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2 September 2010

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"Romance in Light: Fryderyk Chopin and the Cinema"
New York, Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center, January 8 - May 8, 2010
languages: Polski  / English 
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Still from "The Youth of Chopin / Młodość Chopina", dir. Aleksander Ford; source: The Film Society of Lincoln Center
Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's birth, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Polish Cultural Institute present a series of films inspired by the life and art of the great Polish composer.

In recognition of Chopin and his music, an astounding array of concerts, festivals, and other events will take place around the world.

Filmmakers around the world have explored Chopin's legacy since the beginning of the film era. Ranging from drama to documentary and from animation to experiment, the films in this series reveal the cinema's fascination with Chopin's music and his dramatic biography, fraught as it was with illness, stormy love affairs, and exile from his homeland.
Still from "The Blue Note / Błękitna nuta";
source: www.polishculture-nyc.org
Six diverse programs will be presented from January to May, highlighted by the visually stunning "The Blue Note / Błękitna nuta" (1990) by Andrzej Żuławski starring Polish pianist Janusz Olejniczak, Marie-France Pisier as George Sand and Sophie Marceau as her daughter Solange (May 8) and James Lapine's "Impromptu" (1991) starring Hugh Grant and Judy Davis (January 8 and 12); as well as a program of experimental films, including one of the world's most innovative: "The Orchestra / Orkiestra" (1990) by Zbigniew Rybczyński - a 1982 Academy Award Winner for his film "Tango" (April 10).

The series launches with three programs in January:

  • "The Youth of Chopin" and "Calling Mr. Smith"
      Friday, January 8 at 2:00 PM and 6:30 PM & Sunday, January 10 at 3:00 PM
      "The Youth of Chopin / Młodość Chopina", source: The Film Society of Lincoln Center
      "Calling Mr. Smith", source: www.themersonarchive.com
      Aleksander Ford's 1951 classic "The Youth of Chopin / Młodość Chopina" will be presented together with "Calling Mr. Smith" by Franciszka and Stefan Themerson, one of the first and most persuasive World War II-era film experiments. "The Youth of Chopin" - which features compelling performances by actor Czesław Wołłejko, pianist Halina Czerny-Stefańska, the winner of 1949 International Chopin Piano Competition, and the great violinist Wanda Wilkomirska - was one of the first postwar Polish films to receive international attention and has been the most comprehensive portrait of the composer as a man faced with the social and political transformations of the 19th century, to which he responded with his unique music.

  • The International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Film
      Friday, January 8 at 4:30 PM, Sunday, January 10 at 1:00 PM & Tuesday, January 12 at 3:15 PM
      The second program features rare footage of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw at different stations in its history. Two Polish documentaries, "Born in Warsaw" and "Under the Sign of Chopin", as well as the a rarely screened archival newsreel from the competition's 7th edition shed light on now legendary performances by Krystian Zimerman, Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Fou Ts'Ong, Bernard Ringeissen, and Adam Harasiewicz.

  • "Impromptu", dir. James Lapine, UK/France 1991, 107 min.
      Friday, January 8, 9:00 PM; Tuesday, January 12, 1:00 PM
      "Impromptu" which stars Hugh Grant as Fryderyk Chopin and Judy Davis as George Sand and Bernadette Peters, portrays the intriguing personalities of the two artists, who are alternately drawn to and alienated from each other.

    Still from "The Orchestra", dir. Zbigniew Rybczyński
    Frédéric Chopin in Experimental Film - April 10, 2010.

    The program features "The Orchestra" (1990) by Zbigniew Rybczyński, one of the greatest visual experiments in the history of film and computer technology and one of the first HD-format films ever made; "Attention: Light!" (2004) by Józef Robakowski and Wiesław Michalak, which involves 8 color tones corresponding with the tones of Chopin's Mazurkas, Op. 64, No. 4, was started in the early 80s by Robakowski in collaboration with Paul Sharits as part of their shared interest in expressing music through color, but could not be completed until the arrival of digital technology and the collaboration with Michalak; "Chop, Chop, Chop, Chopin.!" by Mariusz Wilczynski , whose work was presented in MoMA Mediascope in 2007; "Novi Singers" (1995) by Daniel Szczechura, an innovative piece by the great Polish animator that presents the legendary vocal interpreters of Chopin's music; and finally a jewel of Polish experimental cinema, "Color Studies of Chopin" by Eugeniusz Cekalski, a 1944 remake of his 1937 film "Chopin's Three Etudes", which received an honorable mention at the Venice Film Biennale.

    Presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, in association with the Polish National Film Archive and Polish National Television.



    Detailed information about the whole project could be found on pages www.PolishCulture-NYC.org.

    Source: Polish Cultural Institute in New York

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