Piotr Szulkin

Scope is a prisoner on a behemoth space station and is chosen, like all his fellow prisoners, to ‘volunteer’ for the exploration of far-away planets. Landing on planet Australia 458, he is given a hero’s welcome with all the sex, booze, and violence that any one man can stomach. But as his new caretakers push him towards even more heinous and deplorable acts, Scope finds that his freedom comes with a high price; his own violent demise, broadcast live for the viewing pleasure of Australia 458’s inhabitants. Is there a way out? Or is Scope’s fate sealed?Read More »

The world has been ravaged by nuclear war. The planet is frozen and radiation kills anyone or anything that ventures outside of ‘The Dome’. Soft is a shepherd for the last remnants of humanity who have gathered together as they await rescue from a mysterious craft known only as ‘The Ark.’ He wanders among the masses, performing his regular daily tasks; keeping morale from plummeting, wooing prostitutes, squashing rebellions, and sometimes feeding the hungry. But as the true and sinister nature of ‘The Dome’ comes to light, Soft must ask himself if humanity is worth saving?Read More »

Pernat finds himself in a police interrogation, accused of a murder, and unable to recall any details of the crime, or even his own life. He’s released back into a world of raving lunatics and deranged dentists, murderous doctors and scientists who believe the secret of human creation is inside the walls of a cast-iron oven. Pernat’s odyssey to find out who he is, and what it is to be human, will force his path to cross with all of them.Read More »

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Szulkin based his script on the themes of a folk parable. In a gloomy castle lived alone its owner, whose gaze had a strange and terrible power – it brought death. One day an old nobleman and his daughter, having lost their way, came to the castle. Soon the maiden became the wife of the lord of the castle…Read More »

Synopsis:
Film opens on December 18, 1999, just a few days before the dawn of the new century. A local reporter, Iron Idem, announces that the Martians have landed. Shortly after that his program loses its independence: he is given the script telling the crowds how to welcome the invaders. Then the chaos breaks out: the Martians and police mistreat the populace; things become violent. Idem’s own wife is kidnapped and it seems somebody is trying to reduce his effectiveness as a reporter. Idem decides to fight back: he illegally broadcasts a message during the rock concert, but nobody believes him anymore.Read More »

Quote:
After a five-year hiatus from filmmaking, Piotr Szulkin returned in 1990 with “Femina”, based on a novel by Krystyna Kofta and inspired by Luis Bunuel.
The main character is Bogna, a thirty year old woman lost in her surrounding reality and unhappy in her private life. After her husband departs for a foreign scholarship, Bogna learns that her mother died. The trip to her hometown for the funeral becomes a voyage in time, during which she relives the memories of her idyllic childhood.
As beautifully mounted as any of Szulkin’s films, it’s full of delirious wide-angle imagery (at times recalling the films of Terry Gilliam and Wojciech Has). Unavailable on DVD even in Poland, this is a most unfairly neglected work by Szulkin.Read More »

Synopsis:

In a murky, sometimes confusing tale about a future dystopia in which people are waiting — and waiting — for a rescue ship called the Ark, there are several good one-liners, but they are outnumbered by the puzzling riddles and symbolism that permeate the story. The flotsam and jetsam of humanity are huddled together in an underground labyrinth after civilization as we know it has been obliterated by the Bomb. The survivors are protected by a dome which a repairman notes is bound to crack before the Ark arrives because it was constructed under a one-year plan. The hero of the film searches for the origins of the myth about the Ark and along the way falls in love with a prostitute. It seems the world’s oldest profession has also survived the nuclear holocaust.Read More »