Kinoteka, 2009: London, Belfast and Canterbury

A quick heads up on the forthcoming Kinoteka, aka the 7th Polish Film Festiwal [sic], which takes place over a variety of London venues: The Riverside, Tate Modern, the Barbican, BFI South Bank, the Prince Charles and Cargo. Look out for:

New Polish Cinema. Mostly from the last couple of years, and including shorts, docs and a focus on the (to me, unknown) Marcin Koszałka.

The Polish New Wave. Including Zanussi's study of unblinking rationality The Illumination (Illuminacja, 1973), shot by Edward Kłosiński (obit here), and Andrzej Żuławski introducing his own On the Silver Globe (Na Srebrnym Globie), a self-referential contemplation of a politically hamstrung torso.

Jerzy Skolimowski. Including his first four features and, after a seventeen year hiatus since Ferdydurke, his latest Four Nights with Anna (Cztery noce z Anna).

In addition, there'll be an exhibition marking the 20th anniversary of Kieslowski's Dekalog and its two longer offshoots A Short Film About Love and A Short Film About Killing. Some parts of Dekalog will be shown with supporting films from other directors.

Finally Michael Nyman will celebrate his love of Polish cinema with a new piece set to a montage of film clips.

After that, a selection of films will go to the Queens Film Theatre in Belfast, while Canterbury's Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival will include various Polish and Polish-themed films and several concerts including Penderecki conducting his own epic St Luke Passion, and the conference Polish Music Since 1945.

In the meantime, I'll be polishing up my collection of diacritics to comment on some of the films.