16th Houston Polish Film Festival

logo_16PFF_template_web2Once again The PolStage Productions, Polish Filmmakers Association and Polish Film Institute are proud to announce the 16th Annual Polish Film Festival in Houston celebrating the greatest achievements of Polish filmmakers

The Festival will take place from

October 30 – November 3, 2013

at the

AMC 30 Studio, 2949 Dunvale, Houston.

 

Tickets: $10,   students $8,     Pokłosie/Aftermath tickets: $15,  seniors $10

All movies with English subtitles

Festival guests:

>>   Director of the film “The Closed Circuit”, Ryszard Bugajski and the actress  Maria Mamona.

>>   Director of the film “Easter Crumble”,  Julia Kolberger.

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

October 30, Wednesday

7:00 pm     1939 Tajemnica Westerplatte / 1939 Battle of Westerplatte – Pawel Chochlew

9:00 pm     Zabić bobra / To Kill the Beaver – Jan Jakub Kolski

October 31, Thursday

7:00 pm    Pokłosie / Aftermath – Władysław Pasikowski

9:00 pm    Miłość / Loving – Slawomir Fabicki

November 1, Friday

7:00 pm    Mój rower / My Father’s Bike – Piotr Trzaskalski

9:00 pm    Sęp / The Vulture – Eugeniusz Korin

November 2. Saturday

6:00 pm    Układ zamknięty / The Closed Circuit – Ryszard Bugajski

8:00 pm    Meeting film director Ryszad Bugajski and Maria Mamona

9:00 pm    Generał Nil – Ryszard Bugajski

November 3, Sunday

6:00 pm    Mazurek / Easter Crumble – Julia Kolberger

6:30 pm    Meeting film director Julia Kolberger

7:00 pm     Honor miasta / The Honor of the City – Eugeniusz Starky

7:50 pm     Meeting film director Eugeniusz Starky

8:00 pm    W imię… / In the Name – Malgorzata Szumowska

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1939 Tajemnica Westerplatte / 1939 Battle of Westerplatte

Director: Pawel Chochlew, 2013, war drama, 118 minutes

Cast:  Michal Zebrowski, Robert Zoledziewski, Jan Englert, Piotr Adamczyk

The Battle of Westerplatte that began on 1 September 1939 will forever be remembered as the one that announced the beginning of the Second World War in Europe. Over one week, fewer than 200 Polish soldiers fought against heavy German bombardment and in the process came to symbolize the power of resistance. As the violence rages, a complex battle of a more personal nature plays out between two Polish commanders over how to best lead their men. Amid the bloodshed, they must ask themselves – should they fight until the last man standing or surrender in the face of overwhelming odds?

tajemnica_westerplatte

Zabić bobra / To Kill a Beaver

Director: Jan Jakub Kolski, 2012, thriller, 100 minutes

Cast: Eryk Lubos, Agnieszka Pawełkiewicz, Mariusz Bonaszewski, Marek Kasprzyk, Alexandra Michael

Anti-hero Eryk, a 40-ish loner on a mysterious mission back to his semi-derelict family home in the rural Polish backwoods.  Spare flashbacks establish him as a freelance hit man mentally scarred by his battlefield experience with the Russian military in Chechnya, although it slowly becomes clear he is not an entirely reliable narrator. The reason for this homecoming appears to be some kind of assassination, never fully explained, which is orchestrated from afar via cryptic phone conversations with a gravel-voiced boss.

zabic_bobra

Pokłosie / Aftermath

Director: Władysław Pasikowski, 2012, drama, 107 minutes

Cast: Ireneusz Czop, Maciej Sturh, Jerzy Radziwiłowicz, Andrzej Mastalerz,
Zbigniew Zamachowski

A film about a Polish village whose residents help massacre their Jewish neighbors in World War Two has forced Poles to confront one of the most troubling episodes of their past.
Most historians take the view that during the war the vast majority of Christian Poles were victims of the Nazi aggression that killed millions of Jews. There are many documented cases of Poles risking their lives to save Jews from Nazi death camps.
“Poklosie,” or “Aftermath,” touches on a subject that many Poles prefer not to discuss – cases where Poles were complicit with the Nazis in rounding up, and in some cases, killing Jews.
Opponents say Poles ‘falsely painted as collaborators’ in film depicting village residents who helped massacre their Jewish neighbors during World War Two.

poklosie

Miłość / Loving

Director: Slawomir Fabicki, 2012, drama, 105 minutes

Cast: Marcin Dorocinski, Julia Kijowska, Adam Woronowicz, Agata Kulesza

Maria and Tom are in their thirties and have been married ten years. They live in a small town. Both find professional fulfillment in their jobs he in a design company, she at the town hall. They are working together on the decoration of their apartment and are expecting a baby. It seems that nothing is capable of disturbing their peaceful lives. But one day the mayor, who has long lusted after Maria, rapes her. She decides not to report this to the police. Nor does she tell her husband. From that day forth, their love is put to the test.
milosc_2012

Mój rower / My Father’s Bike

Director: Piotr Trzaskalski, 2012, comedy, 90 minutes

Cast: Michal Urbaniak, Artur Zmijewski, Krzysztof Chodorowski, Witold Debicki

Grandfather’s wife unexpectedly leaves him for another man and this sparks a series of events. His son and grandson arrive from abroad and set of for a journey to find a woman dear to each of them.

moj_rower

Sęp / The Vulture

Director: Eugeniusz Korin, 2012, thriller,  133 minutes

Cast: Michal Zebrowski, Daniel Olbrychski, Andrzej Seweryn, Anna Przybylska

In the center of Europe suddenly, without a trace, people begin to disappear. The investigation goes into the hands of Vulture (Michal Zebrowski) – a police officer who appears to be devoid of feelings. Tough, incorruptible, no obligations and favors to others. Until he meets Natasha (Anna Przybylska) – a woman other than those that he met so far. Vulture begins a dangerous game with the enemy ahead of him is still a step. Discovers a world in which people are leading a double life. For the first time, logical thinking will drive him into a trap with no way out. Suddenly, the hunter turned into animals. Balancing on the border between passion and reason, the world of logic and clever manipulation, you will have to answer the question: is there anything more important than life?

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Układ zamknięty / The Closed Circuit

Cast: Janusz Gajos, Kazimierz Kaczor, Wojciech Zaladkowicz, Robert Olech

Director: Ryszard Bugajski, 2013, thriller, 120 minutes

Famed Polish director Ryszard Bugajski presents another dramatic and topical drama. Three Polish entrepreneurs have established massive fortunes via murky and illegal practices. But one day the men are discovered and, disgraced, they lose everything. After seven years of struggle, all charges against them are dropped – but the men are ruined, both financially and mentally. Based on true events, this gripping drama is directed by Ryszard Bugajski, the man behind the highly controversial 1982 film “Interrogation”. That film explored false imprisonment under the Stalinist regime and was banned in Poland for several years. The director is now presenting another topical drama about the corrupting influence of money and greed.

uklad_zamkniety

 

Generał Nil / General Nil

Director: Ryszard Bugajski,2009, biography, war drama, 120 minutes

Cast: Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Alicja Jachiewicz, Magdalena Emilianowicz, Anna Cieslak

Historical film, based on the life of general Emil August Fieldorf, pseudonym “Nil”.  The story shows the last few years of Polish resistance leader General Emil ‘Nil’ Fieldorf, who was a national hero but whose nationalism was deemed a threat by the Communist government that came after the war and marked him for assassination.

general_nil

Mazurek /Easter Crumble

Director: Julia Kolberger, 2013, 30 minutes

Cast: Kinga Preis, Roman Gancarczyk, Marta Juras, Richard Berkeley, Aleksandra Domańska, Paweł Królikowski

Ursula is preparing Easter breakfast in honor of his daughter and her new boyfriend. When the girl arrives, it turns out that her fiancé is thirty years older. Breakfast turns into a dinner and Ursula is experiencing the worst day of your life.
mazurek

 

Honor miasta / The Honor of the City – The Warsaw Rising

Director: Eugeniusz Starky, 2012, documentary

This documentaru seeks to familiarize western audiences with the Warsaw Rising of August 1, 1944, the greatest military operation undertaken by any civil resistance movement during WW II.

 

W imię… / In the Name Of

Director: Malgorzata Szumowska, 2013, drama, 96 minutes

Cast: Andrzej Chyra, Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, Lukasz Simlat, Maja Ostaszewska

A moving tale of compassion, sexual longing, childhood trauma, and religious commitment. Father Adam (Polish star Andrzej Chyra), an attractive, energetic priest, seems more comfortable in a T-shirt, kicking a soccer ball around with his young charges than preaching a sermon. Living in a halfway house type situation, away from the temptations that helped get them there in the first place, the residents of this societal limbo-land are put off-balance when a new punk enters the picture and starts spreading rumors about the priest’s sexuality. The boys’ casual, yet pervasive homophobia and anti-Semitism add to a complicated picture of modern Poland very much in the thrall of historical prejudice.

w_imie