Agnieszka Rasmus – University of Lodz

Agnieszka Rasmus holds a PhD degree in Shakespeare and film studies. She teaches drama and film at the University of Lodz, Poland. Her interests are mainly work-related and comprise film history and theory, Hollywood , counter-cinema, British film, and remaking. Her favourite directors, aside from Has, are Hitchcock, Cronenberg, Lynch, and De Palma. Her favourite haunts are: the BFI at St Stephen’s Street, London , and the Shakespeare Institute Library, Stratford-upon-Avon , Warwickshire. Author... [More]

Surrealism in the shade of grey?

“If Wojciech Has had become a painter, he would surely have been a Surrealist. ” (Alexander Jankiewicz) Surrealism in the cinema usually comes in two distinctive shades: white or black or in other words bright or dark. Its dark side is represented by such directors as Polanski, Lynch, and Cronenberg. Explorers of the dark side of human psyche, sexuality, and generally our subconscious drives, create nightmarish, disintegrated worlds that fall into pieces as their protagonists’ psyche... [More]

The Saragossa Manuscript Players

While The Saragossa Manuscript boasts some of Poland’s most respected ‘serious’ actors/actresses, it also contains numerous of Poland’s finest ‘comedy’ players making its cast list really second to none. Even in cameo supporting roles are actors of the quality of Wieslaw Golas (Kapitan Sowa/Dzieciol), making the film so rich and amusing wherever you look. Zbigniew Cybulski – Alphonse Van Worden Originally, a one-time famous theatre actor Zbigniew Wójcik was penned to play the... [More]

Stories-within-the-stories or Wojciech-Has-within-David-Lynch

Wojciech Has and David Lynch have surprisingly a lot in common and it’s not only their artistic background – both studied painting before becoming filmmakers, both show affinities with the school of surrealism, both are the poets of the screen, both are not an easy but a very bumpy ride that may leave you with a splitting headache. Their films will not provide you with the Hollywood feel-good factor where at the end we leave the film returning home secure in the knowledge that we successfully... [More]