21st Polish Film Festival offers a broad scope

More than 70 titles will be screened in this year's event

Polish filmmaking is itself one theme in this year's Polish Film Festival in America. Among the 70-plus dramas, documentaries and animated shorts in this year's line-up are a doc about actors in an old folks' home shooting an adaptation of "Faust," a profile of Agnieszka Holland ("Europa Europa") from the director of "Poles in Hollywood," and a masterful portrait of the great Polish auteur Andrzej Wajda.

Capsule reviews of selected films appear below. All films in Polish with English subtitles.

"General Nil" (7 p.m., River East): For its VIP Opening Night Gala, the fest presents this powerful account of Gen. Emil "Nil" Fieldorf. Writer-director Ryszard Bugajski expertly dramatizes the fate of an anti-Nazi leader who was hung by Polish authorities on Feb. 24, 1953, for his resistance to postwar Soviet rule. Dumped in an unmarked pit, this patriot was exonerated in 1989. It screens with Tomek Baginski's "The Kinematograph," a bittersweet animated short about an inventor who memorializes his beloved wife with his newfangled motion picture apparatus. (Repeat screenings: 6:30 p.m. Nov. 15, Copernicus; 3 p.m. Nov. 22, BIG Cinemas.)

"Splinters" (7 p.m., Facets): Maciej Pieprzyca directs an insightful three-part tale of three young characters whose lives intersect: Marta, the pampered daughter of a businessman who is supposed to marry the dull son of her dad's business partner; Robert, a failed soccer player with a bad knee and a big chip on his shoulder, and Bartek, a research biologist who discovers egotism is a law of nature. (Repeat screening: 7 p.m. Nov. 19, BIG Cinemas.)

"Miracle Seller" (9 p.m., Facets): Boleslaw Pawica and Jaroslaw Szoda co-direct this affecting saga about an alcoholic (Borys Szyc) who scams donations from the destitute. He promises to carry their prayers to Lourdes, but he ends up in Lyons after bonding with two Chechen kids trying to find their long-lost dad. Despite a few contrivances, this road trip illuminates faith and family in the new Europe. (Repeat screening: 8 p.m. Nov. 15, BIG Cinemas.)

"The Forest" (5:30 p.m., Facets): Perhaps the fest's most arty entry, Piotr Dumala's study of a father and a son recalls the mystic rhythms of Bela Tarr and Aleksandr Sokurov. Cinematographer Adam Sikora's black-and-white imagery never fails to mesmerize, even if it's unclear why the father butchers and barbecues a huge serpent in the shadowy forest. (Repeat screening: 7 p.m. Nov. 17, Gallery Theatre.)

"Playing is What I Like the Most" (6 p.m., Pickwick): The fest's popular Opening Night Gala offers a 23-minute short about 6-year-old drummer Igor Falecki. This kid is a contender. Director Kinga Debska let local critics preview her entertaining documentary, unlike Rafal Wieczynski, whose biopic of a martyred priest screens on the same program. That distrustful director told fest officials he is hand-carrying a 35mm print of his 149-minute biopic "Popieluszko: Freedom Is Within Us" so no one in Chicago can pirate his film, which premiered in Warsaw in February. (Repeat screenings: 6 p.m. Saturday, Pickwick; 7:30 p.m. Monday, Gallery Theatre.)

"The Rebound" (7 p.m., Facets): Kinga Debska writes and directs this sobering drama of Piotr (Pawel Krolikowski), a psychiatrist who fails to deal with his own heroin addiction. His clinical fall from grace, however, is a personal tragedy missing a larger dimension. Adding a suicidal nymphomaniac to his care is a gratuitous touch. (Repeat screenings: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Pickwick; 5 p.m. Nov. 14, BIG Cinemas.)

"Never Say Never" (9 p.m., Facets): Wojciech Pacyna directs this slick, sentimental drama of a twice-divorced woman who's having no luck with artificial insemination. Ama (Anna Dereszowska), a knockout corporate headhunter, gets her fertility break after a one-night stand that breaks company policy but yields other benefits. (Repeat screenings: 3 p.m. Sunday, Pickwick; 5 pm. Nov. 13, BIG Cinemas.)

"Snow White and Russian Red" (8 p.m., Facets): Xawery Zulawski directs this playful adaptation of Dorota Maslowska's 2002 novel about a drug-crazed jerk. Yoddo (Borys Szyc from "Miracle Seller") loses his girlfriend, hooks up with a vampiric junkie, and then runs into a police typist who controls his every move and writes the words coming out of his mouth. It's all rather hyper-irritating. (Repeat screenings: 9 p.m. Sunday, Facets; 3 p.m. Nov. 14 , BIG Cinemas.)

"33 Scenes From Life" (9 p.m., Facets): This recommended drama depicts a complicated family handling a terminal illness. For all their skills in self-expression, they can only reveal their feelings for each other in artless ways. Writer-director Malgorzata Szumowska etches a roster of distinctive individuals -- including a novelist, a composer, a photographer -- who are unafraid of unleashing dark zingers in a time of grief. Cinematographer Michal Englert and composer Pawel Mykietyn reward eyes and ears, respectively. (Repeat screenings: 8:45 p.m. Thursday, Gallery; 7 p.m. Nov. 18, BIG Cinemas.)

"Andrzej Wajda: Let's Shoot!" (7 p.m., Gallery Theatre): My favorite film in the fest so far, this remarkable documentary observes Polish auteur Andrzej Wajda ("Kanal," "Man of Marble," "Sweet Rush") as he directs "Katyn," a period drama about the WWII massacre of Polish officers, including his father. Four former students from the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing honor their foul-mouthed mentor with a never- fawning study of his hands-on methods. The young directors aim at Wajda's face on the set; as his cameras roll on the actors, theirs look back to capture a veritable film unfolding in the director's lively expressions. This is nothing like the making-of mini-feature on the "Katyn" DVD.

"Case Unknown" (7 p.m,. Facets): If you missed Feliks Falk's political mystery drama at the Chicago International Film Festival, here's a second chance to see this story about a psychiatrist risking his doctoral thesis to care for a patient with suspiciously incomplete charts. We learn that the Warsaw flood of 1997 uncovered lethal tactics aimed at subversives in the Solidarity era. The coverup is a morally compromised puzzle. (Repeat screenings: 4:30 p.m. Nov. 15, BIG Cinemas; 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18, Beverly Arts Center.)

Advance tickets for all screenings are available at four Polish bookstores and six local Palomar travel agency offices. Go to the site www.pffamerica.com for more details.

Bill Stamets is a locally based free-lance writer and critic.