This September, Film at Lincoln Center is pleased to celebrate one of Poland’s most visionary filmmakers. Piotr Szulkin (1950-2018) was a director, screenwriter, novelist, theatrical director, and painter whose profoundly imaginative works rendered 20th-century philosophy and Polish medieval literature through speculative fiction, noir, and grotesque allegories. Best known for his tetralogy of wildly iconoclastic sci-fi movies—Golem (1979), The War of the Worlds: Next Century (1981), O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization (1985), and Ga-ga: Glory to Heroes (1986)—Szulkin regularly faced censorship from the Communist regime of the late ’70s and early ’80s for his unabashedly political works. Sci-Fi Visionary: Piotr Szulkin offers a selection of new digital restorations and imported film prints; whether viewed as existential tales, absurdist parables, or premonitions about modern society’s hostility and the evils of totalitarianism, they continue to resonate with chilling truth about humankind. Presented in collaboration with the Polish Cultural Institute New York. 

Organized by Florence Almozini, Tyler Wilson, and Tomek Smolarski (Polish Cultural Institute New York)

Acknowledgments: 
Daniel Bird