Sunday, 1. March, through Tuesday, March 31
Roman Polanski, born in Paris in 1933, grew up in Poland. Polanski's Jewish parents were deported to concentration camps after the invasion of German troops, and he himself fled the Krakow ghetto at the age of ten, leaving him on his own at a young age. He attended film school in Łódź, which became the cradle of new Polish cinema. After his first feature NÓZ W WODZIE (The Knife in the Water, 1962), a hidden critique of Polish society, he shifted to Western Europe and the United States to shoot his films. Polanski specialized in horror films, psychological thrillers and black comedies. He is particularly interested in the relationship between power and powerlessness, perpetrator and victim, sexuality and morality. His stories are embedded in claustrophobic situations and masterfully directed.
Sunday, March 1, 6 p.m.; Friday, March 6, 8:30 p.m.
NÓZ W WODZIE The Knife in the Water
Poland 1962. dir: Roman Polanski. D: Leon Nymczyck, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malonowicz. 94 min. DCP. OmU
A middle-class Polish couple pick up a young hitchhiker on their way to go sailing and invite him onto their ship. There, an altercation ensues between the older man and the younger, which becomes more and more of a fight. Roman Polanski's first long feature film is both a psychologically thoughtful chamber play and a parable of conditions in Polish society in the early 1960s.
Supporting film: SSAKI Mammals. PL 1962. dir: Roman Polanski. 11 min. o.d.
Thursday, March 5, 5:30 p.m.; Sunday, March 8, 6 p.m.
REPULSION Disgust
Great Britain 1965. dir: Roman Polanski. D: Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, Yvonne Furneaux. 105 min. dcp. OmU
Carole Ledoux works in a London manicure salon and lives with her sister Helen in a small apartment. Carole has retreated into her own world of nightmares, delusions and a pathological hatred of men. When Helen goes away with her lover and Carole is left alone in the apartment, her fears lead to momentous outbursts of violence.
Friday, March 6, 10:30 p.m.; Saturday, March 14. March, 10:45 p.m.
THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS Dance of the Vampires
Great Britain/USA 1967. dir: Roman Polanski
d: Jack MacGowran, Roman Polanski, Alfie Bass, Sharon Tate. 108 min. 35mm. OmU
In THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, an old professor and his young assistant go vampire hunting in a Carpathian castle and get caught up in a family celebration of the undead. Polanski uses the clichés and plot devices of the vampire genre to create an amusing satire in which macabre shocks are balanced by affectionate character sketches. A tribute to old horror cinema and its effects, it's also an imaginatively intelligent delight.
Saturday, March 7, 10:30 p.m.; Friday, March 13, 10:30 p.m.
ROSEMARY'S BABY Rosemary's Baby
USA 1968. dir: Roman Polanski. D: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blakmer. 137 min. 35mm. OmU
Unsuccessful actor Guy Wodd moves into a mysterious old New York tenement with his wife Rosemary, despite warnings from a friend. While he quickly befriends his neighbors, his wife becomes increasingly uncomfortable. Mysterious noises and the suicide of a young woman living in the house add to her unease. When she becomes pregnant, a nightmare begins for Rosemary. The horror film unfolds its impact from the initial ordinariness and from the powerlessness Rosemary feels towards her surroundings.
Thursday, March 12,6 p.m.; Friday, March 13, 8:15 p.m.
CHINATOWN
USA 1974. dir: Roman Polanski. D: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunawaye, John Huston, Perry Lopez. 131 min. 35mm. OmU
Private detective J. J. Gittes is hired by Mrs. Mulwray to keep tabs on her husband. When Mr. Mulwray, head of the city water supply, is found dead a few days later, Gittes sets out to find the killers. He discovers that Mulwray was on the trail of large-scale criminal manipulation. The crime structure and gritty setting in 1930s L.A. make CHINATOWN a film noir that reveals the destructive side of urban development.
Tuesday, March 17, 8:30 p.m.
TESS
France/UK 1979. dir: Roman Polanski
d: Nastassia Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson, John Collin. 134 min. 35mm. OF
TESS is set in 19th century Victorian England: by chance, impoverished John Durbeyfields learns that his family is descended from the wealthy d'Urbevilles from a neighbouring village. Hoping for financial support, he sends his daughter there. Her cousin Alec takes a liking to her, but she rejects him and is subsequently raped by him. When she returns home to deliver her baby, she meets the pastor's son Angel, who knows nothing of her past. Polanski tells the story of an innocent girl in a world shaped by class barriers and moral prejudice.
Wednesday, March 18, 6 p.m.
DEATH AND THE MAIDEN Death and the Maiden
USA/France/UK 1994. dir: Roman Polanski d: Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley. 103 min. 35mm. OF
A married couple have retreated to a lonely house on the coast after the end of a military dictatorship. Both carry an unresolved past full of torture and imprisonment. One day, the wife believes she recognizes one of her tormentors in a casual acquaintance of her husband. Against her husband's will, she captures him. She wants to make the alleged perpetrator pay for everything he did to her.
Sunday, March 22, 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday, March 24. March, 8:30pm
THE GHOST WRITER The Ghost Writer
France/Germany/UK 2010. R : Roman Polanski
D: Ewan McGregor, Jon Bernthal, Tim Preece. 128 min. 35mm. OmU
A British ghostwriter is hired to complete the memoirs of former Prime Minister Adam Lang after the previous author dies. The publisher is paying Lang a million-dollar fee for the book and time is running out. The ghostwriter travels to the island of Martha's Vineyard, where Lang has retreated with his wife Ruth and some advisors. Lang's political past has already drawn press and protesters there, who lay siege to the estate. Amid the turmoil, the ghostwriter makes a discovery that puts Lang in a whole new light - and puts his own life in danger.
Thursday, March 26, 6 p.m.; Saturday 28. March, 8:30 p.m.
CARNAGE The God of Carnage
France/Germany/Poland/Spain 2011. dir: Roman Polanski
d: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz. 80 min. 35mm. OmU
CARNAGE is the adaptation of the successful play of the same name by Yasmina Reza. Two middle-class couples meet to discuss a dispute between their children. While at the beginning there is a desire for reconciliation, it soon becomes clear that there is no agreement on fundamental issues, be it child rearing, marriage or the world political situation. The situation increasingly escalates. Abysmal deep black humor, masterfully directed with four great actors.
Friday, March 27, 10:30 p.m.; Saturday March 28, 10:30 p.m.
FRANTIC
USA/France 1988. dir: Roman Polanski d: Harrison Ford, Betty Buckley. 119 min. 35mm. OmU
Doctor Richard Walker and his wife Sondra travel to Paris for a medical convention. At their hotel, they discover that Sondra's suitcase has been switched at the airport. Shortly after, Sondra disappears without a trace. Rejected by the police, Richard sets out to find his wife himself and gets deeper and deeper into a smuggling racket and the underworld of a city that is hostile to him.
Sunday March 29, 6 p.m.; Tuesday March 31, 8:30 p.m.
LA VÉNUS À LA FOURRURE Venus in Fur
France/Poland 2012. dir: Roman Polanski d: Emmanuelle Seigner, Mathieu Amalric. 96 min. DCP. OmU
At the end of a long day of casting, theatre director Thomas still hasn't found his ideal cast. That's when Vanda suddenly shows up and tries every means to convince him to still hear her out. As she begins to act, the initially rude and vulgar woman becomes exactly the character Thomas has been looking for. A hilarious study of sexual addictions, power and gender relations, as well as a tribute to Polanski's wife, actress Emmanuelle Seigner.
Further info: <link http: deutsches-filminstitut.de filmmuseum kinoprogramm _blank>
deutsches-filminstitut.de/filmmuseum/kinoprogramm/
Source: Deutsches Filminstitut