Wednesday, June 11-------Although they are both part of the European continent, Poland seems as far away from Portugal as one can imagine. I’ve now been to both places, and while it is a cliché and an exaggeration that Poland is always rather cloudy, gloomy and weighed down by its difficult history, the Polish sensibility (and humor) are decidedly dark. It is intriguing to have that sober mood contrast with the lightness and sparkle of Portugal in early June, but that is exactly the contras...

GDYNIA, SEPTEMBER 18, 2007ALEX DELEON FOR www.filmfestivals.com"KATYN FEVER” IN POLAND AS THE WAJDA VERSION OPENS GDYNIA FESTAndrej Wajda’s new film “KATYN” concerning the mass murder of Polish Prisoners of War perpetrated by the Russians in 1940 and for years either hushed up or cynically blamed on the Germans, is more than just another film by a famous director. It has become a “cause celebre” and a national event stirring up the collective Polish memory of this incredible Rus...

The 32nd Gdynia Film Review ends on Up-beat Note as 92 Year Old Actress takes the Cake ! by Alex Deleon, PolandThe Annual Review of Polish Feature Films in Gdynia on the Baltic seashore is quite unusual in that it is both a compendium of the entire Polish feature film production for the preceding 12 months, and also a kind of local Oscar competition in which a professional jury votes on the best work of the year in the usual categories. This year there was a total of 22 films in competition, abo...

45TH CRACOW FILM FESTIVALTHE VERDICT OF THE NATIONAL COMPETITION JURYThe National Competition Jury of the 45th Cracow Film Festival: Witold Stok – chairman, Hanna Polak, Krzysztof Talczewski, Piotr Szczepański, Leszek Gałysz, having watched all the competition films decided to award the following prizes :The Grand Prix – The Golden Hobby-Horse to “Hercules” directed by Lidia DudaThe Silver Hobby-Horse to „Olter” by Krystian MatysekThe Bronze Hobby-Horse to „Old Books Stor...