Pokolenia

To mark the jubilee anniversary of Wrocław's Feature Film Studio, Janusz Zaorski has created an audiovisual history of Polish cinema. From classics produced in Wrocław by filmmakers like Kutz, Chęciński, Konwicki, Marczewski, Holland, and Kieślowski, he narrates Polish history not by referring to when the films themselves were made but by the subjects they discuss. The result is a love letter to Poland and Polish culture and a work that depicts successive generational experiences: World War II, the forced resettlements known as Operation Vistula, Stalin's death, the thaw, the absurdities of the People's Republic of Poland, March 1968, etc. Zaorski reveals his passion for cinema, and his film shows the relativism with which filmmakers look at the past, as they all put their own particular spin on the same facts. A beautiful lesson in the history of the country and of cinema. (New Horizons International Film Festival)