Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club invites you to the screening of the documentary "Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski" with the participation of the film's producers Anna Dobrowolska and Irek Dobrowolski.
STRUGGLE: THE LIFE AND LOST ART OF SZUKALSKI (Wikipedia)
Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski is a 2018 documentary film directed by Irek Dobrowolski, written by Stephen Cooper and Irek Dobrowolski and starring Stanisław Szukalski, Glenn Bray and Robert Williams. The documentary is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, and his father George DiCaprio. [The film was released by Netflix on December 21, 2018. The documentary tells the story of the Polish artist Stanisław Szukalski’s troubled life and complicated body of work. He created his own language, and is an innovative sculptor, who once lost all his work in a Nazi bombing raid. It also focuses on his nationalism in the lead-up to World War II, and his subsequent transformation during the second half of his life. The documentary was reviewed positively by Karen Han in The New York Times, who stated that it "manages to deliver" on the breadth and depth implied by the title. Han noted: "Still, for Bray, George DiCaprio and others who knew Szukalski in his final years, their struggle with his past is deeply personal. They effectively become subjects themselves, grappling with how he ought to be remembered. The viewer is left to decide."
ANNA DOBROWOLSKA
Producing films and television programs since 2002, Anna's most recent release is the feature documentary Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski from producer Leonardo DiCaprio and NETFLIX Studios. Struggle premiered on December 21, 2018 at LACMA in Los Angeles and is now available 190 countries (in 34 languages) to an audience of 160 million. Reception has been phenomenal: rave reviews in top publications from around the world (New York Times, Observer, Guardian, Daily Mirror, Tribute and many more); Netflix ranked it 4th Best Film of 2018; and ranks #5 on the list of Must See movies in 2019 according to IMDb - the most popular industry portal and the defacto authority in film and television. Her portfolio boasts an extensive run in television, having produced more than 300 episodes and 26 broadcast shows, a number of on-stage musicals with famous Polish stars played in Warsaw’s Sala Kongresowa and the Polish National Opera, and multi-award winning productions like In Fortunes Debt, Dancing with Drugs, and The Portraitist.
IREK DOBROWOLSKI
Director of over 25 documentaries and two feature films - many of which have been internationally nominated and awarded, including The Magnolia Award at Shanghai Film Festival, the Grand Prix at Stockholm’s International Film Festival, Lajkonik at Krakow Film Festival and the Golden Phoenix at Warsaw’s Jewish Motifs Festival. His film August Sky: 63 Days of Glory has become a cult favorite in Poland, with more than 350,000 Facebook fans who post poems and show off August Sky tattoo art. The trailer has garnered over 8 million views on Youtube. Irek's latest film, Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski, was produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and released by Netflix Studios.
Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski
When: Friday, June 21, 2024 at 7:00 p.m
Where: LAPAC/Promenade Playhouse Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory - 10931 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064
RSVP: beata.j.czajkowska@gmail.com
Admission is free for club members, $30 for guests. Checks payable to Helena Modjeska Art Culture Club or PayPal:
Seating is limited.
Modjeska Club has the pleasure of inviting its members and guests to a unique jazz concert "Polska i Brazylia" by famous Polish jazz vocalist Grażyna Auguścik with guitarist Paulinho Garcia, originally from Brazil, now living in California.
Free to Club members and $30 per person for guests.
Dear guests: please make your checks payable to "Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club" and send to Modjeska Club, PO Box 4288, Sunland CA 91041-4288. Alternatively you can pay via PayPal to "prezes@modjeska.org."
Dear members: please RSVP to "prezes@modjeska.org" by April 2, 2024 to make sure you have a reserved seat. Do not bring any beverages or desserts; instead, purchase items from the venue's bar. Parking is on the same street, two buildings down.
Polska i Brazylia - Grażyna Auguścik and Paulinho Garcia
When: 7th of April, 2024 at 7 pm
Where: Illusion Magic Theater (1418 4th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401)
RSVP: prezes@modjeska.org
by April 2, 2024 to reserve a seat
Free to Club members and $30 per person for guests.
Singer, composer, arranger, and producer Grażyna Auguścik has won the praise and admiration of music critics, jazz enthusiasts and even non-jazz audiences with a singular voice that speaks a universal language. She is one of the most intriguing contemporary vocalists on today’s world jazz scene. Her elusive style challenges traditional definitions of jazz and shows a vocalist and musician without boundaries. Her unorthodox approach to rewriting classic works pays tribute to their authors and at the same time is an adventure into uncharted territory. Her original music gives a fresh taste of uncanny flavor.
She began her professional music career in Europe, and then completed her studies at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1992. Since then she has become a prolific collaborator shearing the stage with such jazz notables as Michael and Randy Brecker, Jim Hall, John Medeski, Paul Wertico, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Robert Irving III, Michal Urbaniak, Urszula Dudziak, Patricia Barber, John McLean, Matt Ulery, Paulinho Garcia, Jarek Bester. Andrzej Jagodzinski and many others. Grazyna has recorded, produced and distributed 21 albums, 13 of which were under her own record label, GMA Records, and has appeared as a guest on as many projects.
Her album Pastels was chosen one of the best of 1998 by National Public Radio listeners. Her 2002 release River placed her as one of the hottest young jazz talents in the country. In 2003 Grazyna received Twirlie Nomination for Top 15 FEMALE VOCALISTS and was nominated for Best Female Vocalist of 2002 by 22nd Annual Chicago Music Awards. She was named Best Jazz Vocalist of 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2016 by a prestigious European Jazz Forum Magazine.
In 2002 Fujitsu Concord Jazz Festival awarded her with the TOP VOCALIST title, and the album Homage - Three for Brazil recorded for Pony Canyon Records in Japan was on a TOP 20 JAZZ ALBUMS list in Asia.
Mr. Garcia in His Own Words
I was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
My first contact with music was very early in life, singing in a Sundays children program at Radio Inconfidencia in my hometown.
Even though vocals have been my trade from the very beginning I’ve also played some instruments, starting first on percussion then drums, and lastly the bass, which then became my main performance instrument.
The nylon string guitar (violão) has always been my companion, for learning new songs, making arrangements or just entertaining myself. It was only after I moved to the U.S. that it became my main instrument having been discovered as a vocalist who could also simultaneously play.
Throughout my career I’ve played various styles of music, from boleros and tangos to rock and roll, to popular Brazilian genres. In my late teens I was introduced through recordings to vocal jazz i.e. Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Chet Baker…. , which increased my interest in moving to the U.S. and became the trademark of my performances.
I moved to Chicago in 1979 to join the group Breno Sauer’s Brazilian Sounds that soon after became Made in Brazil. I was part of the band until 1991 when I then started my own band, Jazzmineiro, whose eponymous 1996 CD received excellent reviews in the Chicago Tribune,Jazziz magazine, the Brazilian Music Review, and The Brazilians.
The Modjeska Club is proud to present its new Golden Awards to two eminent Polish film directors, Jerzy Antczak and Jacek Bromski. The event for Modjeska Club members and VIP guests will take place on 9 March 2024 in Beverly Hills. The conversation with the awardees will be conducted by Katarzyna Śmiechowicz, actress and Vice President of the Modjeska Club.
The recipients are distinguished film directors Jacek Bromski, who served as president of Polish Film Association for over 26 years, and will travel for this occasion from Poland, and Jerzy Antczak, the creator of the most popular Polish film Nights and Days, who has settled in Los Angeles and taught at UCLA for many years. He is a Honorary Member of our club along with his wife, legendary actress Jadwiga Barańska, who is also an awardee of the Modjeska Prize (2018).
Similarly to the Modjeska Prizes established in 2010, the Golden Awards honor lifetime achievements, but of film directors not actors, and thus fill a gap in our range of recognitions associated with our patron, actress Helena Modjeska. She emigrated to California in 1876 to become one of the most important Shakespearean actresses of her time. She was an actress, director, producer and managed her own theatrical troupe that performed in 225 towns and cities across the continent. With her example of artistic and immigrant success, the Modjeska Club wishes to honor film and theater directors as well.
The award consists of a statuette, diploma and a commemorative "gold bar".
Golden Awards for Lifetime Achievement
When: 9th of March 2024 at 6:30 pm
Where: residence of Helena and Stanley Kolodziey, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
RSVP: beata.j.czajkowska@gmail.com
Born December 25, 1929 in Włodzimierz - a Polish TV, theater, and film director.
Graduate of the Adam Mickiewicz High School in Lubliniec. Later graduated from the Leon Schiller Higher Theater School in Lodz in 1953.
He made his debut as an actor on the stage of the Teatr Powszechny in Lodz; later he was also involved in directing, and from the late 1950s he was active only as a director.
In 1957 he was director of the "715" theater in Lodz, in 1959 he was chief director of the Lodz Television Center, and from 1963 he was chief director of the Warsaw Television Center.
From 1963 to 1975 he was chief director of the TV Theater. He personally directed, among others, Kordian by J. Slowacki, Three Sisters by Chekhov, The Glass Menagerie by T. Williams; also important productions of the Theater of Fact (Nuremberg Epilogue). On July 22, 1964, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland, he received the First Degree State Team Award for artistic work in TV theater.
Winner of the First Degree State Award (individual 1964 and 1970, team 1976). In 1977, his film Noce i dnie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was entered in the 26th Berlin International Film Festival.
Since 1979 he has lived in the USA, where he is a lecturer (with the title of professor) at the University of California (UCLA) in Los Angeles, in the Department of Film and Television. In the early 1990s he temporarily stayed in Poland, making two films: The Camellia Lady and Chopin. Desire for Love and two TV theater productions: "Caesar and Pompey" and "Paths of Glory."
On September 14, 2013, he received Platinum Lions for lifetime achievement at the 38th Gdynia Film Festival
Wystrzał (also tv theater)
Mistrz
Hrabina Cosel (also 3 episode serial version)
Epilog norymberski (also tv theater)
Noce i dnie (also 12 episode TV series version)
Dama kameliowa
Chopin. Pragnienie miłości (also English version - Chopin. Desire for love)
Jerzy Antczak realized about 130 performances for television.
Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1976)
Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1970)
Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1964)
Gold Medal for " Merit to Culture Gloria Artis" (October 10, 2008)
Born in 1946 in Wroclaw. From 1965 to 1970 he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, from 1972 to 1974 he studied Polish Studies at Warsaw University, and from 1974 to 1978 he studied directing at the National Film, Television and Theater School in Lodz. In 1988, together with Juliusz Machulski and Jacek Moczydłowski, he founded the Zebra Film Group (now: Zebra Film Studio), which was incorporated into the Warsaw Feature and Documentary Film Studio in 2019.
Writer, director and film producer. His achievements include such films as Kuchnia Polska, To ja, złodziej, Zabij mnie glino, U Pana Boga za piecem, U Pana Boga w ogródku, Uwikłanie, Anatomia zła - which received awards at national and international festivals. He is currently finishing work on U Pana Boga w Królowym Moście, which is a continuation of the popular series of films set in Podlasie. In addition to the feature film, a TV series is also in development.
In May 2023, he unveiled his Star in Lodz's Avenue of Stars on Piotrkowska Street.
He served as president of the Polish Filmmakers Association from 1996. He resigned from this position in 2024. Since 2007, he has also been president of the World Cinema Alliance (Alliance Mondiale du Cinema).
He founded the Association's collective rights management organization, the Association of Authors and Audiovisual Producers. During his tenure, the Association signed agreements on cooperation and mutual protection of copyrights with dozens of organizations in Europe, Asia (including China) and the Americas.
He led a successful campaign by the film community for the amendment of copyright law and the law on cinematography, and co-organized the Polish Film Institute as the first Chairman of the PISF Council (in 2005-2008). He held this function again from 2014.
In October 2015, he became a member of the National Development Council appointed by President Andrzej Duda.
Alicja (1980)
Ceremonia pogrzebowa (1984)
Zabij mnie glino (1987)
Sztuka kochania (1989)
Kuchnia polska (1991)
1968. Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku (1992)
Dzieci i ryby (1996)
U Pana Boga za piecem (1998)
To ja, złodziej (1999)
Kariera Nikosia Dyzmy (2002)
Kochankowie Roku Tygrysa (2005)
Solidarność, Solidarność... (2005)
U Pana Boga w ogródku (2007)
U Pana Boga za miedzą (2009)
Uwikłanie (2011)
Bilet na Księżyc (2013)
Anatomia zła (2015)
Solid Gold (2019)
U Pana Boga w Królowym Moście (2023)
Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club is pleased to invite members and guests to a meeting with Agnieszka Couderq, author of a novel, The Last Envoy of the Ming Dynasty. Historical novel in two volumes. The meeting will be in Polish and will be held on January 20, 2024 5pm, at the Centerpointe Club in Playa Vista (6200 Playa Vista Dr, Playa Vista, CA 90094). The presentation starts at 5:20 to 6:20 plus QA period and a wine-and-hors-d'oeuvres reception. Parking under the building.
The author will have some copies available for signing and sale. The work is in two volumes: Volume I - The Sun, the Moon and the Cross; Volume II – Light and Darkness.
The publisher is Oficyna Wydawnicza RYTM: https://www.rytm-wydawnictwo.pl/nowosci/powiedz-wyslannik-dynastii-ming-slonce-ksiezyc-i-krzyz_p_2048.html
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The author is Polish and American, currently living alternately in Warsaw and Los Angeles. Initially growing up in communist Poland, she came to the United States in 1980 as a teenager and completed her studies in geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines in Colorado. Shortly after graduating, she contracted cancer, with little chance of survival. This near-death experience at a young age had a profound impact on her. It defined her entire life, creating a lens through which she viewed all its twists and turns, ups and downs, and drew her very early to issues of faith and suffering. As an avid reader who has read various books written by authors living on many continents, she has been developing her writing skills for years, creating stories for children and poetry, but only after encountering the story of Michał Boym during her studies in sinology did she feel the strength to writing a novel with a view to its publication. Having lived in many countries and cultures, she has learned to appreciate them. He tries to get to know them in depth and does this primarily by learning their languages. Therefore, he speaks Polish, English, French, Spanish and Chinese fluently and understands Russian well. The book she wrote is the essence of her life experiences and thoughts.
Agnieszka Couderq and Her Novel about Polish Jesuit in China
When: January 20th, 2024 at 5pm
Where: Centerpointe Club in Playa Vista (6200 Playa Vista Dr, Playa Vista, CA 90094).
A concert by an outstanding young pianist Łukasz Yoder, caroling with Olivia Kierdal and a Christmas party by the Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club will take place on Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 6pm, at the residence of Helena and Stanley Kolodziey, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Street parking is limited to 30 cars, so please come in groups with friends.
Club members and VIP Guests of the Board or hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Kolodziey attend for free; guests of Club members pay $30 per person. Check for Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club, cash, or Paypal send to: prezes@modjeska.org. Please make payments in advance to avoid a traffic jam at the entrance. Mail your checks to PO Box 4288 Sunland CA 91041-4288.
The event will start with breaking of the Christmas Wafer (Opłatek) and best wishes from Father Mirosław Frankowski at 6:30pm, followed by holiday dinner buffet with traditional dishes. The concert will start at 7:45pm, and caroling at 8:15pm.
Łukasz Yoder Concert, caroling with Olivia Kierdal
When: Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 6pm
Where: residence of Helena and Stanley Kolodziey, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
RSVP: by December 10th to beata.j.czajkowska@gmail.com
Admission is free for Club members, for guests $30 per person.
Praised by the Los Angeles Opus for his “liquid sensitivity” and “formidable power” as a soloist, and for his “discreet exactitude” as a collaborative pianist, the inspiration for Łukasz’s pianism can perhaps best be traced to his experiences of the thunderous power of a twelve foot wave, or the sensuous delicacy of a desert sunset. Grand Prize Winner of the Landsum International Music Festival, Łukasz is a top prizewinner of the Beverly Hills National Auditions, Claudette Sorel International Piano Competition in Fredonia, New York, Classics Alive National Auditions, The Kosciuszko Foundations National Chopin Competition in Washington D.C, The International Chopin Competition in Hartford, Connecticut, Glendale Piano Competition, MTAC, MTNA, CAPMT State Finals, and the statewide Kathryn Gawartin Chopin Competition.
Łukasz has toured extensively on both coasts of the United States, Europe and Puerto Rico, in venues that include Zipper Hall of the Colburn School of Music, the Polish Embassy in Washington DC, the Kosciuszko Foundation’s headquarters in NYC, the Steinway Society of Puerto Rico, the Dzialynski Palace and White Hall of Poznań, Poland, as well as Żelazowa Wola, Chopin's birthplace.
2022-2023 highlights include performances in the “Music at a Mansion” Concert Series at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, top prizes in the Antelope Valley and UCLA All Stars Concerto competition, and most recently a mini tour of the west with UCLA Professor and internationally renowned actor Marek Probosz, with whom he performed the Los Angeles and Seattle premieres of the award-winning show “Norvid’s Return” at the Odyssey Theatre here in LA and Polish Cultural center in Seattle, with summer highlights including further performances in Zielona Góra as well as Zamość, Poland, where he performed a solo concert as part of the Rzeka En Foundation.
Earlier in 2020-21 Łukasz embarked on a whirlwind tour of Southern California, performing on the Noontime Concert Series at Los Angeles City College, the Modrzejewska Club Evening Concerts, The Music by the Sea Concert Series in Encinitas, and the Interludes Concert Series in Torrance, Stan Harris Music Parlor, as well as the Classical Encounters Concert Series in Orange County.
He has recorded for Polish Radio and Television, and been featured in the Polish and American Press. Lukasz is currently studying at the UCLA Herp Alpert School of Music on a full scholarship, under the tutelage Professor Inna Faliks, Chair of the Piano Department. He continues to be mentored by his mother, Róża Kostrzewska Yoder, as well as American Pianist Garrick Ohlsson. Łukasz had a unique upbringing. He grew up homeschooled, and his mother taught him piano until college and teaches his two younger brothers. He documents his pianistic and modeling career, as well as random adventures on his Instagram, where he can be found as: @lukasz_yoder
Recent interview by Shoutout LA (October 2022):
https://shoutoutla.com/meet-lukasz-yoder-pianist-model-reality-tv-star/
Born in a Polish family in Sydney, Australia, Kierdal is a singer, classically trained pianist, songwriter and producer. She studied at Macquarie University in Sydney, receiving a scholarship to study abroad in California State University, Fullerton in 2014, and living in California since that time. She has over 2,000,000 viewers on Spotify where she posted nearly 20 songs.
Link to a recent interview by Shoutout LA (February 2023):
https://shoutoutla.com/meet-olivia-kierdal-songwriter-artist-and-producer/
The Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club invites all members and guests of the Club to a special event on Saturday, November 18th, 2023 at 6:30 pm, for a hot dinner and conversation with Monique Chmielewska Lehman and Artur Chmielewski about their father Henryk Chmielewski and the presentation of their book, entitled Papcio Chmiel Udomowiony.
SURPRISE GUEST: Hugh Welchman, screenwriter and filmmaker of "The Peasants" ("Chlopi") film , based on Nobel-Prize winning novel by Wladyslaw Reymont, will attend and discuss his career as a surprise late addition to the program. He gives a presentation for Deadline in the morning, and will be interviewed in English after the Lehman presentation. The film was nominated by Poland to the Academy Awards. Other movies are Loving Vincent, and La View en Rose about Edith Piaf. Plenty to talk about!
Please feel free to bring a variety of homemade baked goods and desserts, and your favorite beverages for the buffet.
DETAILS
Papcio Chmiel Udomowiony
When: Saturday, November 18th, 2023 at 6:30 pm
Where: the residence of Monique Chmielewski Lehman and David Lehman
RSVP: Secretary Beata Czajkowska, beata.j.czajkowska@gmail.com
Admission is free for Club members, for guests $20 per person.
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