Milestone Films, in partnership with The Film Foundation,
Announces the New York Premiere
of a 21-Film Retrospective on February 5, 2014
with the Film Society of Lincoln Center
30+ Engagements Planned throughout USA and Canada
December 5, 2013
For immediate release
Milestone will be launching the 21-film retrospective Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema throughout North America. Premiering in New York City at the Film Society of Lincoln Center on February 5th, 2014, the series features films from some of Poland’s most accomplished and lauded filmmakers, spanning the period from 1957–1987. Curated by Martin Scorsese, each film has been digitally re-mastered and brilliantly restored to newly subtitled DCPs. The program was created and organized by Scorsese’s non-profit organization, The Film Foundation.
“There are many revelations in the ‘Masterpieces of Polish Cinema’ series, and whether
you’re familiar with some of these films or not, it’s an incredible opportunity to discover
for yourself the great power of Polish cinema,
on the big screen in brilliantly restored digital masters.”
— Martin Scorsese
In December 2011, Martin Scorsese received an honorary doctoral degree from The Polish National Film, Television, and Theatre School in Łódź, Poland. While there, Scorsese met with the Polish organizer of the series, Jędrzej Sabliński (a digital restoration expert now with DI Factory) and Grzegorz Molewski (KINO RP). They shared a list of Polish films that had been digitally restored and discussed how The Film Foundation could help. In the months following his visit, the idea of a tour of restored Polish classics came together, with 21 titles selected by Martin Scorsese from the list of digitally restored films. The Film Foundation executive director Margaret Bodde worked with Sabliński to develop the program and recommended Milestone as the distributor for the series. Milestone is working with Propaganda Foundation, the Polish producers of this extraordinary series, to bring the films to North American audiences.
Details of the program of films at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s premiere will be announced in later this month. Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema is the first series of Polish classic films to tour North America in decades and the first presented on DCP; it will be screened in more than 30 major cities in 2014-2015.
The Polish organizers of the series are Jędrzej Sabliński of DI Factory, and Jacek Sosnowski of Propaganda Foundation along with Maciej Molewski of Cyfrowe Repozytorium Filmowe. These three worked in cooperation Kino RP, Tor Studio Filmowe, Zebra Studio Filmowe, and Studio Filmowe KADR. Generous support was provided by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland; The Polish Film Institute and the honorary patronage of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, DC; the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa; the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York; the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles; the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Montreal; the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Toronto; and the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Vancouver.
For further information, stills and interviews, please contact Dennis Doros at Milestone Films
[email protected] or (201) 767-3117
Martin Scorsese Presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema
Eroica………………………………………………….. Andrzej Munk…………………………….. 1957
Ashes and Diamonds………………………………… Andrzej Wajda……………………………. 1958
The Last Day of Summer……………………………. Tadeusz Konwicki……………………….. 1958
Night Train……………………………………………. Jerzy Kawalerowicz……………………… 1959
Black Cross …………………………………………… Aleksander Ford………………………….. 1960
Innocent Sorcerers…………………………………… Andrzej Wajda……………………………. 1960
Mother Joan of the Angels………………………….. Jerzy Kawalerowicz……………………… 1960
The Saragossa Manuscript………………………….. Wojciech Jerzy Has………………………. 1964
Jump…………………………………………………… Tadeusz Konwicki……………………….. 1965
Pharoah……………………………………………….. Jerzy Kawalerowicz……………………… 1965
The Illumination………………………………………. Krzysztof Zanussi………………………… 1972
To Kill this Love………………………………………. Morgenstern……………………………… 1972
The Wedding…………………………………………. Andrzej Wajda……………………………. 1972
The Hour-Glass Sanatorium………………………… Wojciech Jerzy Has………………………. 1973
The Promised Land, The…………………………….. Andrzej Wajda……………………………. 1974
Camouflage…………………………………………… Krzysztof Zanussi………………………… 1976
The Constant Factor…………………………………. Krzysztof Zanussi………………………… 1980
Blind Chance………………………………………….. Krzysztof Kieslowski…………………….. 1981
Man of Iron……………………………………………. Andrzej Wajda……………………………. 1981
Austeria……………………………………………….. Jerzy Kawalerowicz……………………… 1982
A Short Film About Killing……………………………. Krzysztof Kieslowski…………………….. 1987
Milestone Films
Milestone was started in 1990 by Amy Heller and Dennis Doros and has since gained an international reputation for releasing classic cinema masterpieces, groundbreaking documentaries and American independent features. Thanks to the company’s work in rediscovering and releasing important films such as Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, Kent Mackenzie’s The Exiles, Lionel Rogosin’s On the Bowery, Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba, Marcel Ophuls’s The Sorrow and the Pity, the Mariposa Film Group’s Word is Out, and the films of Shirley Clarke, Milestone has long occupied a position as one of the country’s most influential independent distributors. The company’s many awards include five Archival and Film Heritage Awards from the National Society of Film Critics; two commendations from the New York Film Critics Circle; the International Film Seminars’ prestigious Leo Award; and honors from the Fort Lee Film Commission, Il Cinema Ritrovato, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and Anthology Film Archives. Doros has served on the Board of Directors of the Association of the Moving Image Archivists since 2008 and established the organization’s press office.
The Film Foundation
Created in 1990 by Martin Scorsese, The Film Foundation (film-foundation.org) is dedicated to protecting and preserving motion picture history. By working in partnership with the leading archives and studios, the foundation has saved over 600 films. In addition to the preservation, restoration, and presentation of classic cinema, the foundation teaches young people about film language and history through The Story of Movies, the organization's groundbreaking educational program that is currently used in over 100,000 classrooms. Joining Scorsese on the board of directors are Woody Allen, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, Curtis Hanson, Peter Jackson, Ang Lee, George Lucas, Alexander Payne, Robert Redford, and Steven Spielberg. The Film Foundation is aligned with the Directors Guild of America. Margaret Bodde is executive director and Jennifer Ahn is managing director of the foundation.
About Propaganda Foundation
Propaganda Foundation is an independent organization aimed at cultural development in the fields of contemporary art, theatre, and film. Established in 2009, Propaganda focuses on projects that approach issues of cultural identity, peripheral areas of art, and the international exchange of culture. The foundation maintains ongoing exhibition programs in its own gallery space in Warsaw, acts as an independent publisher, and coordinates collaborative projects with similar international institutions.
About DI Factory
DI Factory provides data processing services to motion picture studios and filmmakers. The company was co-founded by digital restoration expert Jędrzej Sabliński, who in 2008, initiated the process of digital feature film restoration in Poland. Since then, Sabliński has overseen the digital restoration of more than 30 films, including The Saragossa Manuscript, Pharaoh and Promised Land. He has supervised post-production and digital image processing for more than 100 feature films.
