{"id":183782,"date":"2016-09-27T10:17:29","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T14:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=183782"},"modified":"2016-11-02T10:23:01","modified_gmt":"2016-11-02T14:23:01","slug":"tales-of-history-and-morality-highlight-this-years-polish-film-festival-183782","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/tales-of-history-and-morality-highlight-this-years-polish-film-festival-183782\/","title":{"rendered":"Tales of history, morality highlight Polish Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Murder. Adultery. Theft. Those are three of the themes explored in the first half of the 2016 Polish Film Festival<\/a><\/strong>. Organized by the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies<\/a><\/strong>, it begins Thursday, September 29.<\/p>\n

Part One of the festival features The Decalogue<\/em>, a series of one-hour films, each based on one of the Ten Commandments. The event commemorates the 20th<\/sup> anniversary of the death of director Krzysztof Kie\u015blowski<\/a><\/strong>, who also helped write the screenplays. Shown at the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum over a period of five weeks, the films explore timeless moral themes without trying to provide ultimate solutions.<\/p>\n

\"film
Decalogue 5<\/em> is the story two killings\u2014one a random act of violence, the other a state-sanctioned execution.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Everyone seems to accept the Ten Commandments as a kind of moral basis,” Kieslowski once said, “and everyone breaks them daily. Just the attempt to respect them is already a major achievement.”<\/p>\n

The festival, now in its ninth year, presents classic Polish cinema, as well as contemporary works produced by the newest generation of the country\u2019s filmmakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe festival showcases Polish culture, not only for people with Polish roots, but for the entire Rochester community, as well as Upstate New York,\u201d says organizer Bozena Sobolewska, an administrative assistant at the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies.<\/p>\n

Part Two of the festival begins November 2 at the Dryden with a thriller about interlocking events in the lives of a Warsaw hot dog vendor, a sleazy film director, and a drug runner. 11 Minutes<\/em>\u00a0takes\u00a0place during 11 tense minutes, ending with an explosive climax.<\/p>\n