Presented with support from the Copernicus Program in Polish Studies.

This series of restored classic Polish films has been organized and curated by Martin Scorsese, one of the most recognized and respected filmmakers in the world, and is the largest presentation of restored Polish cinema to date.

9/8: The Last Day of Summer & Innocent Sorcerers
9/15: Night Train
9/22: A Short Film About Killing
9/29: Jump
10/6: The Illumination
10/13: The Saragossa Manuscript
10/20: Pharaoh
10/27: Mother Joan of the Angels
11/3: Ashes and Diamonds
11/10: The Hourglass Sanatorium
11/17: Austeria
11/24: Black Cross
12/1: The Promised Land
12/8: Man of Iron

Below are just three of the films being shown.

To see more, go to  http://www.michtheater.org/series/polish-cinema/

Night Train

Monday, September 15 at 7 PM. Part of Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema. Presented with support from the Copernicus Program in Polish Studies.

In Night Train (Pociag), directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, a subtle game of emotions between two travelers—changing from mutual aversion to closeness without hope of a future—plays out amidst the human microcosm of a night train. Jerzy (Leon Niemczyk) and Marta (Lucyna Winnicka), accidentally end up holding tickets for the same sleeping chamber on an overnight train to the Baltic Sea coast. Also on board is Marta’s spurned lover, who will not leave her alone. When the police enter the train in search of a murderer on the lam, rumors fly and everything seems to point toward one of the main characters as the culprit.

1959. 98 minutes. Polish with subtitles. 

A Short Film About Killing

Monday, September 22 at 7 PM. Part of Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema. Presented with support from the Copernicus Program in Polish Studies.

A Short Film About Killing (Krótki film o zabijaniu) opens with a scene of a dead rat and a lifeless cat hanging by the neck. As the plot unfolds, Yatzek (Miroslaw Baka) is a 20-year-old drifter who murders a testy taxi driver (Jan Tesarz) in a gut-wrenching scene of excessive violence. Tension continues to build as a newly licensed young attorney (Krzysztof Globisz is chosen to represent Yatzek in court. Much anticipated and well-received at Cannes, the film won the European Film Academy Award for “Best European Film” in 1988. ~ Rovi

1987. 86 minutes. Polish with subtitles.

Jump

Friday, September 29 at 7 PM. Part of Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema.

Director: Tadeusz Konwicki.

One of Poland’s most important novelists, Tadeusz Konwicki was also a director (The Last Day of Summer) and screenwriter (Pharoah, Mother Joan of the Angels). Jump (Salto) is a tantalizing existential mystery that hops nimbly between allegory and black comedy. It begins with the hero (Cybulski) jumping off a moving train and making his way to a small town where he lived during the war. Or did he? Riffing on his Ashes and Diamonds persona, Cybulski delivers a dazzlingly protean performance. Is his character an imposter, a fugitive, a prophet, an avenger, a ghost, or just an ordinary schmuck? The title refers both to the hero’s initial leap and to a justly celebrated dance performed to composer Wojciech Kilar’s ultra-cool jazz theme. – Marty Rubin

1965. 105 minutes. Polish with English subtitles.