May 26-June 6, 2021
Live Screening: May 26-May 29
at Scandinavia House Theater, 58 Park Ave, New York, NY 10016
Online Streaming: May 29-June 6
NYPFF opening night screening tickets are $30, regular screening tickets are $20, pass for all in person screenings is $100; virtual screening tickets are $9.
For advance tickets and the full program visit: https://www.nypff.com/
This year’s edition of the New York Polish Film Festival will showcase 9 films at the Scandinavia House and also online. In addition to presenting the newest Polish productions, the festival will also honor Krzysztof Kieslowski with a screening of Conversations with Kieslowski by Andreas Voigt and Agnieszka Holland with a special screening of inspired by a true story of the Czechoslovakian healer, Jan Mikolasek, Charlatan.
It Will Never Snow Again, a Polish candidate for this year’s Oscars and the Venice Film Festival hit, directed by Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert, will be screened at the Opening Night on May 26th. The directors Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert will be present for a Q&A after the screening.
Other films screened at this year festival will include last year’s Polish candidate to the Oscars, Corpus Christi directed by the award-winning director Jan Komasa; Mariusz Wilczynski’s unconventional and deeply personal hand-drawn animated film Kill It and Leave This Town (2020); Agnieszka Holland’s Soviet Union thriller Mr. Jones (2019) starring James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, and Peter Sarsgaard, Bartosz Kruhlik’s edge-of-your-seat thriller Supernova, NY Premier of Sweat, directed by Magnus von Horn, the winner of the international feature film competition at the 56th Chicago International Film Festival, NY Premiere of Solid Gold by Jacek Bromski; and All for My Mother by Malgorzata Imielska (NY Theatrical Premiere).
The New York Polish Film Festival was founded in 2005 by Hanna Kosinska Hartowicz, who also serves as its artistic director. For schedule and more information https://www.nypff.com/
Program Overview
In soviet-led Czechoslovakia, herbalist Jan Mikolášek (Ivan trojan) treats the sick by the thousands against strict government orders to stop. But Jan refuses to compromise his beliefs, no matter the consequences. When Jan is arrested, not just his abilities to heal, his whole life is put on trial. Oscar nominated director Agniezka Holland’s fascinating biopic, explores a complicated man, more at war with himself than the authorities attempting to imprison him.
Fleeing from despair after losing those dearest to him, the hero hides in a safe land of memories, where time stands still and all those dear to him are alive. Over the years, a city grows in his imagination. One day, literary heroes and cartoon childhood idols, who in the consciousness of the successive generations are forever young and wearing short pants, come to live there, uninvited. When our hero discovers they have all grown old and that eternal youth does not exist, he decides to return to real life. And the amazing characters living in his imagination lead him back to the real world.
Mariusz Wilczynski’s deeply personal, hand-drawn animated film KILL IT AND LEAVE THIS TOWN (2020) is a winner of the Grand Prize for Feature Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and a FIPRESCI Award at the 2020 Viennale; and Winner of Golden Lions ( Best Film) in Gdynia Polish Film Festival, and have 8 Nominee for Polish Film Awards (Eagle).
On a gray, foggy morning outside a large Polish city, Zhenia (Alec Utgoff), a masseur from the East, enters the lives of the wealthy residents of a gated community. Using hypnotic, almost magical techniques to get a residence permit, he starts working. The well-to-do residents in their cookie-cutter homes seemingly have it all, but they all suffer from an inner sadness, some unexplained longing. The attractive and mysterious newcomer’s hands heal, and Zhenia’s eyes seem to penetrate their souls. To them, his Russian accent sounds like a song from the past, a memory of their seemingly safer childhoods. The latest from writer/director Malgorzata Szumowska (ELLES, IN THE NAME OF) and her longtime collaborator Michal Englert is an unclassifiable meditation on class, immigration, and global warming with touches of magical realism and moments of sober beauty and subtle humor.
17 year old orphan Olka (Zofia Domalik), does not care for the other girls in the reformatory, nor the promise of new clothes, phones, and money from the corrupt guards. Olka only wants to find her mother, and she will escape from every institution until they meet. Małgorzata Imielska’s “All For My Mother” is a searing portrait of modern day Poland, and a stunning debut. When every institution has failed Olka, only her plan of being reunited with her mother keeps her alive.
Three men, one place and one event that will change the life of each one of them. A universal tale, kept in a realistic style, tells the story of a few hours in the life of a rural community. The film raises questions about the essence of chance and destiny. A bloody story, oscillating on the edge of drama, thriller and disaster cinema.
Agnieszka Holland’s thriller, set on the eve of world WWII, sees Hitler’s rise to power and Stalin’s Soviet propaganda machine pushing their “utopia” to the Western world. Meanwhile an ambitious young journalist, Gareth Jones (Norton) travels to Moscow to uncover the truth behind the propaganda, but then gets a tip that could expose an international conspiracy, one that could cost him and his informant their lives. Jones goes on a life-or-death journey to uncover the truth behind the façade that would later inspire George Orwell’s seminal book Animal Farm.
Bartosz Bielenia smolders in a wild performance pitting forgiveness against vengeance amongst the faithful. When newly paroled convict Daniel (Bielenia), arrives for work at a saw mill, he is mistaken for a priest and decides to take over a country church. 20 year old Daniel dives headlong into his new duties, and reopens old wounds that tore the town apart. Part charlatan, part believer, Daniel must make the right decision, before his own past catches up with him. Nominated for best international film at the 92 academy awards, Corpus Christi is a must see.
Fitness model Sylwia Zając’s presence on social media has made her a celebrity, but not everyone following has good intentions in this finely taut thriller about the dangers and pleasures of Social media. Anchored by Magdelena Kolesnik’s ice-cold performance, stalkers influencers, and intimacy collide in a world where someone is always watching.
Top crime detective Nowicki (Janusz Gajos) enlists outsider Kaja (Marta Nieradkiewicz) to go undercover and expose businessman Kawecki (Andrzej Seweryn) for the mafia boss he is. But Kawecki did not become the “the king of the coast” by rolling over and he’ll use everything he can to maintain his corrupt stranglehold on business. As Nowicki and Kaja move through the elite world of politics and power like knives, Kawaicki decides he must pull them even closer to survive in this explosive thriller. Solid Gold is a modern vengeance story with a top notch cast.
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