Programme of films

Haunting Presence: Phantoms of Cinema

Curator
Tomasz Kolankiewicz
  • 28 October – 4 November 2016

Death and death-related rituals are an enduring theme in cinema. It has been explored by both celebrated auteurs, with Andrey Tarkovsky and Tadeusz Konwicki foremost among them, and directors of genre films, such as Victor Halperin and George A. Romero, whose names are rarely mentioned in serious cinema history books. The film programme that accompanies the Dziady Recycling Festival, offers double bill screenings invented during the Great Depression, in which two films are shown for the price of one. This format enables one to pair two different, seemingly unrelated films. So, a contemporary mocumentary will be screened alongside a Polish classic feature, whilst a sophisticated auteur film will be pitted against a 1930s low-budget horror movie. The surprising juxtapositions of genres, styles, technologies (colour/black-and-white), periods, budgets and geographies will reveal the wide variety of ways in which film makers engage with death. The idea behind the programme is to stimulate discussion on how the cinematic stories of the interpenetrating worlds of the living and the dead have resonated with audiences.
Tomasz Kolankiewicz

  • Edited by – Tomasz Kolankiewicz

Schedule of screenings

Fri 28 October 2016, 18:00
Lava: A Tale of Adam Mickiewicz’s Forefathers’ Eve
dir. Tadeusz Konwicki, Poland 1989, 129’
The Art of Disappearing
dir. Bartosz Konopka, Piotr Rosołowski, Poland 2012, 52’
Total time: 211’

Sun 30 October 2016, 18:00
White Zombie
dir. Victor Halperin, USA 1932, 69’
The Kingdom: The Living Dead
dir. Lars von Trier, Denmark, Germany, France, Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands 1994, 80’
Total time: 179’

Tue 1 November 2016, 19:00
Solaris 
dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR 1972, 167’
The Night of the Living Dead
dir. George A. Romero, USA 1968, 96’
Total time: 293’

Wed 2 November 2016, 19:00
The Fearless Vampire Killers
dir. Roman Polański, USA, UK 1967, 108’
The Shining
dir. Stanley Kubrick, USA, UK 1980, 146’
Total time: 284’

Thu 3 November 2016, 19:00
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, UK, Thailand 2010, 114’
The Others
dir. Alejandro Amenábar, France, Spain, USA, Italy 2001, 104’
Total time: 248’

Fri 4 November 2016, 19:00
The Dybbuk
dir. Michał Waszyński, Poland 1937, 100’
Birthplace
dir. Paweł Łoziński, Poland 1992, 47’
Total time: 177’

Information

Subtitles

The films are in English with Polish subtitles or in Polish with English subtitles.

Other details

Each screening is preceded by a 15-minute introduction by the programme curator Tomasz Kolankiewicz. There is a 15-minute break between films.