The Wednesdays screenings at Lamakaan in August celebrate Roman Polanski's films.
Raymond Roman Thierry Polánski 18 August 1933) is a Polish and French film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. During his career Polanski has received five Oscar nominations, winning the Best Director in 2003 for The Pianist. He has also received two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTAs, a Palme d'Or of the 2002 Cannes Film Festival in France, as well as multiple Césars.
His Polish–Jewish parents moved the family from his birthplace in Paris back to Kraków in 1937. Two years later, the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany started World War II, and the family found themselves trapped in the Kraków Ghetto. After his mother and father were taken in raids, Polanski spent his formative years in foster homes, surviving the Holocaust by adopting a false identity and concealing his Jewish heritage. Polanski's first feature-length film, Knife in the Water (1962), was made in Poland and was nominated for the United States Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. After living in France for a few years, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he directed his first three feature-length films: Repulsion (1965), Cul-de-sac (1966), and The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967). In 1968, he moved to the United States and cemented his status in the film industry by directing the horror film Rosemary's Baby (1968).
Polanski's life turned in 1969 when his pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, and four friends were murdered by members of the Manson Family. He made Macbeth (1971) in England and Chinatown (1974) back in Hollywood. In 1977, Polanski was arrested and charged with drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. As a result of a plea bargain, he pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of unlawful sex with a minor. In 1978, upon learning that the judge planned to reject his plea deal and impose a prison term instead of probation, he fled to Paris. As a result, Polanski is a fugitive from the U.S. criminal justice system. In addition to his conviction, multiple other women have accused Polanski of sexually assaulting them as children. After fleeing to Europe, Polanski continued directing. His other critically acclaimed films include Tess (1979), The Ghost Writer (2010), Venus in Fur (2013), and An Officer and a Spy (2019).
Film Title: The Pianist | 2002 | 150 Minutes
The Pianist is a 2002 biographical war drama film produced and directed by Roman Polanski, with a script by Ronald Harwood, and starring Adrien Brody. It is based on the autobiographical book The Pianist (1946), a Holocaust memoir by the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman, a Holocaust survivor. The film was a co-production by France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland.
The Pianist premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival on 24 May 2002, where it won the Palme d'Or, and went into wide release that September; the film received widespread critical acclaim, with critics lauding Polanski's direction, Brody's performance and Harwood's screenplay. At the 75th Academy Awards, the film won for Best Director (Polanski), Best Adapted Screenplay (Harwood), and Best Actor (Brody), and was nominated for four others, including Best Picture (it would lose out to Chicago). It also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film and BAFTA Award for Best Direction in 2003, and seven French Césars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Brody. It was included in BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century in 2016.
SCREENING FOLLOWED BY DISCUSSION!
ALL ARE WELCOME!!! ENTRY IS FREE & OPEN TO ALL!!!