Best Film has published on DVD seven of the major pictures by one of Poland's preeminent film directors, the late Krzysztof Kieślowski (1941-1996). The collection, just coming to Polish shops, includes ”Camera buff” (”Amator”, 1979), ”A Short Film About Killing” (”Krótki film o zabijaniu”, 1987), ”A Short Film About Love”, (”Krótki film o miłości”, 1988), ”The Double Life of Veronique” (1991) ”Three Colours: Blue” (1993), ”Three Colours: White” (1993) and ”Three Colours: Red” (1994). These films feature top Polish and French actors, among them Jerzy Stuhr, Janusz Gajos, Grażyna Szapołowska, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Juliette Binoche, Irene Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Julie Delpy. In his films, Kieślowski perceives and presents metaphysical aspects mainly via a human dimension. A careful scrutiny of one's own life, often also from the point of view of others, through ”other people’s telescopes”, is the key to understanding his art. Great and comforting cinema which shall never age. A shame not to know.

58 extraordinary concerts, more than a thousand international artists, and a bill of Baroque, Classic and Romantic masters – all on the occasion of the 200 birthday anniversary of Frederic Chopin at the 6th edition of the International Music Festival "Chopin and his Europe". By all indications this will be one of the major cultural events in Poland this year. The Festival begins in Warsaw on August 1 and continues through to August 31. Concerts have been scheduled at the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of the Polish Radio, the National Philharmonic and the Grand Theatre – National Opera.

The festival brings together an impressive selection of eminent performers. Among the invited guests are, among others: Marc Minkowski from Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble, Misha Maisky, Alexander Gavrylyuk, Joshua Bell, Russian National Orchestra, Martha Argerich, Stanisław Bunin and Nelson Freire, beside excellent Polish artists such as Ewa Pobłocka, Aleksandra Kurzak, Janusz Olejniczak and Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra. Symphony and chamber concerts as well as recitals will go in company with a bill of jazz, also with an impressive lineup: Tomasz Stańko, Makoto Ozone with Anna Maria Jopek (in her newest project "Road to Chopin"), Bobby McFerrin & NDR Big Band.

The Festival has been organised since 2005, immediately winning recognition for its high artistic level. Its main objective is to show the extensive connections of the music of Frederic Chopin with the works of composers in the nineteenth century and later. The Festival concerts feature European music from the 18th century to contemporary times. Organised by the National Fryderyk Chopin Institute, the Festival is one of the main projects of the government programme ”Heritage of Fryderyk Chopin 2010”.


The 65th International Chopin Festival in Duszniki Zdrój will be held on August 6-14: nine days filled with concerts, recitals and mastercourses. ”Our festival is distinguished by the fact that it is the world's oldest piano festival, not solely devoted to Chopin” says artistic director of the event, virtuoso pianist Piotr Paleczny. ”A great asset of the Festival in Duszniki is its intimate character. We don't have a modern, new concert hall. But we do have something which we always mention and what arouses great respect on the part of performers: the very stage on which Frederic Chopin himself played many years ago, in 1826” he adds.

Among the artists billed at the Festival are pianists-laureates of the International Chopin Piano Competition, Kevin Kenner and Dang Thai Son. Recitals will be played by grand masters such as Ayako Uehara, Stanislav Bunin and Nelson Goerner. The accompanying Mastercourses this year will be led by prof. Choong-Mo Kang from Seoul and prof. Jerome Rose from New York.

Between August 14-28 the European Jan Kiepura Festival comes to Krynica Zdrój. For many years now, creator of the festival and one of Poland's leading popularizers of classical music Bogusław Kaczyński has invited artists from the world over and attracted tens of thousands of spectators to Krynica’s Promenade and the spacious hall of the Main Pump Room. The programme of this year's edition includes operetta productions, a concert devoted to one of Poland's best writers of song lyrics, the late Agnieszka Osiecka; and a recital by singer Michał Bajor, as well as performances by many stars of Polish music stages, the Rozrywka Theatre from Chorzów, the Jewish Theatre from Warsaw, the Music Theatre from Gliwice, the Orchestra of the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice, the Orchestra of the Zabrze Philharmonic and the Representative Ensemble of the Polish Army. The European Jan Kiepura Festival of Opera and Operetta is acknowledged as the biggest summer festival in Poland and this part of Europe. It features operetta shows, symphonic concerts, ballet and theatre performances, promenade concerts and, ultimately, a review of films with Jan Kiepura (1902-1966), the Polish tenor and actor, one of the greatest representatives of the vocal art of his age.

African tribal dances, Argentinian tango and Highlander ensembles from Poland all come together between August 20-27 in Zakopane at the 42 edition of one of the oldest and biggest folk festivals in the world: the International Festival of Highland Folklore. The highlights of this year's edition are performances by folk groups from African Sierra Leone and Argentinian Cordoba. These are the only two ensembles out of 14 performing outside the competition. Participants appearing in the great festival tent include groups from Turkey, Italy, Serbia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Portugal, Macedonia, Greece, France, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Poland. Competition performances are this year accompanied by the picturesque Podhale Horse-Driving Championships, Folk Workshops, the Festival of Music of the Carpathian Crescent and a concert of folk-inspired music. For the first time the festival will feature performances by children's ensembles, presenting old rituals, games and traditions, laced with music, dance and song.

Until August 22, Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw is presenting the exhibition ”Jan Lebenstein. Seal of Eros and Thanatos. Paris, 1960s”. This is one of a series of events at Zachęta Gallery devoted to less known figures and phenomena in the art of the 1960s. The exhibit gathers unknown drawings, sketches, documents and photographs from the decade, selected from the private collections of persons close to the artist. It is based on works that have never been shown before – among others from the collection of Wojciech Fibak and other art collectors in Poland, France and the USA, as well as works from the National Museum in Wrocław and the Museum of Literature in Warsaw. Jan Lebenstein (1930-1999) was a creator of cityscapes, poetic transpositions of human figures and expressive fantastic-symbolic compositions on animal themes. In 1959 he moved to Paris, where he was awarded the Grand Prix at the First Biennale of Young Artists. In 1977 he became a French citizen.

The eighth edition of Sacrum Profanum Festival is scheduled for September 17-18 in Cracow. The star of the event is Jónsi – guitairist and vocalist of the Icelandic rock group Sigur Rós. Within his Go Tour 2010 he will play two concerts at the Tin Mill of Arcelor Mittal Steelworks in Nowa Huta. Sacrum Profanum Festival is one of the most interesting cyclical music events of the autumn. The first edition was organised in 2003 and within a few years the festival gained the rank of southern Poland's biggest music stage, gathering a discerning audience of thousands from year to year.

The sixth edition of the Warsaw festival ”Crossroads of Culture” will be held between September 26 and October 2. ”Our ambition is to make Crossroads of Culture a major world music event in Europe” says festival director Marek Garztecki. Promising to be one of the highlights this year is the day devoted to the People's Republic of China, when alongside Quinn Mei Jing Yue quartet, which performs classical Chinese music, there is the excellent Mongolian Hanggai ensemble and Uighur vocalist Mamer from Xinjiang. The star of the final gala concert is legendary singer-songwriter Salif Keita from Mali. The strong Polish accent at Crossroads of Culture is the jubilee concert of the band Osjan on their 40th anniversary. The group formed by composer and flautist Jacek Ostaszewski is one of the pioneers of world music on an international scale!