"The problem of this new generation is that it doesn't know whether it is post-communist or pre-capitalist. It doesn't know who it is supposed to be fighting," said Polish actor Jerzy Stuhr. In Prague with his 1978 feature Top Dog (directed by Feliks Falks), he spoke passionately about the problems facing eastern European filmmakers today.

He bemoans the way Hollywood has corrupted Polish film culture. Young directors, Stuhr believes, are hesitant about dealing with either emotions or the past. Their films may be technically excellent, but they're also often shallow.

While being careful not to wax nostalgic about the bad old days of state censorship and suppression, Stuhr nonetheless looks back affectionately on his work in the 70s with Krzysztof Kieslowski. In films such as The Scar and Camera Buff, he believes, Kieslowski was able to address moral and political issues with a conviction that the new generation cannot match.

Stuhr recently made his directorial debut with The List Of Adultresses, which he describes as "a film about the past; my past as a man and the past of my country." Although made for television, it was screened successfully in cinemas, enabling him to raise finance for a second feature, provisionally entitled Stories Of Love (with Canal Plus among the backers).

"But," Stuhr sighs, "with so many Hollywood movies in our cinemas, Polish films have great difficulty in being shown at all."

Geoffrey Macnab

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