It's a Zulawski Halloween at the Cleveland Cinematheque

[Press release from the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

The Cinematheque is showing some pretty cool—and different—films for Halloween this weekend, all directly by Polish/French cult favorite Andrzej Zulawski, who died earlier this year. Z’s films are being rediscovered in major cities around North America this year (NY, L.A., Boston, Toronto, et al.). New York even brought back ON THE SILVER GLOBE, his suspended, suppressed sci-fi epic that spanned two decades and two political regimes, for an encore engagement. Details below.

 

Friday, October 28, at 7:00 pm

A Zulawski Halloween

THE THIRD PART OF THE NIGHT

TRZECIA CZESC NOCY

Poland, 1971, Andrzej Zulawski

Andrzej Zulawski’s apocalyptic feature debut is a surreal, hallucinatory nightmare set during WWII. Partly inspired by his father’s experiences as a resistance fighter during the Nazi occupation of Poland, the movie follows a man who runs away after his family is killed by German soldiers. He eventually takes up with a pregnant woman who resembles his late wife. Adults only! Subtitles. DCP. 105 min. Special admission $11; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, and those age 25 & under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.

 

Friday, October 28, at 9:05 pm

A Zulawski Halloween

THE DEVIL

DIABEL

Poland, 1972, Andrzej Zulawski

Banned for 16 years due to its objectionable parallels to Communist Bloc Poland, this historical epic is set during the 1793 Prussian invasion of Poland. A crazed nobleman freed from prison by a mysterious, black-cloaked, Satanic stranger becomes even more unhinged as he wanders through a savage, chaotic, war-torn environment. The first of Zulawski’s all-out assaults on good taste and the senses has been likened to El Topo and The Devils, as well as to Hieronymus Bosch and De Sade. The move also drove Zulawski into exile. No one under 18 admitted! Subtitles. DCP. 119 min. Special admission $11; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, and those age 25 & under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.

 

Saturday, October 29, at 8:25 pm

Film Classics in 35mm!

A Zulawski Halloween

POSSESSION

France/W. Germany, 1981, Andrzej Zulawski

Shorn of over 40 minutes when first released in the U.S. (and banned outright for a number of years in Britain), this bloody, over-the-top exercise in Grand Guignol stars Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani as a married couple going through a traumatic break-up. Arguments and furniture-smashing soon give way to self-mutilation, killings, and sex with doppelgangers (and with a tentacled monster created by Oscar-winning F/X master Carlo Rambaldi of E.T. and Alien fame). Adjani won the César Award and the Best Actress prize at Cannes for her hysterical performance. “Five stars (highest rating)…A head-spinning masterpiece! ” –Time Out New York. No one under 18 admitted! In English. 123 min. Special admission $11; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, and those age 25 & under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.

 

Sunday, October 30, at 6:30 pm

A Zulawski Halloween

ON THE SILVER GLOBE

NA SREBRNYM GLOBIE

Poland, 1976-88, Andrzej Zulawski

Move over Space Odyssey, Solaris, Stalker, and Hard To Be a God. Make way for this Polish sci-fi epic that the late Andrzej Zulawski called his “murdered” masterwork. Begun in the 1970s as the biggest Polish film production up to that time, then halted by the Ministry of Culture because of its alleged subversiveness, the movie was finished (in a fashion) by the director in 1988, after the fall of Communism. The film is set on a distant planet that is colonized by Earth astronauts. Generations of their children forge a new civilization there, but revert to barbarism, warfare, and paganism while waiting for a messiah. “[An] ecstatic, image-drunk science-fiction fantasy…Among the most visually extravagant films ever made.” –The New Yorker. “Zulawski’s masterpiece.” –J. Hoberman. Adults only! Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 166 min. Special admission $11; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, and those age 25 & under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.