Escape from the masters of cinema – Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art

We invite you to a special screening of Escape to the Silver Globe, followed by a meeting with the film’s director Kuba Mikurda, hosted by film historian and theorist dr Paulina Kwiatkowska (PhD).

• Among other topics, we will talk about the non-obvious and not-easy relationships between cinephilia and film d'auteur, the actuality and the anachronism of the demiurgic figure of a film director, the possibilities and limitations of a film essay, Żuławski’s cinema and the place of women in his cinematic worlds, and, finally, why we love the cinema so much, even though it may not always deserve it.

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• directed by Kuba Mikurda, Poland 2021, 94'

  • Year 1975. After a few years of forced emigration, young director Andrzej Żuławski returns to Poland. His situation in the country is unstable. After The Third Part of the Night (1971), a well-received debut, he made the shocking film The Devil (1972) that was immediately put on the shelf and turned the director into a persona non grata. To make matters worse, his family falls apart. His wife, Małgorzata Braunek, files for divorce. To regain his position and escape from his personal drama, Żuławski undertakes the titanic task to make the greatest film in the history of Polish cinematography: a science fiction epic On the Silver Globe. If he succeeds, he’ll reach the pantheon of Polish cinema. If not, his career in Poland will be over.

  • Andrzej Żuławski’s On the Silver Globe (1976/1987) could have become one of the most groundbreaking science fiction films ever made. The scale of production, a star-studded cast, revolutionary costumes and set design promised a masterpiece. Why then did the cinematography authorities of the People's Republic of Poland halt production two weeks before the final shot? Was it because of economic, political, artistic or personal reasons? What remains is a legendary film that continues to inspire filmmakers around the world, and the crew’s emotions, just as strong today as they were forty years ago. Escape to the Silver Globe is a film about the greatest mystery and the greatest unfulfilled dream of Polish cinema.