Polish Film Festival kicks off Nov. 14

ome of the finest films in Polish cinema will hit the big screen at the Little Theatre during the 2004 Polish Film Festival, organized by the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies at the University.

The festival kicks off Sunday, November 14, with In Desert and Wilderness (W Pustyni i w Puszczy, 2001). Directed and written by Gavin Hood, the film takes place at the end of the 19th century when two children are kidnapped in the heart of the African continent. They escape along with two other children and embark on a journey framed by the African landscape.

Directed by Piotr Szulkin, Ubu the King (Krol Ubu, 2003) tells the story of human greed, cowardice, and stupidity in the latest version of a 19th-century play. The king, egged on by his Lady Macbeth like wife, pretends to fight for freedom and democracy in order to seize power from the reigning monarch in the fictitious land of Foland. The film will be shown Monday, November 15.

The Garden of Earthly Delights (Ogrod Ziemskich Rozkoszy, 2003), a new film by the internationally acclaimed director-writer-cinematographer Lech Majewski, develops the story of a loner and a young Italian woman who seek to find their place in the world. It will be presented at Tuesday, November 16.

On Wednesday, November 17, two films will be paired. The six-minute animated movie titled Fallen Art (Sztuka Spadania, 2004) is set on a military base in the Pacific. It is an exile for exemplary officers who have lost their grasp on reality after their experiences in the military. Director Tomek Baginski earned an Oscar nomination for another film, The Cathedral, which was shown at last year's festival.

The second film, Symmetry (Symetria, 2003), follows 26-year-old Lukasz, who is wrongly accused of mugging an elderly woman and is held in police custody. The inspiration for the film, which brings attention to the current state of the Polish judicial and prison systems, is based on director Konrad Niewolski's personal experiences.

The festival will conclude with the screening of The Bench (Laweczka, 2004) Thursday, November 18. Director Maciej Zak brings together two young people with different outlooks on love and relationships. A conflict is played out between the woman's need for closeness and the man's lack of ability to communicate

Sponsored by a grant from Rochester's Louis Skalny Foundation and now in its ninth year, the festival gives local audiences the chance to see films that are acclaimed abroad but have not been distributed in the United States.

A complete listing of the films and show times is available online at www.rochester.edu/college/psc/CPCES/PFF2004.htm. Tickets can be purchased at the Little Theatre box office prior to each showing. All films are Polish with English subtitles. For more information, contact the Skalny Center at x5-9898.

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