Its on locally, well, if you live in the Highlands. Tilda Swinton ( she was in Narnia ) has done up a disused hall and is running a mini festival of film. Entrance is £3 or free if you bring some home baking.
As for the classics, I would recommend films by Wojciech Jerzy Has:
-The Saragossa Manuscript (Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie); his most famous one, based on the novel by count Potocki. Recently it has been remastered and released on DVD by Martin Scorsese's company. As far as I know the DVD is not available in Poland though (!)
-The Hour-Glass Sanatorium (Sanatorium pod klepsydrą); a surrealist one, my personal favourite
-The Noose (Pętla) and One Room Tenants (Wspolny pokoj); released on DVD, English subtitles
Andrzej Munk. He is most famous for his black comedies: Bad Luck (Zezowate szczescie) or Heroism (Eroica).
When it comes to newer films, check out Wesele (The Wedding) by Wojciech Smarzowski. If you are into art cinema you might like Lech Majewski's Angelus or The Garden of Earthly Delights (Ogrod rozkoszy ziemskich).
Also, Krystof Kieslowski (who directed Dekolog), has a ton of fantastic movies. Many of them are in French but you can't help feeling Poland flow through them. The best are;
If you like Action | Crime movies I recomended "Psy" and "Psy: Otatnia Krew" directed by Wladyslaw Pasikowski (they are on IMDB). Classical polish movies. You can watch also "Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie" (The Saragossa Manuscript) the greatest and very freeq movies of Wojciech Has - find it on IMDB.
I recently saw a good movie directed by Poles: the Wachowski brothers 'V For Vendetta'...it concerned criminal elements in the UK, but had a universal message.
Katyn is quite good as is General Nil, a relatively recent release...stay away from the recent Polish romantic comedies, even with what Poles consider to be a good cast they are pathetic and stick to the same pretentious and silly formula (Tylko Mnie Kochaj, etc)
Yes, there is a nice film about the stealing of a Leonardo da Vinci painting from a Krakow museum.
I'm not sure about the exact title, i googled but i only found "The Da Vinci Code" which is another film, the correct title could be "vinci vinci" or something. Anyone?
Thanks Peter! I like this movie because it is fast (sometimes a bit unrealistic but who cares), it's got a sens of humour and you see nice shots of Krakow. :)
My gf's friend has made a film so he can get into Lodz film school. It looks quite good, i have a part as a Gangster's Bodyguard. I get killed after about 5 mins of the film :)
I can also recommend a 1971 comedy "Nie lubię poniedziałku" (I don't like Monday) imdb.com/title/tt0067484 It's a light and dynamic bunch of intersecting stories of several people during one day in Warsaw. It captures a live in Poland in the 60s, but is less hermetic (and less sarcastic), than "Miś" or "Co mi zrobisz, jak mnie złapiesz" (which are classic lampoons of a life in communist times, but probably lose half of humour for a viewer, who doesn't know, what communism looked like).
It's about a fisherman who returns to the scene of his first love affair on the Bug river (I think) after a life-long obsesssion with catching the big fish.
Not to give anything away, it's all metaphorical (not surprising, as that's Polish cinema in a nutshell, and I'm a big fan)
Podoba mi się takie filmy Krzysztofa Kieślowskiego jak: Trzy kolory. Niebieski Trzy kolory. Biały Trzy kolory. Czerwony To jest trylogia, ale one (filmy) są bardzo dramatycznymi. :(
Polish cinema annoys me; I find the films or being too intellectual/depressing, or too stupid to enjoy
I found one film I enjoyed. Actually two (over the last two years). The first one was very real and very true without being exaggerated - just the essence of what's really going on in families under the stress - called Plac Zbawiciela (Savour's Square). Because of the subject i think it's a universal film, and not something typically Polish. I'd rather say that these emotions and behaviour were introduced to Poles post 89'.
The version I watched had really good English subtitles I was amazed! Being usually very critical of the Polish cinema ( after 95'), I'd really recommend to watch it. stopklatka.pl/film/film.asp?fi=21312
The other one is very different. It is by a Polish director unknown to me, but reminding me of Kazimierz Kutz and his films about Silesia.
The film's called #Sztuczki' (Tricks) and has a really great soundtrack by Tomasz Gąssowski. Again, extremely limited number of actors, slow pace but the story sucks you in.
