Pharaoh

Nominated for an Academy Award, this monumental adaptation of Bolesław Prus’s novel transports the viewer to ancient Egypt, tracing the final years of the reign of the young Pharaoh Ramses XIII. Lavishly mounted, visually striking and superbly acted, Kawalerowicz’s film centres on the conflict between secular authority and priestly power. Ramses XIII (Jerzy Zelnik) attempts to curb the influence of the priests who, aware that their privileges are under threat, begin plotting against him. At the same time, the film presents both the everyday life of the Egyptian people and the Pharaoh’s private emotional world. Love, power and politics prove inseparable, and the ruler’s decisions carry consequences not only for himself but for the entire country. This is what makes Pharaoh such a universal story about the nature of politics, the individual’s struggle against the system, and dilemmas that remain strikingly relevant to this day.

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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