28
Oct

Potop Redivivus


Information about film

Director: Jerzy Hoffman
Country/year: Poland 2014
Duration: 185’
Place: China Film Archive

Film description:

One of the greatest productions in Polish cinema that can easily be called a European super-production, still amazes with momentum. Shooting took place during different seasons, with hundreds of extras, dealing with the equally monumental novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz under the same title. The action takes place in the XVIIth century, when Poland is besieged for five years by the Swedish army. The fate of the country intertwines with the personal life of Andrzej Kmicic, who has to fight for his beloved and reclaim his good name. The war is a background for the hero’s struggles in a country tormented with internal intrigues and threatened by an invader. It’s a merger of epic battle scenes and the superb story of Kmicic, recognized with an Oscar nomination. The film will be screened in a remastered, onepart version from 2014.

About the director:

Jerzy Hoffman began as a documentalist – his films from the 1950s broke away from the optimism of socialist realism and showed the pathology of daily life. With time, the director turned to greater narratives. Hoffman’s feature films are monumentally undertaken, lavish historical depictions. His movies are for all audiences. Stories told in the films usually show individual characters against great historical events. It was Hoffman who screened the trilogy of Polish nobel prize winner Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Most important films:

  • 1969 “Colonel Wolodyjowski”
  • 1974 “Potop Redivivus” (The Deluge) – remastered and re-edited from 2014
  • 1999 “With Fire and Sword”
  • 2010 “Battle of Warsaw 1920”

By Agnieszka Mysiak based on www.culture.pl