Presented by Anthology Film Archives and The Polish Cultural Institute
Wednesday, November 1, 2017 – Saturday, November 11, 2017 PROGRAM
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue, New York, NY
A giant of Polish literature, and of science fiction writing worldwide though in fact his work transcends the constraints of any particular genre Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006) produced dozens upon dozens of novels, stories, and essays throughout his nearly 60-year career. Best known for the writings that qualified, at least ostensibly, as science fiction, his body of work is dizzyingly multi-faceted, encompassing memoirs, reminiscences of his wartime experiences, and philosophical texts, while the science fiction narratives themselves often take wildly experimental forms and extend freely into the realms of philosophy and satire.
However, his work is characterized, one thing is for sure: Lem’s novels and stories have inspired (and continue to inspire) numerous filmmakers, with cinematic adaptations emerging from throughout the world, often helmed by some of the most important filmmakers past and present: from Andrei Tarkovsky and Andrzej Wajda to the Quay Brothers and Steven Soderbergh.
Organized in collaboration with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, this series offers a generous selection of these Lem-inspired cinematic works. Anchored by three different versions of SOLARIS, Tarkovsky’s and Soderbergh’s celebrated films are joined by an earlier 1968 Russian television adaptation that has rarely if ever screened in the U.S. The selection also includes an additional ten films whose diverse range of genres, tones, and stylistic approaches are entirely appropriate to Lem’s own body of work.
Christopher J. Caes, Lecturer in Polish at Columbia University, will introduce selected screenings throughout the series, and will also moderate a panel on Stanislaw Lem at Columbia on Thursday, November 2. Organized by the Polish Cultural Institute and the Department of Slavic Languages, the panel will include Chris Caes and Michael Kandel (Lem’s English translator). More info about the panel TBA.
