17/07/2009

The première of Krzysztof Zanussi’s new film Revisited [+see also:
trailer
film profile] at the Era New Horizons Festival in Wroclaw (July 23-August 2) and the director’s 70th birthday will be the occasion of an interesting special meeting between viewers and the well-known filmmaker, accompanied by his famous team of actors.

The screening, which will take place on July 31 at Wroclaw Opera House, one of the festival sites, will unfortunately be marked by the absence of an important member of the team: Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, who died suddenly on Tuesday evening.

Etched in the memory of cinemagoers thanks to his unforgettable roles in Zanussi’s recent films (Persona Non Grata [+see also:
trailer
film profile], The Supplement and Life As a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease) and in older features such as Camouflage in 1977 (which earned him Best Actor at the Gdynia Polish Film Festival), Zapasiewicz leaves behind the last traces of his great talent in Revisited.

Retracing the stories of protagonists from Zanussi’s films of the 1970s (Family Life in 1971, the above-mentioned Camouflage and The Constant Factor in 1980), Revisited takes the form of a present-day interview by a suicidal person trying to find answers to questions about the meaning of life, the passage of time, the resulting changes and finally death.

The interview is interspersed with scenes from previous films, as viewers encounter the same characters in the past and present. What has happened to them? What have they become? How have their lives unfolded? The answers will no doubt seem particularly poignant in light of the death of one of them.

Written by Zanussi, Revisited has a cast that includes Maja Komorowska, Daniel Olbrychski, Jan Nowicki, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Małgorzata Zajaczkowska, Tadeusz Bradecki and Marek Kudelko. The film was lensed by DoP Dariusz Kuc.

Produced by Studio Filmowe Tor, the feature received backing from the Polish Film Institute.

(Translated from French)