Building on the Polski Teatr season Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, in partnership with various arts organisation, presents a city-wide celebration of contemporary Polish culture and investigation of the cultural impact of migration.
Małe Instrumenty & Mariusz Wilczyński
Music for Mariusz Wilczyński's Films
Presented in association with ArtPolonia.
Małe Instrumenty (Small Instruments) are a band exploring new sounds using a wide array of (very) small instruments. The instruments used in their sonic experiments feature an ever expanding array of strange musical inventions, children's toys and anything they can find that makes a sound. In this highly visual multi-media concert, Małe Instrumenty responds to the internationally renowned work of Mariusz Wilczyński, a leading Polish animation filmmaker. Alongside the musical response of Małe Instrumenty to Wilczyński's exisiting work, the concert will include live animation by Wilczyński with an improvised response from Małe Instrumenty.
| Venue | Liberty Hall |
| Date | Oct 15 |
| Time | 8pm |
| Price | €15 |
Chrysanthemums and the Full Moon
Presented in association with Ireland Literature Exchange in cooperation with Poetry Ireland.
Throughout the Festival period, Ireland Literature Exchange will host a Polish literary translator who will work on a series of Irish poetry in translation. The residency will culminate in a public event at which Irish and Polish poets will read from their work and discuss contemporary poetry practice. The reading will be followed by a debate on the cultural and linguistic challenges experienced by poetry translators.
| Venue | Dublin Unitarian Church, 112 St. Stephen's Green |
| Date | Oct 12 |
| Time | 6pm |
| Price | Free |
| Further Info | irelandliterature.com poetryireland.ie |
Death of Civility
New Polish Cinema at the IFI
Reflecting issues addressed in the Polish shows in the Festival, the IFI and the Festival are delighted to present a season of new Polish cinema, curated by Polish film critic and scholar, Michal Oleszczyk. Taking as his theme, a perceived social crisis within Polish society, Oleszczyk has selected four contemporary Polish films, including Zero (2009) that seen together form a fascinating narrative about the effect Poland's extraordinary political transformations through the 20th century has had on its citizens.
CIVILITY IN CRISIS:
POLISH SEASON
OCTOBER 16TH-17TH
As part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival's LOST IN TRANSLATION season, the IFI is delighted to present:
CIVILITY IN CRISIS
Once state-owned and closely controlled, today
market-orientated to a fault, Polish cinema has always borne witness to the dynamic changes of Polish society. This series aims to provide a continuous narrative of
civility in crisis: of social binds being constantly tested and redefined in a changing historical context.
Each screening will be preceded by a short introduction.Programme curated and notes by Michał Oleszczyk.
Supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport and the Polish Embassy in Dublin.
THE TREASURE
Leonard Buczkowski
OCT 16TH (12.30)
(SKARB)
FILM INFO: 102 minutes, Poland, 1948, Digital Betacam
The bomb-ridden ruins of post-war Warsaw provide an unlikely, yet tremendously effective setting for a comedy about a group of people united in an urban treasure hunt. Faced with housing shortages, a number of Varsovians are forced into sharing their flats with strangers, often of varied class backgrounds. A work of propaganda as much as a superbly-crafted comedy, Buczkowski's movie lacks the vitriolic tone present in most of Stalinist-era filmmaking.
To be screened with the short film Warsaw '56 (Warszawa '56). Directors: Jerzy Bossak, Jarosław Brzozowski. Poland, 1956.
HOW TO LIVE?
Marcel ŁoziNski
OCT 16TH (16.25)
(JAK ZYC)
FILM INFO: 82 minutes, Poland, 1977, Digital Betacam
Marcel Łozinski, one of Poland's most innovative documentary filmmakers, touches upon the social inertia of the mid-1970s in this biting movie satire. A summer camp for young married couples provides a stage for a spectacle of ambition, cunning and open resentment as the participants compete for the title "Exemplary Couple". Wooed by the prospect of winning a washing machine, people slowly turn against each other. How to Live? provides an insight into the undoing of social ties and is all the more stirring for its innocuous holiday setting.
O-BI, O-BA: THE END OF CIVILIZATION
Piotr Szulkin
OCT 17TH (12.30)
(O-BI, O-BA, KONIEC CYWILIZACJI)
FILM INFO: 85 minutes, Poland, 1984, 35mm
Made in the Orwellian year of 1984, and set in a post-apocalyptic world even Orwell would be afraid to dream up, Piotr Szulkin's sci-fi masterpiece remains as relevant as ever. After a nuclear showdown, what little remains of humanity finds shelter in a post-industrial space so stifling it seems designed by Kafka. The clueless, submissive masses vainly await the arrival of the near-Biblical Ark of Salvation, while the main character confronts the utter hopelessness of their collective prospects. Polish audiences of 1984, still shell-shocked from the 1981 introduction of martial law, could easily recognise themselves in this grim portrayal.
ZERO
Paweł Borowski
OCT 17TH (18.00)
FILM INFO: 110 minutes, Poland, 2009, 35mm
A single day in the life of a big, unnamed Polish city unfolds through stories of more than twenty characters, all of them interrelated but rarely acquainted with each other. Paweł Borowski's remarkable first film won over numerous audiences at international film festivals. Its view of an atomised and deeply alienated Polish society is poignant without being hysterical and marks the arrival of a major directorial talent. Paweł Borowski will attend the screening.
Shown with Zbigniew Rybczynski's short animation Tango, 1982, the only Polish film to have won an Oscar.
Tickets on sale shortly
| Venue | IFI |
| Date | Oct 15-17 |
| Time | 10am - 4pm |
| Further Info | www.Irishfilm.ie |
Lost and Found in Translation
The Forum on Migration and Communications (FOMACS) and Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival present a day-long symposium exploring the cultural and creative impact of immigration in Ireland and the role and responsibilities of artists and arts organisations in achieving social justice in the context of transcultural dialogue.
| Venue | City Wall Space, Wood Quay Venue, Civic Offices |
| Date | Oct 16 |
| Time | 10am - 4pm |
| Free | Free but advance registration required |
| Further Info | www.fomacs.org |
Chopin Balkan style - Sarakina in Dublin
This event is proudly supported by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of Fryderyk Chopin - Promesa programme.
Joy, madness, rapture all bursting in flames in a masterly interplay between double bass, clarinet, accordion and percussion! Sarakina are young, clasically-trained musicians from Poland, Czech Republic and Bulgaria that have enchanted audiences with their own very special take on ethno/jazz/classical fusion music. The band will perform their latest Chopin-inspired album Fryderykata - marking the 200th anniversary celebrations of the birth of Chopin - which sees themes from Chopin's oeuvre magically transported to where they came from in the first place - Eastern European folk music. Pulsating now with the Klezmer heart, now the delightful excess of Balkan funeral marches, now echoing Astor Piazzola's tangos, now resounding with a Bulgarian folk air, now almost Middle Eastern - this emotional and joyous music would make Chopin smile and will surely enchant Irish audiences fond of homegrown bands such as Txutxukan, North Strand Kontra Band and Yurodny.
| Venue | Whelans |
| Date | Sept 30 |
| Time | 7.30pm |
| Tickets | www.tickets.ie |
Lost in Translation is presented with the support of the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport.
and the Polish Embassy in Dublin
