Roman Polanski and His Polish Contemporaries Return to the Silver Screen

Description

Even though the history of cinema in Poland is almost as long as the history of cinematography itself, it wasn’t until the mid-1950s—following the end of Stalinism—that the country rapidly emerged as one of the freshest forces in the film industry.

The change in political climate gave rise to the Polish Film School, a movement of Polish film directors—among whom Roman Polanski—and screenplay writers who were active between 1956 and approximately 1963. Their films, which were heavily influenced by Italian Neorealism, weren’t just recognised for their historical and political significance, but also for their free-spirited visual style and radicalisation of the filmic language.

This film programme, organised by HK Cine Fan, screens a selection of the best Polish films produced between the 1960s and the 1980s. It includes Walerian Borowczyk’s (1923-2006) Theatre of Mr. and Mrs. Kabal (1967), his first and last first feature-length animated film hailed a strangely moving existential soap opera in surreal fantasy; as well as Roman Polanski’s highly symbolic psychological thrillers Repulsion (1965) and Cul-de- sac (1966); and Andrzej Zuławski’s (1940-2016) cult classic Possession (1981).