Cellulose

An adaptation of Igor Newerly’s novel. Szczęsny (Józef Nowak), a young man from the countryside, moves to the city and, in conversation with a communist activist he meets by chance, recounts the story of his life. Back in the village, he and his family lived in poverty. In search of work, he travelled with his father to Włocławek, where both found jobs in a paper mill. It was there that he first came into contact with trade union activism. Later, at his father’s urging, he went to Warsaw in search of work and apprenticed with a carpenter. He also completed military service. Everywhere he went, he encountered class divisions and social injustice. In time, he became involved in workers’ and political activism and eventually embraced communism. Despite institutional constraints, Kawalerowicz created a film with a dynamic narrative close to neorealism. Thanks to Jerzy Lipman’s cinematography, he vividly captures the atmosphere of the industrial working world in pre-war Poland.

Jerzy Kawalerowicz (1922–2007) – Polish film director and screenwriter. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and completed a course in the rudiments of filming in Kraków. As a student, he worked as an assistant director on the first Polish post-war films, including Forbidden Songs by Leonard Buczkowski (1946). From 1951 he worked as an independent director. His feature debut, The Village Mill (1951), received a special award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which enabled him to continue making feature films. In 1966 his Pharaoh was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Kawalerowicz’s work is marked by exceptional directorial precision and a strong sensitivity to visual composition. In his films he explores human nature and the individual’s place in a world shaped by psychological and political forces. Today, his films are regarded as classics of Polish cinema.

7th New Horizons IFF Catalogue

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