• Director: Věra Chytilová
• Screenplay: Ester Krumbachová, Věra Chytilová
• Original idea: Věra Chytilová, Pavel Juráček
• Photography: Jaroslav Kučera
• Art Design: Ester Krumbachová, Jaroslav Kučera
• Set Design: Karel Lier
• Costume Design: Ester Krumbachová
• Music: Jiří Sust, Jiří Šlitr
• Editing: Miroslav Hájek
• Sound: Ladislav Hausdorf
• Cast: Jitka Cerhová (Marie I), Ivana Karbanová (Marie II), Julius Albert (Old man with a beard), Jan Klusák (Man with butterfly collection), Marie Česková (Woman in toilet)
• Production Company: Barrandov Film Studios)

I was planning to post a full-scale review of Second Run’s new DVD of Věra Chytilová’s Daisies/Sedmikrásky by today, but workload and a commission to write an extended piece on it for Sight & Sound conspired against me.

But what I’ll certainly say is that this has a very fair claim to being Second Run’s most wholly satisfying release to date. The transfer would appear to be from the same master as the the Czech and Spanish editions discussed here, but it’s the only one from that source with English subtitles. Going from their comments, it looks as though this is closer to the Spanish edition, in that it doesn’t appear to have the glitches that the Czech one sports as a by-product of overzealous digital post-processing, but I thought I’d post matching framegrabs so you can make up your own mind:

(I had to reduce the grabs by 50% to get them to fit the Filmjournal template, but you can find the full-size originals here.)

Certainly, it’s one of Second Run’s best transfers of a 1960s Czech film - right up there with Intimate Lighting/Intimní osvětlení and The Party and the Guests/O slavnosti a hostech - and miles ahead of the Facets Daisies, which I think is the only competing edition with English subtitles.

In common with most Second Run releases, there are just two extras (besides a new trailer cut for this release), but they’re both impressively meaty and complement each other very well. I recommend reading Peter Hames’ booklet essay first, as it provides useful biographical and contextual information about Chytilová’s career, which will fill in gaps left by Jasmina Blaževič’s Journey/Cesta, a 53-minute portrait of Chytilová that concentrates more on creating a witty, fragmented (very Chytilovan!) study of the woman herself than on providing much factual information. But it’s an excellent extra that’s far more ambitious than Second Run’s usual straight-to-camera interviews.

Monday June 1/Tuesday June 2

10.30am: Poznań 56 (d. Filip Bajon, 1996, 106 mins)

This film examines the events surrounding the workers’ protests in Poznań in June 1956 from the perspective of two boys of 10–12 years old. In reconstructing the strike and demonstrations; tanks and shootouts in the streets; the film’s director Filip Bajon recalls his own memories when as a 10 year old he was a witness to the riots in Poznań.

2.00pm: Krzysztof Kieślowski Programme: A Short Working Day (Krótki dzień pracy, 1981, 73 mins); The Office (Urząd, 1966, 6 mins); The Factory (Fabryka, 1970, 17 mins); The Hospital (Szpital, 1976, 20 mins); The Railway Station (Dworzec, 1980, 14 mins)

A Short Working Day tells the story of the workers’ protests in Radom in June 1976 from the point of view of a local Communist dignitary. The protests were sparked by a speech by the Prime Minister the day before, in which a 69% increase in meat prices was announced. The film combines archival material with a dramatized reconstruction of the events.

The Office: filmed with a hidden camera in the offices of the Social Insurance Agency, this documentary film satirises the bureaucracy and the heartlessness of the petty clerks who work there.

The Factory: filmed Production Council meetings at the Ursus tractor factory are contrasted with the realities of the work conditions there, in order to present a true portrait of how such an enterprise functioned in the realities of a Socialist economy (a picture quite different from that of the official propaganda of success).

The Hospital: the movie camera follows a team of doctors in Trauma Ward One of the hospital on Barska Street in Warsaw. As a result, we watch the extraordinary account of a 31 hour shift, depicting the realities of a hospital in Socialist Poland in the 1970s.

The Railway Station: the Central Railway Station in Warsaw – a flagship investment of the 1970s – as seen through the wry eye of the documentary filmmaker. The modern closed-circuit television system monitoring the platforms and corridors of the station brings to mind methods of social control typical of a totalitarian political system.

Thursday June 4

10.30am: Krzysztof Kieślowski Programme

2.00pm: Poznań 56

Friday June 5

10.30am: Man of Marble (Człowiek z marmuru, d. Andrzej Wajda, 1976, 153 mins)

The year is 1976. Agnieszka, a young and ambitious director, decides to make a film about a Stalin-era ‘hero of socialist labour’, the mason Mateusz Birkut, who laid 30,000 bricks with his five man crew during a single shift in 1952. During her search through archival and documentary material, Agnieszka uncovers the human drama hidden behind the facade of official propaganda. It emerges that Birkut went from being a favourite of the authorities to becoming a critic of them, falling out of favour and ending up in prison…

2.00pm: Man of Iron (Człowiek z żelaza , d. Andrzej Wajda, 1981, 147 mins)

The story is a continuation of the saga of the Birkut family. Maciek Tomczyk, the son of Mateusz Birkut, is a worker at the Gdansk Shipyards. He is also an active member of the strike committee. A radio journalist named Winkel receives orders to produce a radio feature to discredit Tomczyk. In order to get into the shipyards, Winkel visits the family of a union activist, Wiesława Hulewicz. He learns of the marriage between Agnieszka (who made the film about Birkut in 1976) and Maciek Tomczyk. Agnieszka is currently under arrest for supporting the strike. Thanks to his connections inside the police, Winkel arranges to see her. The young woman tells the journalist the story of how she met and later married Birkut.

Sunday June 7

10.30am: Man of Marble

2.00pm: Krzysztof Kieślowski Programme

Monday June 8

10.30am: Workers 1980 (Robotnicy ’80, 94 mins)

A documentary film produced during the strikes at the Lenin Shipyards in Gdańsk (in August 1980) by a group of filmmakers from the Documentary Film Studio in Warsaw. Workers 1980 follows events during the strike and the negotiations of the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee with representatives of the Governmental Commission. The Communist authorities prevented the film’s release.

2.30pm: Man of Iron

Wednesday June 10/Thursday June 11

10.30am: Workers 1980

2.00pm: Man of Iron

Friday June 12

2.00pm: Strajk Die Heldin von Danzig (d. Volker Schlöndorff, 2006, 104 mins)

A historical panorama of the milieu of workers at the Lenin Shipyards in Gdańsk from the 1950s to the ‘Solidarity’ era. The story is told via the biography of a female worker from Gdańsk – a welder and crane operator with a defiant nature and the charisma of a leader, who is never able to remain silent when she sees someone suffering injustice.

Monday June 15/Tuesday June 16/Thursday June 18

2.00pm: Death as a Slice of Bread (Śmierć jak kromka chleba, d. Kazimierz Kutz, 1994, 116 mins)

A film record of the pacification of the Wujek mine – the most tragic episode during martial law – when a strike by miners against the imposition of martial law and the arrest of labour leaders was brutally broken up by the army and police.

Friday June 19

2.00pm: To Kill A Priest (d. Agnieszka Holland, 1988, 115 mins)

This drama – about the efforts of an officer in the Security Service to discredit and eventually eliminate a young priest known for his anti-communist sermons – was inspired by the real life murder of some dozen priests during martial law, notably that of Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko in 1984. This was the only case in which those directly responsible (who were functionaries of the Security Service) were found and tried.

Saturday June 20

10.30am: Workers 1980

2.00pm: Strajk Die Heldin von Danzig

Sunday June 21

10.30am: To Kill A Priest

2.00pm: Strajk Die Heldin von Danzig

Monday June 22

2.00pm: Man of Iron

Tuesday June 23/Wednesday June 24

2.00pm: The Last School Bell (Ostatni dzwonek, d. Magdalena Łazarkiewicz, 1989, 107 mins)

In a provincial high school in the 1980s, a new student named Krysztof – who has been thrown out of a school in Gdańsk for distributing anti-Communist leaflets – begins his senior year. At first he is treated by his schoolmates with distrust, but he soon becomes the leader of a class that carries on an unequal fight with the authoritarian school directorship. The students have a quiet ally in one young teacher, Meluzyna, who infects them with her love for theatre. In defiance of the school directors the students decide to put on an amateur
play that contains politically incorrect messages.

Thursday June 25

2.00pm: Calls Controlled (Rozmowy kontrolowane, d. Sylwester Chęciński, 1991, 93 mins)

A comedy set in the dark early days of martial law. Winter, bitter cold, tanks on the streets, omnipresent propaganda and constant surveillance. But people have to somehow carry on their lives … Everyone does what they must to get by. Some fight against Communism, others engage in small-time side interests.

Friday June 26

2.00pm: To Kill A Priest

Saturday June 27/Sunday June 28

10.30am: Calls Controlled

2.00pm: Escape from the Liberty Cinema (Ucieczka z kina ‘Wolność’, d. Wojciech Marczewski, 1990, 87 mins)

A portrait of a character typifying the late 1980s. A run-down man, who is a seemingly dangerous Communist functionary, is in reality fearful, lonely and fully aware of the approaching death of Communism – and thus the senselessness of his work.

Monday June 29

2.00pm: Street Games (Gry uliczne, d. Krzysztof Krauze, 1996, 100 mins)

Two young journalists receive information that a certain well-known politician, Senator Makowski, was an undercover agent for the Security Service in 1977 and was responsible for the death of their friend. The friend in question, Stanisław Pyjas, was a student and opposition activist, murdered most likely on orders from the secret police. For both reporters, Pyjas’ death is an event from the distant past, but Makowski’s arrogance spurs them to take action. They set out on a journalistic investigation.

Tuesday June 30

2.00pm: Three Buddies (Trzech kumpli, d. Ewa Stankiewicz/Anna Ferens, 2008, 111 mins)

A documentary tale of three friends from the university in Kraków in the 1970s. One of them is murdered, the second turns out to be a traitor, and the third fights on the side of truth years later.

For further information, address, directions etc., please see the Imperial War Museum’s own website.

I’ve only skimmed it so far, but it looks like a fascinating and valuable resource, consisting as it does of individual pages devoted to 130 separate films (presented chronologically from George Meyer’s 1908 Anton in Warsaw for the First Time/Antoś pierwszy raz w Warszawie to Waldemar Krzystek’s 2008 Little Moscow/Mała Moskwa), many with attachments including stills galleries, posters and video - the latter unsubtitled, unsurprisingly, but you get the general idea, and the text is at least bilingual in English and Polish. The films are also indexed by director, and three short essays by Rafał Marszałek supply historical context for the pre-war, post-war and post-1989 periods.

They’ve just announced the line-up for part three, ‘Sparks of Hope’, which covers the period from the rise of Solidarity to the present day. A complete list of titles is here - they include rare big-screen showings of Krzysztof Kieślowski documentaries, including 1981’s drama-documentary A Short Working Day (Krótki dzień pracy), which as far as I’m aware is one of the few Kieślowski films that has yet to be released on DVD.

Other screenings include Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Marble (Człowiek z marmuru, 1977) and Man of Iron (Człowieka z żelaza, 1981) and Wojciech Marszewski’s Escape From The ‘Liberty’ Cinema (Ucieczka z kina Wolność, 1990), which I reviewed here - plus lots of other rarities.

The season runs from June 1st to July 15th - and the best news of all is that admission is free.

Here’s the complete line-up - all screenings are at the ICA:

25 June, Cinema 1, 8.30 pm
Made In Hungaria (d.Gergely Fonyó, 2008)

26 June, Cinema 2, afternoon
The Witness (A tanú, d. Péter Bacsó, 1969)

26 June, Cinema 2, evening
The Lords’s Lantern in Budapest (Nekem lámpást adott kezembe az Úr Pesten, d. Miklós Jancsó, 1999)

27 June, Cinema 2, afternoon
Love (Szerelem, d. Károly Makk, 1971)

27 June, Cinema 2, evening
Junk Movie (Roncsfilm, d. György Szomjas, 1992)

28 June, Cinema 2, afternoon
Time Stands Still (Megáll az idő, d. Péter Gothár, 1982)

28 June, Cinema 2, evening
Moscow Square (Moszkva tér, d. Ferenc Török, 2000

29 June, Cinema 2, afternoon
We Never Die (Sose halunk meg, d. Róbert Koltai, 1992)

29 June, Cinema 2 evening
Bolse Vita (d. Ibolya Fekete, 1996)

30 June, Cinema 2 evening
Family Nest (Családi tűzfészek, d. Béla Tarr, 1979)

And here’s the official website.

I’m still finalising the details, so I can’t give much info about the content, but I can certainly confirm that it will be heavily illustrated, even though original plans to include snippets from all 31 of his films proved a tad over-ambitious.

It’s at the Cornerhouse Manchester at 17:25, with the films at 18:15. I don’t know about the screening order, so here they are chronologically: The Last Trick (Poslední trik pana Schwarcewalldea a pana Edgara, 1964), The Flat (Byt, 1968), The Ossuary (Kostnice, 1970 - I’m fairly sure this will be the Zdeněk Liška version), Leonardo’s Diary (Leonardův deník, 1972), Dimensions of Dialogue (Možnosti dialogu, 1982) and The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia (Konec stalinismu v Čechách, 1990).

More info from the Moves09 and Cornerhouse websites.

The East End Film Festival showcases hot new talent and homegrown films alongside larger independent releases and special events, informing and inspiring a new generation of filmmakers and audiences from across London and beyond, and raising the profile of this vibrant and diverse area - London’s East End.

Traditionally, it’s had a strong Eastern European presence, and 2009 is no different - perusing the programme I note that they’re showing the following:

Friday 24, 8pm: The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (Светът е голям и спасение дебне отвсякъде, d. Stephan Komandarev, Bulgaria, 2008) - I saw this in Sarajevo and remember enjoying it, though the framing story (a champion backgammon player travels to Germany to collect his teenage grandson from hospital following a car crash that killed his parents) is far less compelling than the flashbacks in which parents and son leave communist Bulgaria for life in an internment camp in Italy. Unsubtitled Bulgarian trailer here.

Saturday 25, 7pm: Iska’s Journey (Iszka utazása, d. Csaba Bollók, Hungary, 2007) and Everybody Dies But Me (Все умрут, а я останусь, d. Valeriya Gai Germanika, Russia, 2008) - I haven’t seen the Russian film, but this double bill is worth it for the stunning if relentlessly grim Hungarian title, which I reviewed here

Saturday 25, 7.30pm: Złoty środek (d. Olaf Lubaszenko, Poland, 2009) - this Polish film is so new (it opened there on 20 March) that it doesn’t even seem to have an English title yet. The director is best known as an actor (most famously the male lead in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s A Short Film About Love/Krótki film o miłości, 1988), but he’s also been directing for the last decade or so. Sadly, I can’t attend this screening, but I suspect my good friend and occasional writing partner Kamila Kuc will be relieved, as she’s hosting the Q&A and I won’t be able to heckle it. Unsubtitled Polish trailer here.

Monday 27, 7pm: I Was Here (Mina olin siin, d. René Vilbre, Estonia, 2008) - a second feature that made a splash at the Karlovy Vary film festival last year. Here’s the (unsubtitled) trailer.

Tueday 28, 6.30pm: Zift (d. Javor Gardev, Bulgaria, 2008) and Rene (d. Helena Třeštíková, Czech Republic, 2008). I haven’t seen the first of these, but I can certainly recommend the second - a documentary study of a charming but incorrigible recidivist from teenage criminal in the dying days of the Communist era to roughly twenty years later, and the film was shot over the same period. Rene spends much of the time in prison, great political upheavals largely passing him by, and although he occasionally turns his mind to something productive (such as writing), his lengthy self-destructive streak keeps catching up with him, starting with his decision to tattoo “fuck of people” [sic] across his throat.

Tuesday 28, 9pm: Elevator (d. George Dorobantu, Romania, 2008) - the mainland British premiere of another Romanian New Wave discovery, a practically zero-budget two-hander that seems to be well thought of.

Wednesday 29, 6.30pm: Homecoming (Heimkehrer, d. Jovan Arsenic, Serbia, 2004) and Revanche (d. Götz Spielmann, Austria, 2008) - haven’t seen either of these, but they both look intriguing, and the double-bill package is equally attractive.

screening and promoting independent East European film. Spotlighting feature length, documentary, and short films having a focus on East European themes, Kinofilm Project organizes film screenings for both established and emerging filmmakers to showcase their talent and work.

A look at what they’ve screened in the past shows a pleasantly wide range, from familiar titles like Man with a Movie Camera (Человек с Киноаппаратом, 1929) and Good Bye Lenin! (2003) to documentaries and programmes of Ukrainian short films.

Slightly tangentially, Philadelphia is also currently playing host to near-local boys the Quay Brothers (who graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art in 1969, where they discovered the wonders of Polish posters). The tribute features screenings and an exhibition of their original puppet sets.

The conference will be accompanied by a festival of Polish cinema (hosted by Cornerhouse) and public discussions of Polish films. The conference is addressed to the academic community, as well as educators and promoters of Polish films and the public at large.

The Organising Committee consists of Professor Ewa Mazierska (School of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Central Lancashire) and Dr. Michael Goddard (Lecturer in Media, Salford University), and abstracts of approximately 200 words should be sent to this address by 1 September 2009.

Subjects of papers may include but are not limited to:

• Polish émigré filmmakers
• Polish international co-productions
• International successes and failures of Polish films
• Polish films at international festivals
• Polish cinema in the context of Eastern Europe and East-Central Europe
• Polish cinema and the European avant-garde
• Influence of Polish cinema on foreign films
• The marketing of Polish films abroad
• Adaptations of foreign works by Polish directors
• Foreign characters and places in Polish films
• Film and Polish migration
• The international reception of Polish films before and after 1989
• Polish cinema and international film and critical theory

My full review is here, and its British premiere is at the British Museum on Saturday 4 April.