Release Date: 11 Jan 2016Wojciech Marczewski’s anti-totalitarian satire is a darkly comic examination of censorship which adapts the premise of Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo to late 1980s Poland.
The film centres on a provincial film censor who is horrified to discover that the actors in a trite romantic weepie are refusing to perform their roles. With shades also of Keaton’s Sherlock, Jr. and Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, the film deftly combines political satire, social observation and surreal humour.
Directed by one of Poland’s leading intellectual - and much censored - filmmakers, this multi-award winning feature is a key film of the seismic political changes of 1989, and an enthusiastic manifesto for the freedom of the artist - and ultimately, of all humanity.
The DVD is presented in a director-approved HD digital transfer with restored picture and sound, and features an exclusive filmed interview with director Wojciech Marczewski, plus a booklet featuring a new essay on the film by film historian Michael Brooke.
• New HD digital transfer with restored picture and sound, approved by the director.
• Exclusive filmed interview with director Wojciech Marczewski.
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• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• 20-page booklet featuring a new essay on the film by editor, film historian and DVD producer Michael Brooke.
Janusz Gajos – Censor (Rabkiewicz)
Zbigniew Zamachowski – Assistant censor
Teresa Marczewska – Małgorzata
Piotr Fronczewski – Secretary
Władysław Kowalski – Professor (Tadeusz)
Michał Bajor – Critic
Jan Peszek – Raskolnikow
Jerzy Bińczycki – Cinema manager
Artur Barciś – Projectionist
Directed by Wojciech Marczewski
Screenplay – Wojciech Marczewski
Cinematography – Jerzy Zieliński
Camera Operator - Paweł Edelman
Editor – Elżbieta Kurkowska
Sound – Marek Kuczyński, Joanna Napieralska
Music – Zygmunt Konieczny
Escape from the 'Liberty' Cinema is also available as part of the Polish Cinema Classics Volume II Box Set.
Wojciech Marczewski’s acclaimed 1981 film Shivers (Dreszcze) is availablein the Polish Cinema Classics Volume III Box Set.
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1990 Gdynia Polish Film Festival:
Winner: Golden Lion – Best Film / Winner: Critics Award / Winner: Best Actor, Janusz Gajos
1990 Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival:
Winner: Grand Prize – Best Film
1991 Cannes Film Festival
Official Selection - Un Certain Regard
"Extremely funny political comedy... Consciously influenced by Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, it's an absurdist satire on bureaucracy and moral cowardice"
Philip French, The Observer
"A complex, allusive and profound examination of the nature and extensive effects of censorship... Marczewski’s multi-award winning film is a refreshing, penetrating and darkly comic work of great intelligence and shrewd sagacity, and combining sharp, biting satire with a skilful exploration of some powerful and highly important themes, proved one of the key works of the political change of 1989"
The Arts Shelf
"A poetry of images and individual courage" István Szabó
"A rich mixture of dark political satire and poetic allegory"
Wally Hammond, Time Out
"An exuberant attack on censorship" Variety