Prior to publishing his debut science-fiction novel The Astronauts, Stanislaw Lem drew upon his experiences in medical school to write a novel set during the grim realities of World War II (and swiftly suppressed). In Edward Zebrowski’s unnerving adaptation, a young new doctor at a rural mental hospital struggles to uphold humane standards and deal with the motley staff, including aloof head doctors, an eccentric poet, and a delicious cynic with whom he falls in love. Their troubled sanctuary then faces even harder decisions—and a very real dystopia—with the arrival of the Nazis.

“At the other end of the Lemiverse, Edward Zebrowski's 1979 adaptation of Lem's first novel, Hospital of the Transfiguration, is as sensitively structured as it is beautifully lit.” —Ed Park, The Village Voice

Screening with:

Roly Poly
Andrzej Wajda | Poland | 1968 | 35mm | 30m
A hilarious, futuristic comedy based on a screenplay by Stanislaw Lem. Bogumil Kobiela plays a racecar driver who has had so many body part transplants that he can’t keep up with his debts to the donors.