Month: May 2024

Aniela Sidorska’s “Porcelain War” Wins at SIFF

The movie “Porcelain War” has won the Best Documentary and the Golden Space Needle awards at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival. Sidorska was the principal producer and the creative force behind the movie; she is also a member of the Polish community in Seattle. The film received the US Grand Jury Prize at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and Best Documentary and People’s Choice Awards at the 2024 Boulder International Film Festival. The awards give

Anniversary “Biesiada” Sing-Along Concert

The Polish Choir “Vivat Musica!” invites everybody to the choir’s 20th anniversary celebrated with a “Biesiada” sing-along. It will be an evening filled with well-known and liked Polish songs, good food & wine, and laugh and cheerful atmosphere.  The restaurant will be open for the event, starting at 4 pm. This event is mostly in Polish. Tickets are $50; a ticket includes a glass of wine and a dessert; for reservations call Mira at 206

Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border” At SIFF

Legendary filmmaker Agnieszka Holland won the Golden Lion at the 2023 Venice Film Festival for this ground-level examination of the refugee crisis at the titular exclusion zone between Belarus and Poland, seen through the eyes of a Syrian family fleeing their war-torn home. “Green Border” depicts a family of Syrian refugees as they hope to cross the border from Belarus into Poland to escape the violence of their homeland and eventually connect with relatives living in

Movie “Woman Of…” at SIFF

A decades-spanning portrait of a transgender Polish woman on a journey of self-discovery is at the heart of Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s “Woman Of,” the latest from the two-time Berlin Silver Bear winner (“Body,” “Mug”) and her longtime collaborator. “Woman Of” tells the story of Aniela Wesoły, who for almost half her life has lived as a man in a provincial Polish town. Struggling against the social mores of her conservative community, Wesoły must

Sundance & SIFF Winner “Porcelain War” by Aniela Sidorska

Update: the movie has won the Best Documentary and the Golden Space Needle awards at SIFF and can compete at the 2025 Oscars. Congratulations! The movie streams at SIFF till May 27. Seattle International Film Festival presents the documentary movie “Porcelain War” co-produced and co-written by the local filmmaker and the member of the Seattle Polish community Aniela Sidorska (Jr.). She was the principal producer and the creative force behind the movie. The film received

Documentary “Spitfire Liberator”

Kino OKO invites viewers to a screening of the documentary movie “Spitfire Liberator. The Alex Herbst Story” (92′) at the Polish Cultural Center. The movie directed by Sławomir Ciok and produced by Krzysztof Poraj-Kuczewski is in English and Polish with English subtitles.  The movie tells the story of Witold “Alex” Herbst, a WWII Polish ace fighter pilot, who served in the famous Polish RAF squadrons 308 and 303. Alex was also a member of our

Lecture “Women of the People” at the UW

UW Polish Studies Endowment Committee presents the lecture “Women of the People: Serfdom, Female Agency and Film Representation in Poland after 1945” by Dr. Michal Oleszczyk. One of the 2023’s biggest box offices hits in Polish cinemas was the animated adaptation of Władysław Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning 1904 novel “The Peasants.” This film offered a new and updated version of the central character of Jagna: a young woman in rural Poland of late 19th century. A

Monodram “Wisława Szymborska: Poezja i życie”

Dom Polski i Szkoła Polska im. ks. Jana Twardowskiego w Bellevue serdecznie zapraszają na monodram „Wisława Szymborska: Poezja i życie” w wykonaniu Agaty Pilitowskiej. Spektakl ten został przygotowany z okazji setnej rocznicy urodzin poetki. Dodatkową atrakcją przedstawienia będą nagrania wideo z udziałem Marii Nowotarskiej. Agata Pilitowska i Maria Nowotarska (córka i matka) przez wiele lat tworzyły teatralny duet przedstawiajacy sztuki Kazimierza Brauna, a na codzień występowały w teatrze polskim w Toronto. Jako duet, gościły też wielokrotnie