Events

Sebastian Rys Presents a Play about Zofia Rysiówna

The Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club in cooperation with the Institute of National Remembrance invites you to a monodrama written by Polish actor, Sebastian Rys, entitled "Family War Stories: Zofia Rysiowna" and presented on Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 6:30 PM at the Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory, 10931 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064.

ABOUT THE PLAY. Family war stories: Zofia Rysiówna, presented by Sebastian Ryś

"With our thoughts, we reach memories as quickly as with our eyesight to the stars. Looking at the starry sky, we see the black dome of the Earth's firmament sparkling with diamonds. The stars are seemingly equally distant, but in reality they are separated, from us and from each other, by thousands of light years. Thought has a similar path to memories recorded in memory, although some lose their shine."

Let these thoughts accompany us, calling up from memory the recorded slides, which can now shine anew with the power of our hearts.

The heroine of our meeting today is Zofia Rysiówna. A woman from Nowy Sącz, a liaison officer, an actress, a mother and a wife, a strict but fair and dedicated person. She will open up the world of family memories of the Rysiów family from Nowy Sącz to us. Continuing the family saga, we will follow "Zosia" in this story, because that was her war nickname, and we will try to see the youth of Nowy Sącz, their activities and sports through her eyes. We will meet Rysiówna's school professors and try to recognize the character traits of the so-called Other Generation, with whom we have less and less in common.

Perhaps she will reveal to us the spherical reflection of Jan Karski's secret emissary, in which action she took part and reveal the later dramatic fates of the family and the inhabitants of this city related to it. I do not know if she will take us with her beyond the walls of the Camp, we cannot really expect that, but I think that at the end of the story Zofia Rysiówna will invite us in front of her beloved radio microphone and onto the stage of the theater. Her post-war life was hidden and here too let's not expect too effusive a report. What can we expect? Honest words, a warm heart and something on the border of a dream and intense experience.

The stage statement combines: the testimony of an indirect witness to history, archival radio recordings, poems with elements of a fictional narrative in musical accents. The whole thing was based on "Memories of May" by Wanda Straszyńska, remembered family relations and the book "On the Paths of Fantom" by Jacek Ryś.

Let this meeting be an engaging journey into the recesses of memory of living memories.

~ Sebastian Ryś

Details

Sebastian Rys Presents a Play about Zofia Rysiówna

When: Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 6:30 PM

Where: Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory, 10931 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064.

RSVP: Beata.J.Czajkowska@gmail.com

Free admission for club members, $30 per person for guests.

Payment by check made payable to "Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club" with note about the theater, to PO Box 4288 Sunland CA 91041, or paypal to prezes@modjeska.org.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ACTOR

Sebastian Ryś – born in Wrocław in 1986, graduate of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw. Actor, sensitive interpreter of romantic heroes. He made his debut while still a student at the Nowy Theatre in Słupsk, in the role of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz in Andrzej Maria Marczewski's original performance "Witkacy jest do X-tej" with music by Marek Dyjak. He collaborated with the Old Town Theatre and the Polish Theatre in Warsaw. In the Płock Dramatic Theatre he made himself known as: S.B. in Szymon Bogacz's play "Trzech mamy w inne wiek" directed by Julia Mark, as well as the title role of W. Shakespeare's "Hamlet" directed by Marek Mokrowiecki. He was permanently associated with the Polish Theatre in Wrocław, where he played, among others: in Janusz Wiśniewski's "Imaginary Sick" and in Bartosz Wyszomirski's "Mirandolina".

He has film and TV roles under his belt. In his search for theatre heroes, he reaches for radio theatre and his own short productions. In his monodrama entitled: "Zupa rybna w Odesie", he resurrects the unfinished story of the forgotten hero Jan Karski, winning numerous awards: Main prize at the Strzała Północy Festival in Koszalin. Main prize of the XLIII Tyskie Spotkania Teatralne Two Jury prizes - Solo Olsztyn OSTJA Grand Prix - Festival of Original Arts and Adaptations, WINDOWISKO, Gdańsk.

Ryś is a beneficiary of the "Kultura Polska na Świecie" programme of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. He took part in the international United Solo festival in New York, performing there with the English version of the monodrama "Fish soup in Odessa". He is a theatre instructor with pedagogical training and a supporting teacher. He organizes poetry concerts. With his vision he set the tone for the artistic expression of the radio play entitled: "Scars of Freedom". Co-creator of "Plam w Pamięci" - a production of the Polish Radio Theatre. Co-writer, director and actor in the spectacle about Jerzy Popiełuszko "Rozżarzone embers miłości".

Writer Piotr Siemion - First Guest of the Fall Season

On 28 September 2024 at 6pm, the Modjeska Art & Culture Club will have the pleasure of presenting a Polish writer, Piotr D. Siemion, a Warsaw-based novelist and translator, who also works as a corporate attorney. The event will be held in a private residence in Brentwood and will be open only to Club members and VIP guests of the speaker.

The interview will be conducted by Dr. Jerzy Kossek, specialist in Polish-American literature who teaches at University of California, Irvine and is a Modjeska Club member.

PIOTR D. SIEMION

Piotr D. Siemion is an accomplished novelist and essay author, writing in English and his native Polish. He was raised in the academic center of Wrocław (the pre-1945 Breslau) in Poland, where he studied English Literature and was, in his own words, "a bit of a counterculture figure." After his early debut as a literary translator, he spent his formative years in New York City. In 1988 he traveled to the United States as a Fulbright scholar, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the subject of American twentieth-century novels. Between 1988 and 2000 he moved between the US (New York) and Canada (Montreal), during which time he published a series of translations, among others, of Yeats' poetry and Tom Clancy's prose. He has translated Thomas Pynchon (the ingenious translation of The Crying of Lot 49, for which he won the 'Literatura na Świecie award), John Gardner and Robert Nye. He worked as a columnist and anecdote writer for the underground journal 'BruLion'. In 1997 he completed his legal studies at the University of Columbia and worked in Manhattan in the legal practice of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Since the summer of 2000 he has lived in Warsaw.

His return to Poland after twelve years abroad coincided with the beginning of his novelistic career. He lives just outside Warsaw, that the writer describes as "a zany, postmodern city, where one can, these days, fully experience the 21st century dynamics of intermingling languages, civilizations, and ideas, while remaining rooted in Europe’s difficult history." In fact, his artistic work has always been marked by cross-border but also cross-disciplinary influences. In the U.S. he received his Ph.D. degree in American fiction but also studied for a law school degree, both from Columbia University in New York. In the last three decades, Siemion has pursued a two-edged career of an international lawyer and a novelist, never being able to decide which path to abandon. In the end, he is still doing both things at once, writing novels and, in parallel, working on AI projects for a Warsaw-based publishing house.

In his early years, he used to translate into Polish the works of British, Irish, and American authors, including Thomas Pynchon, Robert Nye, and W.B. Yeats. In 2000, he published his first novel, Niskie Łąki (“Low Meadows”), which was hailed as the literary event of the year, and was subsequently translated into German, Hungarian, and Ukrainian. It was meant as a chronicle of his post-Communist generation, depicting the transition from the Cold War era to the new, chaotic, capitalist order of things. In 2004, his second novel, Finimondo, appeared, to good reviews but less publicity. It was a business thriller and, for a second novel, it had good reviews. In 2015, the book was followed by a personal, book-length biographical essay, The Year of the Snake. A Diary. In the meantime, he periodically published other literary translations (listed below), essays, and reviews.

Siemion published his most recent novel, Bella, ciao, in 2022. A post-apocalyptic riff on modernity’s key philosophical issues, it coincided with Russia’s invasion on Ukraine. Accordingly, some critics read it as a fact-based report from the conflict. At any event, in 2023 Bella, ciao, was shortlisted for the Warsaw Literary Prize, as well as the Central European Literary Prize Angelus. At this time, Siemion is busy outlining a new work of fiction, but in parallel he concern myself with the rapidly changing Polish and English literary idioms. In fact, he enthusiastically embraced the chance to translate Solar Bones into Polish precisely because Mike McCormack’s novel intermingles the 21st century vernacular with strong echoes of grand literary traditions: an exercise in literary sleight-of-hand that is a challenge and a joy to its translators.

Details

Writer Piotr Siemion

When: Wednesday, 28 September, 2024, 6 pm

Where: The event will be held in a private residence in Brentwood and will be open only to Club members and VIP guests of the speaker.

RSVP: prezes@modjeska.org

Find out more

DR. JERZY GEORGE KOSSEK

Dr Kossek is a Polish-American Americanist, Associate Professor writer, poet, literature and music critic, theater director, promoter and producer, radio host, Fulbright Professor at University of California Riverside, currently teaching creative writing at California MiraMar University in San Diego, Former Chair and Associate Professor at University of Bielsko-Biala, Poland.Former English and American Literature and Culture Professor at University of Occupational Safety Management. He holds MA in English and American Literature and Culture and Doctoral Degree in American Literature from University of Silesia, Poland. A recipient of several international research awards, he lectured in Europe and USA. In Poland under Soviet regime he organized and founded American Club Association in cooperation with American Consulate General in Krakow, Poland. His passion for American core music - Blues resulted in co-organizing the world's biggest blues festival - Rawa Blues Festival, Poetic Blues Café, Academic Blues Conference, Route 66 Seminar.

He is the founder and Director of Ethnic Studies Center and actively supported the efforts to organize the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis. Dr Kossek is the author of many academic books on American Literature, Culture and Music. He is a singer/songwriter and poet. His first CD entitled The Blues Sharpener’s Daughter earned The best concept album status in 2014 at Polish-American Music, Folk and Arts Fest in Zywiec, Poland. Dr Kossek wrote and directed theatrical performances in Katowice and Bielsko-Biala and Los Angeles. He is an Academic Tutor and has 35 plus years of experience teaching English and related subjects at all levels. Recently he started the rendition of Blues Poetic Café in Los Angeles under the name of Blues and Jazz Poetic Café at historic Leimert Park location in Los Angeles. Jerzy George supports the local communities in LA, Riverside and Orange Counties with lots of volunteer work as the Director of Music, Culture and The Arts for Greater Los Angeles Fulbright Association and as Artistic Director for Barbara Morrison Performing Arts.

Dr Kossek has both qualifications and passion for teaching English as The Second language. He has been teaching English for over 35 years at all levels for students of all ages. He holds Master’s Degree in English Philology/ English Pedagogy Major ( fully accredited four year English studies) from State University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland certifying him to teach all English courses at all levels including higher academic levels. He also holds a Doctoral Degree from the same University in American Studies. Dr Kossek’s top professional knowledge and experience have their roots in pedagogy, psychology, strong background in English grammar and syntax, phonology and phonetics, Latin and practical knowledge of English. His professional mission as educator/tutor is to provide the highest quality of English language learning experience for students looking to achieve conversational or academic proficiency in order to live, work or study in English-speaking environment. His self created teaching curriculum focuses on life skill/professional development as well as cultural immersion to give his students the best English learning experience possible.

Kossek's passion for American core music (The Blues) resulted in many ventures. The most significant of them, co-organization of Rawa Blues Festival in Katowice, Poland. Over the years the Festival grew to the biggest blues fest status in the world under the roof and also one of the oldest. Most of the top blues personalities like Koko Taylor, Junior Wells, Robert Cray, Keb' Mo', James Blood Ulmer & Vernon Reid, Otis Taylor performed at the Flying Saucer venue, a 60.000 spectators concert arena. The Festival is the recipient of the Keeping the Blues Award for the Best International Festival. To stress the role of text/lyrics/poetry/art in blues music and interdisciplinary character of blues culture Kossek founded The Poetic Café - a venue happening yearly alongside the Blues Fest gathering poets, songwriters, artists and painters, students and fans over workshops, seminars, competitions and artistic happening on and off the main stage. The Poetic Café, unlike the Blues Fest, is opened throughout the whole year, inspiring the wide audience all over the world.

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.

Details

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:

prezes@modjeska.org

Seating is limited.

Polska i Brazylia - Grazyna Auguscik and Paulinho Garcia

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.

Details

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.

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Grazyna Auguscik

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.

Paulinho Garcia

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.

Golden Awards for Lifetime Achievement

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".

Details

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

Find out more

Jerzy Antczak

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

Selected filmography

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.

Awards

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)

Jacek Bromski

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.

Filmography

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)