A new battle to reclaim history in Eastern Europe Nov 14, 2009
A treatment of Stalin's massacre of the Polish elite in the forest at Katyn in 1940, by the great Polish director Andrzej Wajda, has been the film of the year. Wajda is now planning a new museum on the communist era. (Sydney Morning Herald -- World)
* Golden Horse seeks new pastures Nov 6, 2009
The latest work by Polish master Andrzej Wajda, Sweet Rush is a self-referential film that focuses on a middle-aged woman still mourning her two long-dead sons when she is suddenly taken with a young man. The film is grouped in the festivals Spotlights section, which features new works by celebrated directors including Theo Angelopoulos, Raoul Ruiz and Jane Campion. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
* FESTIVAL: And theyre under starters orders Oct 30, 2009
Award-winning works from this years Cannes, Venice and Berlin film festivals are on the bill, as are the latest flicks by world renowned directors including Michael Hanekes The White Ribbon, Jane Campions Bright Star, Sweet Rush by Andrzej Wajda and The Dust of Time by Theodoros Angelopoulos. The three-week long festival runs from Thursday through Nov. 26 at Shin Kong Cineplex (sv), 36 Xining S Rd, Taipei City (x_n36) and Vie Show Cinema, Xinyi district (Hqqv),... (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
* Was what Roman Polanski did rape-rape? Oct 3, 2009
We stand by him and await his release and his next masterpiece, she declared, joining a roll call of supporters which already encompasses government ministers, director Andrzej Wajda and novelist Robert Harris. Its hard to believe any of these people are talking about a 44-year-old man who was alleged to have groomed a 13-year-old girl for sex, got her drunk, fed her a drug and raped her vaginally and anally. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
Polanski's political thriller Oct 3, 2009
Signatories include Pedro Almodovar, Wim Wenders, Emir Kusturica, Darren Aronofsky, the Dardenne brothers, the Polish Oscar-winning director Andrzej Wajda, David Lynch, and actors including Italy's Monica Bellucci and Britain's Tilda Swinton. Sandy Lieberson says: "This is not to excuse that he did something wrong. He did. And he admitted his guilt but he has now lived with this hanging over him for 30 years, his freedom of movement has been curtailed for so long. In some ways he has... (Sydney Morning Herald -- World)
Made with intensity and passion Jun 20, 2009
Directed by Andrzej Wajda ... Andrzej Wajda is a great Polish director, but maybe you've never heard of him ... Directed by Andrzej Wajda. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
'Katyn' brings a WWII massacre to light May 29, 2009
Maja Ostaszewska and Artur Zmijewski star in Andrzej Wajda's ''Katyn ... Katyn" is a history lesson for a country and a people forced to forget at gunpoint. A quietly epic, very precise re-creation of events leading up to and following the 1940 massacre of 22,000 Polish Army officers and POWs by Soviet troops in the Katyn forest and elsewhere, the film is a national reckoning brought to the screen by possibly the only man up to the job: legendary Polish director Andrzej Wajda, 83 at this writing... (Boston Globe)
Weekend roundup: Movies not to miss Feb 21, 2009
" But then he just lets it drop. "Must Read After My Death" is playing at the Quad Cinema in New York and opens Feb. 27 at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in Los Angeles. Wherever you live, you can watch it the way I did, as a pay-per-view video stream on a relatively new player in the online distribution game.If you are in or near New York, I urge you to check out the annual mini-festival in which the editors of Lincoln Center's venerable film journal pick a roster of underappreciated and below-the-radar... (Salon)
Truths Buried In Polish Soil Feb 20, 2009
Andrzej Wajda, begins in 1939, with refugees slammed between advancing Soviet troops on one side and Germans on the other. Anna, a young mother, searches for her husband, a Polish army officer. (New York Post -- Entertainment)
Bearing witness to Poland's pain Feb 20, 2009
A scene from Andrzej Wajda's "Katyn," which deals with the massacre of Poles in 1940 ... The first scene in "Katyn," Andrzej Wajda's solemn and searing new film, takes place on a bridge somewhere in Poland in mid-September 1939 ... Directed by Andrzej Wajda; written by Wajda, Wladyslaw Pasikowski and Przemyslaw Nowakowski, based on the novel "Post Mortem" by Andrzej Mularczyk; director of photography, Pawel Edelman; edited by Milenia Fiedler and Rafal Listopad; music by Krzysztof Penderecki;... (International Herald Tribune)
'Katyn': Killing Field, By Kurt Loder Feb 19, 2009
In what might normally be thought the twilight of his celebrated career, the Polish director Andrzej Wajda, now 82, has brought forth a movie about the central horror of his youth: the Katyn Forest massacre of 1940, in which thousands of Polish ... Andrzej Wajda's grief and fury appear to have been distilled over the years into an intense desire to bear witness not just to the savage Katyn murders, which he depicts unflinchingly, but to what he calls the "inhuman uncertainty" suffered by the... (VHI.com -- Music News)
‘The Milk of Sorrow' wins at Berlin festival Feb 15, 2009
Two movies shared the festival's honour for innovative film making: Biniez's Gigante and Sweet Rush, the latest film from Polish veteran Andrzej Wajda. The winners were chosen from a field of 18 movies by a seven-member international jury under British actress Tilda Swinton. (Globe and Mail)
Peruvian film wins Golden Bear at Berlinale Feb 15, 2009
They were won separately by Gbor Erdly and Tams Szkely forthe film "Katalin Varga" and Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon for the film "The Messenger." The jury also gave the Alfred Bauer Prize to two films and two directors that evening, one is "Gigante" by Adrin Biniez, and the other is "Tatarak (Sweet Rush)" by Andrzej Wajda. Berlinale is one of the world's leading film festivals with up to 400 films shown every year in Berlin, Germany. (Xinhuanet, China)
'Milk of Sorrow' takes top nod in Berlin Feb 15, 2009
"Gigante," which follows a lonely supermarket security guard and his obsession with the shop's nighttime cleaner, also picked up the prize for best first feature and shared the Alfred Bauer Prize, given in honor of the Berlinale's founder, with "Tatarak" from veteran Polish director Andrzej Wajda ... "Gigante," which follows a lonely supermarket security guard and his obsession with the shop's nighttime cleaner, also picked up the prize for best first feature and shared the Alfred Bauer Prize,... (Hollywood Reporter)
Mary, Max and Kate prepare to enter the bear pit Feb 8, 2009
The official competition of 26 films includes several debut films, as well as new films from familiar arthouse names such as Stephen Frears (who directed The Queen), Annette K. Olesen (Minor Mishaps), Andrzej Wajda (Ashes And Diamonds) and Hans-Christian Schmid, whose Distant Lights was a festival hit a few years ago. His new film, Storm, features Kerry Fox. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
