Cycle index

from Polański to... - school etudes 1

69’

subtitles: Polish only

From Polański to... A Bar at Victoria Station, A City Like This, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Break Up the Dance, From Dust to Dawn, It Is Better to Be Beautiful and Rich, Kirk Douglas, Łódź - in Search of Private Time, Łódź Fabryczna Łódź Kaliska, Swan's Song, Take Five, The Elephant, The Office, The Overture, The Palaces of the Promised Land, The Training, The Way to..., Tomorrow: 31 April - May 1, 1970 Section index

Films description

Break Up the Dance

Rozbijemy zabawę

Poland 1957 / 9’

Hooligans raid a students' party organised by Polański and they start a fight. The legend goes that the director had not warned the participants of the filmed party about the planned events. All guests were convinced that Polański just wanted to record them playing and they did not expect the unwelcomed visitors.

The Elephant

Słoń

Poland 1959 / 7’

A feature étude on a short story by Sławomir Mrożek of the same title. A fictitious zoo badly needs an elephant, so someone suggests to make the animal. A giant, inflated elephant is prepared, but instead of becoming the main attraction, it flies away in front of the very eyes of schoolchildren.

The Overture

Uwertura

Poland 1965 / 6’

The first film made by Marek Piwowski while he was a second-year student at the National Film, TV & Theatre School. His observations were focused on a medical examination of young men at the Military Service Commission. The situation allowed Piwowski to expose stupidity and the callousness of the recruiting commission.

Kirk Douglas

Poland 1966 / 10’

The famous Hollywood western and historical film star visits the outskirts of Europe. He comes to the most prestigious artistic university of the country and is surprised to discover a town of western films in Targowa Street in Łódź. The film star surrenders to events and jumps on a horse prepared by his hosts. He is overcome by the Slavic fantasy of the Poles who receive him.

The Office

Urząd

Poland 1969 / 5’

A film made with a hidden camera in the Social Insurance Institution and a satire of bureaucracy and official heartlessness. One of the first films made by the future author of The Ten Commandments, Krzysztof Kieślowski, produced under the artistic supervision of Kazimierz Karabasz and Jerzy Bossak.

Tomorrow: 31 April - May 1, 1970

Jutro. 31 kwietnia – 1 maja 1970

Poland 1970 / 7’

The films starts like a portrait of the lower classes and then it changes into a cautionary metaphor. The film includes the wonderful scene of several men mindlessly watching the TV news, informing about hippies from all over the world, who gather in Naples, believing in nothing and questioning social values... With drastic means of expression, Wiszniewski managed to present entirely these antiheroes' world of only one dimension.

Take Five

Poland 1972 / 5’

The first film by the future Oscar winner, Zbigniew Rybczyński, in which the director experiments with film form to the rhythm of the classic piece of jazz by Dave Brubeck.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Portret artysty z czasów młodości

Poland 1981 / 12’

The film made during Roman Polański's stay at the National Film, Television & Theatre School, using fragments of school études by the director of Knife in the Water…

The Way to...

Droga do…

Poland 1991 / 6’

An étude for the song Money, Money of the famous musical Cabaret by Bob Fosse. A story of a pipe in the city-centre of Łódź, which has become a witness and commentator of contemporary times...

From Dust to Dawn

Od świtu do zmierzchu

Poland 1997 / 2'46’

A dithyramb for a woman-mother and a synthetic vision of motherhood. The animation for From Dust to Dawn was made in the plasticine technique. The making of this school étude was supervised by Piotr Dumała.