The Long Strange Trips of Wojciech Jerzy Has

From March 22-31, Film at Lincoln Center and DI Factory present “The Long Strange Trips of Wojciech Jerzy Has,” a comprehensive celebration of the Polish filmmaker’s singularly inventive filmography.

How to Be Loved (Jak być kochaną)

1963|

Poland|

102 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

One of the most acclaimed works of his early career, Has’s sixth feature follows a popular radio actress on a trip to Paris, where she crosses paths with another actor with whom she had a fraught love affair during World War II.

The Saragossa Manuscript (Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie)

1964|

Poland|

183 minutes|

Polish with English Subtitles

Based on one of the greatest works of world literature, Has’s most enduringly influential achievements centers on a mountain-crossing that turns into a sequence of supernatural and frightful events for a military officer wandering through Spain.

The Hourglass Sanatorium (Sanatorium pod klepsydrą)

1973|

Poland|

124 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

The collective trauma of the Holocaust looms over this adaptation of Jewish author Bruno Schulz’s visionary and poetic reflection on the nature of time and death, which won the Jury Award at Cannes.

The Noose (Pętla)

Wojciech Jerzy Has

The Noose (Pętla)

1958|

102 minutes

Has’s debut feature—following a day in the life of a desperate, chaotic drunkard—expressionistically renders the post-traumatic delirium dwelling within the everyday.

Farewells (Pożegnania)

Wojciech Jerzy Has

Farewells (Pożegnania)

1958|

Poland|

103 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

Has’s second feature chronicles a budding, doomed romance between a bourgeois student and a world-weary barmaid in prewar Poland.

One Room Tenants (Wspólny pokój)

1960|

Poland|

92 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

Has continues his preoccupation with the relationship between cinema and literature in his darkly funny third feature, about a sickly writer and the overcrowded single-room apartment he shares with a motley assortment of acquaintances and near-strangers in 1930s Warsaw.

Goodbye to the Past (Rozstanie)

1961|

Poland|

76 minutes|

Polish with English Subtitles

Has’s fourth feature follows a decorated actress (Lidia Wysocka) as she returns to her hometown to attend her grandfather’s funeral, occasioning her to revisit her family’s own history.

Gold Dreams (Zloto)

Wojciech Jerzy Has

Gold Dreams (Zloto)

1962|

Poland|

97 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

Memory and guilt intertwine and drive a young drifter to hide out at a remote mining outpost populated by men desperate to strike it rich.

Codes (Szyfry)

Wojciech Jerzy Has

Codes (Szyfry)

1966|

Poland|

84 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

A haunted man’s return to Kraków following 20 years of self-imposed exile in London serves as the narrative setup for Has’s eighth feature, one whose thematic and formal developments presage his later masterpieces.

The Doll (Lalka)

Wojciech Jerzy Has

The Doll (Lalka)

1968|

Poland|

160 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

Has’s lavish period epic, depicting the decline of the Polish aristocracy as their social perch is usurped by the ascendant capitalist class, follows a new-money merchant and his many attempts to capture the heart of a down-on-her-luck contessa.

An Uneventful Story (Nieciekawa historia)

1983|

Poland|

112 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

Returning to the smaller-scale storytelling of Has’s earlier films and working from a story by Anton Chekhov, this intimate yet kaleidoscopic film follows an aging medical professor as he looks back on the events of his life regretfully.

Write and Fight (Pismak)

Wojciech Jerzy Has

Write and Fight (Pismak)

1985|

Poland|

119 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

One of Has’s most potent satires, Write and Fight is set at the outset of World War I and follows a young journalist who finds himself incarcerated in a Russian prison, where he’s forced to share a cell with a safecracker and a monk-turned-murderer.

Memoirs of a Sinner (Osobisty pamiętnik grzesznika przez niego samego spisany)

1986|

Poland|

120 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

Set in 19th-century Scotland, this film concerns a deceased young man whose corpse is exhumed by grave robbers, only for the young man to return to life in order to recount the events that preceded his demise.

The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober (Niezwykła podróż Baltazara Kobera)

1988|

Poland|

115 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

One final journey for Has’s final film: a young alchemy student and his teacher flee the inquisition, embarking on a voyage across a 16th-century Germany ravaged by plague on which they meet a succession of eccentric religious figures.

Wojciech Jerzy Has Shorts Program

Poland|

76 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

A varied program collecting several of Has’s early fiction and documentary shorts, ranging from fascinating industrial films to assured miniature parables.

General Public
$17
Students, Seniors, and Persons with Disabilities
$14
Members
$12

Film at Lincoln Center and DI Factory present “The Long Strange Trips of Wojciech Jerzy Has,” a comprehensive celebration of the Polish filmmaker’s singularly inventive filmography, featuring an array of new digital restorations. The retrospective will be presented at FLC from March 22 through March 31 and includes each of Has’s 14 features and all of his short films.

In addition to Has’s feature films, select titles will be preceded by a short film by Has. The series will also include a separate program that collects Has’s early fiction and documentary shorts, ranging from fascinating industrial films to assured miniature parables.

Organized by Dan Sullivan (FLC), Jedrzej Sablinski (DI Factory), and Polish Cultural Institute New York. Retrospective is co-financed by Polish Film Institute.

Acknowledgements:
Annette Insdorf and Milestone Films

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