21/03/2005

The Polish Cultural Institute in London is organizing for the third time the Polish Film Festival from 31 March-28 April presenting 23 UK film premieres, master classes with established Polish filmmakers, special screenings of classic films as well as a book launch on Polish cinema.
The festival will open on March 31rst with the UK premiere of The Weltz (Pregi) in the presence of Magdalena Piekorz who for her directorial debut received the Golden Lion Award for Best film Gdansk Polish Film Festival last September.
Other upcoming Polish directors will unveil their latest projects such as Lukasz Barczyk, Konrad Niewolski and Dariusz Gajewski, as well as more established filmmakers like Julisz Machulski, Ryszard Brylski and Piotr Szulkin.

The major event will be a retrospective of Lech Majewski, a poet, painter, writer, producer and prominent Polish experimental film director who has worked in many European countries including the UK. His latest project The Garden of Earthly Delights (Ogrod rozkoszy ziemskich) a Polish/UK/Italian co-production based on his book Metaphysics will screen on 2 April following a masterclass of Majewski at the London Film Academy.
The Festival will also offer a short survey of Poland’s finest hand-drawn and computer animation work and a two-part programme of documentaries dedicated on one hand to the early works of famous directors Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Munk, Wojciech Has, Jerzy Hoffman, and on the other hand to the new generation of Polish documentary filmmakers like Pior Szczepanski, Wojciech Staron and Piotr Morawski.
Finally on 13 April will be the launch at the Polish Cultural Institute of the book ‘The Red & The White: the cinema of people’s Poland’ written by Paul Coates, Head of Film studies at the University of Aberdeen.