The Cruise + Q&A with Piotr Czerkawski

We have the pleasure of inviting you to a Q&A with Piotr Czerkawski, the author of “Drżące kadry. Rozmowy o życiu filmowym w PRL-u” / “Shivering Frames. Discussions about Film Live in the Polish People’s Republic” and a screening of “The Cruise”!

February 15th, 2020, 6:15 PM
Forum cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
tickets: 12 PLN – regular ticket, 10 PLN – discount ticket, available at the Forum cinema’s box office (5 Legionowa Street), Ludwik Zamenhof Center’s box office (19 Warszawska Street) and on bilety.bok.bialystok.pl
host: Maciej Białous PhD
film with English subtitles

“Shivering Frames. Discussions about Film Live in the Polish People’s Republic”
The years of the Polish People’s Republic were not kind to filmmakers. Directors, like members of the gymnastic section, had to learn many acrobatic figures to avoid a clash with authorities. At the same time, it was in these difficult times that the greatest Polish feature and documentary works were created, Polish films were popular abroad, and the stars of Polish People’s cinema still shine with the brightest glow.

Film critic and journalist Piotr Czerkawski talks with directors who have permanently entered the history of Polish cinema. Jerzy Hoffman, Kazimierz Kutz, Marek Piwowski, Jerzy Antczak, Jerzy Gruza, Marek Piestrak, Wojciech Marczewski, Janusz Kondratiuk, Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Zanussi, Magdalena Łazarkiewicz, Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz and Janusz Zaorski present survival strategies in a not very friendly time and guide us through a difficult period of transformation.

The Cruise
The film, made in a para-documentary fashion by observing improvised scenes, is one of the most original Polish satirical comedies. The grotesque tone, surreal dialogues using the communist regime’s newspeak, and characters and situations typical of the contemporary reality, give the film the dimension of an allegory.

A stowaway gets onboard a cruise boat on the Vistula from Warsaw to Płock. The captain mistakes him for a cultural coordinator. Surprised and scared, the stowaway is trying to play the role imposed upon him: he organises meetings, contests, games and activities onboard, trying to involve the passengers. He gains allies among the people who harbour hidden organisational and dictatorial instincts. The passengers begin offering their own ideas for organising the cultural life on the boat. Shaken out of its apathy, the boat’s micro society is suddenly overcome with its collective enthusiasm for recreation: they organise the captain’s feast, and a masquerade ball, which is to be a synthesis of physical fitness with culture and art. Events take a dangerous turn, but the avalanche cannot be stopped even by the organisers themselves. The accidental coordinator revels in his newly gained power and control over the completely devoted tour participants.