THIRTIETH POLISH FEATURE FILMS FESTIVAL IN GDYNIA
September 12-17, 2005

The Gdynia Festival of Polish Feature Films (Festiwal Polskich Filmow Fabularnych) is an annual event showcasing the entire feature film production of the country in the preceding twelve month period right up to curtain time. The festival was established on somewhat shaky ground in 1974 in the shipyard city of Gdansk -- later to become famous for the Solidarity strikes which led to the downfall of Communism in Poland -- but transferred a bit further up the coast to the handsome beach resort of Gdynia in 1987. The thirtieth instalment of the event is seen here as a major landmark and a kind of summing up of a festival which has been through stormy times under Communist censorship, has suffered cancellations and vitriolic attacks in the Polish press, has been the scene of heavy political infighting, and whose emminent demise has been forecast more than once. Nevertheless, this home-grown version of the Hollywood Oscars on the Baltic sea coast is still on its feet in the thirtieth round and, it seems, coming on stronger than ever.

With many veteran filmmakers such as Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi, and others relatively inactive recently, Polish feature film cinema has not made much of a splash in the past few years. 2OO5, however, shows signs of a return to form for this country which was once seen as the flagship film industry of Eastern Europe. Wajda, while having no new film to contribute, is nevertheless the chairman of the jury this year, which is already a sign of something in the works, and Zanussi with an all star politically oriented film shot in Uruguay "Persona Non Grata", is back in Action. Another veteran of the illustrious over-seventy generation, Janus Majewski, offers a lovely little cameral piece, "Off Season" set in the "Knife in the Water" Mazurian Lakes district in the wintry non-tourist time of year. This is a touching love story between an 80 year old man and an attractive thirtiesh young woman. Cast principals are Leon Niemczyk, 82 --- a veteran of well over a hundred Polish films (sic!), and who was in fact the hero of Polanski's 'Knife in the Water' some 45 years ago, while the lady in question is Magdalena Cielecka, a popular actress of the serious theater. Polanski, incidentally, is rumored to be on the honored guest list.

Zanussi’s “Persona non grata” was an entry in competition at the just completed Venice Film Festival but failed to pick up any awards. According to Polish observers in Venice the Italian press was very generous in praise of “Persona”, at least one critic going so far as to say that the film was “worthy of a Golden Lion”. It should be said that Zanussi has been a favorite in Venice for a long time, ever since his “Year of the Quiet Sun” won the Golden Lion there in 1985. The fact that his surname also indicates a certain Italian provenance and that he has made two films about, or based on, the works of Pope John Paul II also do not hurt his image in Italy. The local Polish press has not been so kind to Zanussi’s new film, one critic describing it as mannered, poorly acted (by a cast of distinguished actors!) trivial in content, and generally sub-par. As the old saying goes, one is never a hero in one’s own country. Comment reserved until we see the film in vivo at Gdynia.

Still another item of unusual interest is middle generation, Jacek Bromski’s new film, shot entirely in China with a predominantly Chinese cast.
Voices have been heard occasionally to the effect that the Gdynia film week is too parochial and should be made more accessible to foreign press and perhaps some foreign films. The answer to this one is that Poland already has three other film festivals with foreign outreach (Warsaw, Krakow and Lodz) and it is precisely the All-Polish nature of this festival which makes it so interesting. Like it or not, in spite of the absence of Polish films from festival screens in recent years, Poland is still the largest film producing country by far in Eastern Europe and, with a population of over 40 million is by far the busiest film market in this part of the world. The festival opens tomorrow and this should be a hot one!

Alex Deleon,
Warsaw, September 11, 2005
SET FOR KICKOFF