Gleb Panfilov. I had a small hunch only when a man approached our group and asked us how to pronounce the name Janda. But I thought maybe they would be reading out the nominations or just listing the cast of the films. And then I heard my name as the best actress of the festival. I could not believe it. The Golden Palm. The dream of all European actors. I was in shock. I did not have a “thank you” speech prepared. There is a recording of that moment on the Internet and you can see that I was in a panic.

Krystyna Janda

Krystyna Janda and Adam Ferency in “Interrogation” directed by Ryszard Bugajski (1982) PHOTO: RENATA PAJCHEL © STUDIO FILMOWE ZEBRA

Did the emotions subside at the banquet?

KJ: No, because I did not go to it. I was giving interviews, along with the other winners, until two in the morning. And then at six or seven in the morning I left for Poland. It was May 1990, less than a year after communism had ended. Poland was then naturally attracting a lot of interest, Polish cinema as well. At the Cannes Film Festival, there was a famous photo taken, of Andrzej Żuławski, Andrzej Wajda, Agnieszka Holland, Roman Polański, Ryszard Bugajski and Krzysztof Kieślowski standing against the background of the Polish flag.

KJ: Polish artists were catching everybody’s interest at that time. They were also recognised in Cannes, and not only Polański and Żuławski, who both lived in France. First and foremost, it was Andrzej Wajda who stirred the emotions. But also several others, who had been making films behind the Iron Curtain for years: Krzysztof Kieślowski, Agnieszka Holland, Filip Bajon and others cooperating with producers from Germany and France. We were in Cannes with Mrs. Regina Ziegler, Tony Molière and producers from Switzerland and Portugal. I myself in the 1980s and 1990s appeared in films in France, Germany and Switzerland. I performed a total of 10 roles outside of Poland, some of which were also awarded at other festivals. Polish cinema was not closed to Europe?

KJ: Definitely not. After “Man of Marble” by Andrzej Wajda, which was made in 1976, filmmakers from Poland often worked abroad. There were always new ideas for collaboration. In Cannes, we also talked about future projects - Polish-German, Polish-Swiss ones. Shortly after you received the Cannes award, Krzysztof Kieślowski made his “Three Colours” trilogy and “The Double Life of Veronique” in France.

KJ: After the Polish-German “Decalogue” series, Kieślowski was a “star”. He was the talk of the town. And he just sat there and resented everybody for this “interest”. He did not like to be in the spotlight. I feel like laughing when I recall it. He was upset about it - in one place he could not smoke, in another people

would pester him. Someone always wanted something from him, such as an autograph or a picture together. I remember how angry he was that there were constant banquets which he really did not want to attend. And most of all, he did not want to answer questions about what film he was working on then. And how do you remember Cannes?

KJ: I used to laugh that I did not fit in because I was not tanned. I always came to this festival for one day - either straight from a movie set or from a theatre performance. Usually tired. Back then too. And neither “Interrogation” nor I were quite in the Cannes style! Though I really like this “style”, and the festival and its history, and also the list of winners is impressive and wonderful. I remember that some viewers, after leaving the cinema, accosted me on the Croissette and thanked me for their “evening”. I was surprised that those tanned, happy, smiling ladies were thanking me for their evening. After a screening of “Interrogation”? It did not make sense for me at all. But why? The Cannes programme often features hard-hitting films. The festival never avoided those. Not to look too far - for example “Mephisto” by István Szabó, where you played one of the main roles.

KJ: The Cannes grandeur - the sun, palm trees, fireworks - did not connect for me with what “Interrogation” was about or the conditions in which we made it. Nor with the legend surrounding the film. For nine years, that is, from the making of the film to the fall of communism, it circulated only in underground screenings, shown in churches or in homes. The filmmakers were interrogated afterwards, and the director was blacklisted for years. I did not have a good copy of the movie – there was no music, and there were marks on the picture. When the Security Services interrogated me, they said they knew “Interrogation” because the movie had been shown to them as a “training film”. Training in hatred. So the context was traumatic and it had nothing to do with the Cannes atmosphere. I would add that every year, for eight years, the festival invited the film to the competition, but only in 1990 could it be shown. We are grateful to Cannes for their touching loyalty to this film.

Krystyna Janda Top left: Krystyna Janda and Jerzy Radziwiłowicz in “Man of Iron” directed by Andrzej Wajda (1981) PHOTO: RENATA PAJCHEL © STUDIO FILMOWE ZEBRA

Bottom left: Krystyna Janda in “Interrogation” directed by Ryszard Bugajski (1982) PHOTO: RENATA PAJCHEL © STUDIO FILMOWE ZEBRA

a special attitude towards me. When he was preparing for “The Conductor”, in which he said he had no role for me, he came to my house and talked to my then-husband, actor Andrzej Seweryn. They sat at the table and talked about the screenplay, and I was playing with my little daughter at the other end of the room. When the conversation was over, he came up to me and said, ‘Why am I looking for another actress for “The Conductor”? After all, you are a woman!’ Then we both burst out laughing. The “discovery” that you are a woman is related to the fact that...

Podpisy do zdjec. Onemolore ius, intisci endunt. La dia volorum intisci endunt. La dia volorum

KJ: In “Man of Marble” I was supposed to play... a boy. Of course not literally. Before “Man of Marble”, there had been no film in Poland where a woman had been the “driving force” and where her feelings had not even been mentioned. Today, there are a lot of such dynamic, strong-minded actresses but in those days it was a novelty. But it fell to me to represent activity and the Solidarity generation. I remember when Andrzej asked me - can you play a man? After all, he had seen me at a theatre rehearsal of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” when I played Dorian. Agnieszka, the only “man” you have ever played, returned in the Golden Palm-winning “Man of Iron”. Andrzej Wajda often said that this was the only film he made to order. He was asked to make it by the workers of the Gdańsk Shipyard. There will be a special screening of “Man of Iron” at this year’s festival.

That was your first stay in Cannes. You came back to the festival seven years later, in 1997.

KJ: Yes, I could not come with “Man of Marble”, “Man of Iron” or any of the Swiss or German films I had roles in due to work commitments. On the occasion of the 50th edition of the festival, I was invited along with other Golden Palm laureates to come and have a group photo taken together. I came again for a brief visit and again I almost missed the gala. When I stood on the red carpet, I heard someone announcing through the speaker: “Krystyna Janda, actrice-fétiche de Andrzej Wajda”. It surprised me to be referred to in this way, as after all, I had won the Golden Palm for my role in “Interrogation” by Ryszard Bugajski. Some time later, I received a gift of a film encyclopedia and my entry started with the words “actrice-fétiche de Andrzej Wajda” and so that is how I am referred to in all studies on cinema. I feel very good about that. In all, you appeared in five of his films and, in total, you worked with him for thirty-three years. What do you most strongly associate Andrzej Wajda with?

KJ: With unconventionalism, creation, truth, greatness. Everything Andrzej did was related to art and to Poland. He was a great authority, an artistic and moral one, a singer of Polishness. A rational romantic. Polish art, theatre, film, political and social life would be much, much poorer without Wajda. Undoubtedly, he had

KJ: It was a terribly difficult movie for Andrzej as he had nothing: no guns, tanks, uniforms, military or police help. He was not given anything, and he only had smoke. That’s why I had to tell the story of the most important street events in my monologue in prison. He had no choice. Making this movie was for him an act of heroism. The film was made half a year after the events it talked about, namely, the strikes at Gdańsk Shipyard in August 1980. He felt the responsibility towards history and towards his fellow Poles. We filmed the summer scenes in winter 1981 because we could not wait any longer. Andrzej felt anxious, he sensed that we should hurry with the shooting as soon we would not be able to shoot the film at all. He was right, because on 13 December of the same year, not much later, martial law began. You all worked at an incredible pace.

KJ: As if we had a temperature of 39.9 degrees, from rapture and tension. Every day, people from Solidarity would come up to Andrzej to tell him their stories, which were then worked on during the night for the next scenes. They showed their scars from gunshot wounds, and Solidarity badges made of gold, proudly worn on their chests. On the streets, workers would come up to us and threaten us that if we made a false film, they would hang us from the lampposts. There were also some communist secret police who said that Lech Wałęsa and the other strikers were Soviet agents. Not to mention the fact that there were plenty of informers around us. Andrzej took this huge responsibility upon himself. And he won the Golden Palm. By the way - where do you keep your statue?

KJ: Nowhere, because I don’t have one.

KJ: Actors just receive a diploma. And that is hanging on the wall in my library.

The Polish New Wave Above: “The Lure”, directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska (2015) Photo: Robert Pałka © Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych

Born in the 1980s and 1990s, they’re extremely ambitious, talented and… that’s all they have in common. Each of these directors has their own distinctive style and favourite themes. Here they are: the new voices in Polish cinema and their films.

Agnieszka Smoczyńska

Forget “The Little Mermaid”. In Smoczyńska’s visually-alluring feature debut “The Lure”, there are not one but two, and not-so-little mermaids: Golden and Silver, who come ashore in 1980s Warsaw. They dive into the glittery world of late-night parties and romance, have their first kiss and lose much more than the occasional scale. “The Lure” was awarded the Special Jury Award for Unique Vision and Design at the Sundance Film Festival, and received acclaim PHOTO: RAFAŁ PACEK © WFDIF at many other film festivals. Smoczyńska, whose narrative feature short “Aria Diva” secured her a spot on Poland’s most promising directors list, has exceeded all expectations. Teaming up with the witty and distinctive screenwriter Robert Bolesto, she has proved herself to be a fantastic director who boldly mixes styles and genres yet keeps a close eye on her characters. Currently, Smoczyńska is working on “The Fugue”, a drama about a woman who suffers from memory loss. Her next project, in development together with Bolesto, is “Deranged”, a science fiction meets space opera based on David Bowie’s album “Outside”, and it has already received a Sundance Institute Global Filmmaking Award.

Tomasz Wasilewski

This writer-director, who was awarded the Silver Bear in Berlinale 2016 for his script for “United States of Love”, has come a long way from his home town of Toruń. Wasilewski made his first feature, the intimate drama “In the Bedroom”, on a shoestring budget and his next film, “Floating Skyscrapers”, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, won awards at the Karlovy Wary IFF and put the Polish filmmaker on the international map. Instead of making a romantic comedy, he PHOTO © MARCIN OLIVA SOTO opted for the stylish and melancholic “United States of Love”, set in 1990s Poland. This bleak drama about four women who have missed their chance for love and happiness travelled around numerous film festivals and got distribution deals in many European countries. Wasilewski has fairly earned a reputation as an “actor’s director”, a wonder-

ful stylist and a filmmaker who doesn’t shy away from difficult or gloomy subjects, such as loneliness, frustration or a feeling of failure. He is currently working on his fourth feature, “Fools”.

Jan P. Matuszyński

Every time the veteran Polish actor Andrzej Seweryn (Andrzej Wajda’s “The Promised Land”, “Danton”, “Man of Iron”) talks about Jan P. Matuszyński, who directed him in “The Last Family”, a curious smile spreads across his face. And it’s not because that wonderfully gritty performance won Seweryn a Best Actor Award in Locarno. It’s because Matuszyński gave him the chance to play a character who was every actor‘s dream: complicated, contentious and ambiguous. Accordingly, “The Last Family” is nothing like what you’d expect from a biopic. Penned by Robert Bolesto, the story revolves around a death-obsessed painter, Zdzisław Beksiński, who is glued to his home video camera. Matuszyński presents a study of unusual characters (Zdzisław’s wife Zofia and their son Tomasz are also at the centre of the picture) and he never goes where the audience expects him to. The young director is stubborn in bringing his vision to the big screen and he does it with resolve and confidence. Below: “The Last Family” directed by Jan P. Matuszyński (2016) PHOTO: HUBERT KOMERSKI © AURUM FILM

Kuba Czekaj

Critics call him “the cool kid” of Polish cinema. Why is that? In his two features, “Baby Bump” (which premiered in Venice) and “The Erlprince” (presented in Berlinale’s Forum), as well as in his shorts – “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark Room” and “Twist & Blood” – Czekaj explored the subject of childhood. There are no fairy godmothers or talking teddy bears to be found in his films, though. The animated mouse in “Baby Bump” is cheeky and brazen, and growing up means mostly experiencPHOTO: MARCIN KUŁAKOWSKI © PISF ing growing pains and facing awkwardness and insecurities on a daily basis. But there is much more to Czekaj’s work than just a kids-oriented plot. He’s a director with a very distinctive visual style and a taste for absurdity and the grotesque. At the same time, he portrays his gawky characters with an older brother’s compassion, making them lovable and disturbing at the same time. Czekaj is developing two new films, both focusing on adult characters. One of these projects, “Sorry Poland”, won the Baumi Script Development Award at this year’s Berlinale.

Michał Marczak

With his two full-length documentaries (“Fuck for Forest”, “At the Edge of Russia”) and one narrative film (“All These Sleepless Nights”), Michał Marczak travelled around the globe to the best film festivals, including Sundance, Rotterdam and SXSW, proving himself to be a versatile and watchful director, who brought on-screen realism to the next

level. His recent film, “All These Sleepless Nights”, which brought him the Best Directing Award at Park City, is a story of two drifters who roam the streets of Warsaw, enjoying every moment they spend together. The audience is easily drawn into the onscreen world and is helped into the party mood thanks to the cool soundtrack that includes songs by Francoise Hardy, Caribou and Kendrick Lamar. The film feels spontaneous and carefree yet it does have a lot of gravitas, as if Marczak’s camera was piercing his character’s souls.

Małgorzata Szumowska

One of the most successful contemporary Polish directors, many of her films have been presented and awarded at major film festivals, including Berlinale, Locarno Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival. Szumowska isn’t resting on her laurels, she continues to make one film after another, constantly developing her filmmaking range. Whether working on a small-budget film set in rural Poland (“In the name of…”), a dark comedy (“Body”) or a French-Polish drama with an European film star in Juliette Binoche (“Elles”), she keeps her cool and goes exactly where she wants to. Szumowska’s background in documentary filmmaking and her ability to address subjects in a diverse and unexpected way makes her work a unique blend of realism, fiction and raw emotions. Her next film, “Face”, is one of the most anticipated upcoming European films. Written by OLA SALWA

70 YEARS OF POLISH ANIMATION Imagine two people growing old together gracefully: he is the festival in Cannes, she is Polish animation. As coincidence would have it, we are today celebrating their joint 70th anniversary. Animated film is one of the hallmarks of Poland abroad. Emotional, personal, perfectly crafted – for many years it has garnered the largest number of awards among Polish filmmakers. What is it about Polish animation that makes it so hard to ignore? “Peter and The Wolf”, directed by Suzie Templeton (2006) © SE-MA-FOR

A one-man orchestra

Two colour blotches fighting with each other like bull and bullfighter - “Red and Black” (1963) by Witold Giersz is the first piece of animated painting, full of suspense and humour. The film, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1955, is today regarded as a masterpiece. It has become an unwritten rule that Polish animated cinema is always an auteur work. The directors themselves discover the stories, write the scripts, draw, paint, shape the plasticine or sculpt the plaster. Often they animate, or at least work out how the character should move – crawl, swim or shuffle – they sometimes even record the music score for their films. The animator is a one-man orchestra.

A visual puzzle

Polish jazz and abstract art – it can all be found in Polish animation. Moving posters, amusing collages created by outstanding Polish artists like Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk. Simple

Animation lines and newspaper cuttings creating a visual puzzle. A figure appears, and then dissolves into pieces, leaving behind philosophical questions. The film “Once Upon a Time...” (1957) by Borowczyk and Lenica won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and went on to become a classic of the animated film world. Only in an animated film can we find such mysterious places as the apartment in “Tango” (1981) by Zbigniew Rybczyński. A single-room space in a block of flats, where a ball comes through the window, followed by a boy, an old man, a kissing couple, a sportsman and at least 30 more people who repeat the same activities over and over again, passing one another in a state of complete obliviousness. This legendary film, an Oscar winner, hypnotises the viewer with its rhythm, ambiguity and mystery. © SE-MA-FOR

“Tango”, directed by Zbigniew Rybczyński (1980) “Pussy”, directed by Renata Gąsiorowska (2016) © WYŻSZA SZKOŁA FILMOWA W ŁODZI

The art of the metaphor

The world loves Polish animation for its dark, black humour and courage in exploring the human psyche. Under communism, it mastered the art of the metaphor, in order to avoid censorship. That’s why films like “The Flag” (1965) by Mirosław Kijowicz, with the jazz music of Krzysztof Komeda, talk about universal truths, regardless of era or geography. It tells the story of a parade in which a delay and a missing flag expose the ideological falsehood of the system, the hypocrisy of the authorities and the cleverness of the citizens. Social satire has always been a Polish specialty. Today, animation speaks in the language of the plastic arts about our deepest instincts, or even taboos. “Hippos” (2014) by Piotr Dumała, the last Polish film to make the Oscar shortlist, transfixes with its brutality. The idyllic scene of bathing in the river turns from lust into a massacre of innocents. Great craftsmanship of drawing, painting and animation are the features that have always distinguished Polish animated cinema. The most monumental work in recent years was the co-production made by five countries seven years ago - the animation debut of young director Kamil Polak. “The Lost Town of Świteź” (2010) is an animated icon of Orthodox church art, reflecting the atmosphere of the romantic ballad by Adam Mick-

iewicz to the rhythm of the great Orthodox church choir pieces composed specially for the occasion. A puppet version of the famous ballet by Sergei Prokofiev brought Poland and Great Britain together when Suzie Templeton created “Peter and the Wolf ” (2006). The film, which was shot at the Se-Ma-For Studio in Łódź, won an Oscar and the stop-motion technique, combined precisely with the classical music, created the effect of an animal puppet theatre strikingly resembling living creatures.

The inner world of women

Ahead of the other branches of cinema, animated film has the wildest imagination. It’s where wallpaper can fall off walls to reveal the way to a different reality – like the one where women deep in a trance succumb to wild dancing, as in the latest film by Marta Pajek. “Impossible Figures and Other Stories” (2016) is a surreal journey into the inner world of a woman with big, sad eyes. The most interesting contemporary Polish films are made by women. Directors such as Ewa Borysewicz, whose sharp strokes portray teenage emotions emanating from the courtyards of high-rise tower blocks. Her film “To Thy Heart” (2013) is a kind of animated poem, where black humour is combined with the need for love. Female animated filmmakers are much less ashamed than their male counterparts to talk about sex, and about the sensual perception of the world. “Pussy” (2016) by Renata Gąsiorowska, then still a Łódź Film School student, took the international festivals by storm with its light-hearted story about a body part which breaks away from its owner. The vision of reality as perceived by female artists has recently come to dominate Polish animation.

Other realities

Animation is everywhere today: in the apps on your phone, in computer games, through to special effects in movies. A lot of Polish studios have achieved excellent results in animated technology, but the most successful so far has been Platige Image, which produced both the Oscar-nominated “The Cathedral” (2002) and also “Fallen Art” (2004) by Tomek Bagiński. It is currently completing the most anticipated film adaptation of a book - Ryszard Kapuściński’s reportage “Another Day of Life”, which tells the story of the revolution in Angola in 1975. The full-length animation directed by Damian Nenow and Raul de la Fuente will conquer film festivals later this year. Also coming to cinemas soon will be “Loving Vincent”, directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, a monumental work bringing to life the story of Van Gogh through his most famous paintings. While mankind continues to look for traces of life in the universe beyond Earth, let us remember that the art of animation is proof of the existence of other realities.

GRAPHIC DESIGN: NATALIA MARKIEWICZ EDITOR: ADRIAN LUZAR JOURNALISTS: OLA SALWA, MARCIN ZAWIŚLIŃSKI, ADRIANA PRODEUS DIRECTOR OF POLISH FILM INSTITUTE: MAGDALENA SROKA HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: KATARZYNA MAZURKIEWICZ POLISH FILM INSTITUTE: RAFAŁ JANKOWSKI, MARCIN KUŁAKOWSKI

Written by Adriana Prodeus

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