UCLA Film and Television Archive Presents the Lodz Film School of Poland: 50 Years, Nov. 6 - Nov. 20; Co-Sponsored by LOT Polish Airlines

Business Wire, Oct 8, 1999

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Oct. 8, 1999--

UCLA Film and Television Archive presents The Lodz Film School of Poland: 50 Years, from Nov. 6 - Nov. 20.

Virtually all of Poland's finest film makers -- Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski, Krzysztof Kielowski, Jerzy Skolimowski, Krzysztof Zanussi -- trained at the Lodz Film School, which was founded in 1947 as part of the Communist government's efforts to revitalize the Polish film industry.

This series will present selections from some of the inventive, challenging and technically sophisticated shorts and features created by these and many other artists while they were students at the Lodz Film School.

The opening night of the series presents the student films of two now-eminent directors: Zanussi ("The Year of the Quiet Sun") and Skolimowski ("The Shout," "Moonlighting"), both of whom will introduce their screenings. All screenings take place at the James Bridges Theater, located on the northeast corner of UCLA's campus (nearest cross streets are Sunset Boulevard and Hilgard Avenue in Westwood).

Film maker Wajda once wrote that in a Communist country a young person had three options: If he was lucky, he could leave. If he was cunning, he could enter politics. And barring any of these, he could become a priest or a movie director.

Certainly not much of a choice, but a few of the gifted film makers who graduated from the Lodz Film School have marked international cinema with films such as Wajda's "The Possessed" (1988), Polanski's "Repulsion" (1965) and Kielowski's "The Double Life of Veronique" (1991).

The Lodz Film School is regarded as one of the world's most prestigious film academies. It offers a rigorous four-year training program in all facets of film making, as well as literature and the humanities. The school depended on funding from the Polish government but managed to maintain a remarkable amount of artistic freedom, although it fell victim to the anti-Semitic and anti-intellectual purges in 1968.

This retrospective offers a fascinating analysis of the ways in which student film makers resisted the pressures of censorship, often cloaking their indictments of Stalinism, politics and repression in allegorical storytelling and ironical wit.

Tickets for the film series are available one hour before show time at the James Bridges Theater. Admission is $6 general and $4 for students and seniors. List this number for further public information: 310/206-FILM, or visit the Archive's Web site at www.cinema.ucla.edu.

Programming at the UCLA Film and Television Archive is made possible by grants from the California Arts Council, the city of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other sponsors. -0-

Saturday, Nov. 6 - 7:30 p.m. In person: Jerzy Skolimowski (schedule

permitting), Krzysztof Zanussi

"The Cavalryman and the Girl" (Ulan i dziewczyna)(1961) Directed by Krzysztof Zanussi. 35mm, 4 min.

"An Umbrella for Good Weather" (Parasol przy pogodzie)(1961) Directed by Krzysztof Zanussi. 35mm, 4 min.

Students (Studenci)(1963) Directed by Krzysztof Zanussi. 35mm, 12 min.

"Death of a Provincial" (Smierc prowincjala)(1965) Directed by Krzysztof Zanussi. 35mm, 28 min.

"Your Money or Your Life" (Pieniadze albo zycie)(1961) Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. 35mm, 5 min.

"Identification Marks: None" (Rysopsis)(1964, 35mm, 78 min.) Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. Skolimowski assembled three of his student shorts to make this thesis film, which also features him and renowned Polish actress Elzbieta Czyzewska.

Total running time: 131 min.

Sunday, Nov. 7 - 7:00 p.m. Roman Polanski and the Late '50s

Roman Polanski embodied the Lodz Film School at its most ebullient and defiant. His student films exude the same queasy blend of humor and horror that distinguish his feature work. Similar surreal terror pervades the work of his contemporaries.

"The Murder" (Morderstwo)(1957) Directed by Roman Polanski. 35mm, 2 min.

"The Lamp" (Lampa)(1958) Directed by Roman Polanski. 35mm, 8 min.

"Photography" (Fotografia)(1957) Directed by Janusz Majewski. 35mm, 3 min.

"Break Up the Party" (Rozbijemy zabawa)(1957) Directed by Roman Polanski. 35mm, 9 min.

"A Toothy Smile" (Usmiech zebiczny)(1957) Directed by Roman Polanski. 35mm, 2 min.

"Two Men and a Wardrobe" (Dwaj ludzie z szafa)(1958) Directed by Roman Polanski. 35mm, 15 min.

"Rondo" (1958) Directed by Janusz Majewski. 35mm, 15 min.

"When Angels Fall" (Gdy spadaja anioly)(1958) Directed by Roman Polanski. 35mm, 20 min.

"Noah" (Noe)(1959) Directed by Andrzej Kondratiuk and Maciej Kijowski. 35mm, 11 min.

Total running time: 85 min.

"End of the Night" (Koniec nocy)(1956, 35mm, 81 min.) Directed by Julian Dziedzina, Pawel Komorowski and Walentyna Uszycka. A collaborative feature about young hoodlums committing crimes out of boredom, "End of the Night" shocked viewers at the time with its violence and cool disdain for authority. Zbigniew Cybulski ("Ashes and Diamonds") is Harvey Keitel to Roman Polanski's DeNiro in this Polish "Mean Streets."