This year's Polish Film Festival, sponsored by the Center for Polish and Central European Studies of the University of Rochester, will bring new and revered films to two Rochester locations for special screenings. For the first time, festival films will be shown at the Little Theatre at 240 East Ave. from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, with the festival continuing at Hoyt Hall on the University's River Campus Nov. 7 and 8.
Now in its fourth year, the festival is sponsored by a generous grant from the Louis Skalny Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Society for the Arts in Chicago, UR Cinema Group, and the University's Film Studies Program.
With Fire & Sword will open the festival at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29, and will be shown through Nov. 1. Released in February, more than 6 million people in Poland have raved about the film based on the history of 17th-century Poland and the intensifying Cossack rebellion. It is the latest in a series by director Jerzy Hoffman, adapted from the 1883 novel Trilogy by Nobel Prize winner Henryk Sienkiewicz. Hoffman describes With Fire & Sword as the "Polish-Ukrainian version of Gone With the Wind, a story of great passions, of human fates thrown into the tragic whirlpool of a civil war." Admission is $12; $8 students ($10 and $6 if purchased in advance).
Hoffman's other films in the trilogy also will be shown at the Little. They are: The Deluge (1974), which is in two parts, and Colonel Wolodyjowski (1968). Tickets for these films are $4 for matinee, $6.50 evening. The schedule is: The Deluge, Part I, 2 p.m. Oct. 30 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2; The Deluge, Part II, 2 p.m. Oct. 31 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3; and Colonel Wolodyjowski, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4.
The Deluge films are built on a love story within the historical background of the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655. Battles are won and patriotic deeds are rewarded. The trilogy concludes with Colonel Wolodyjowski, the story of a noble knight who sacrifices his life to protect his homeland against the Turks.
In contrast to these historical themes, the second part of the film festival will deal with contemporary issues. At 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7, Kiler (1997), an action comedy directed by Janusz Machulski and one of three films new to U.S. audiences, will be shown in Hoyt Hall. At 7:30 p.m., History of the Movies in Popielawy (1998), directed by Jan Jakub Kolski, will develop the traditions and psychology of Polish villagers through the eyes of a 10-year-old narrator. Kolski's other films were recognized with awards at festivals in Tokyo, Chicago, Budapest and Gdansk.
Concluding the festival at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8, is the 1998 film Two Kilers, a sequel to Kiler by Machulski. All tickets to Hoyt Hall films are $4.
Discount tickets can be purchased in advance at St. Stanislaus Church, 34 St. Stanislaus St.; St. Casimir Polish National Catholic Church, 500 Simpson Road, and at the Common Market in Wilson Commons on River Campus. For more information, call 275-9898.