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Mesa film festival to feature Polish Catholic moviemaker
By Rebecca Bostic, The Catholic Sun
February 7, 2008
In Europe, Krzysztof Zanussi is well-known for his part in “The Cinema of Moral Anxiety,” a group of Polish filmmakers who take on weighty content.
This month, Valley moviegoers will get a sampling of his work.
Five of his productions will be featured at the fifth annual Mesa Community College International Film Festival Feb. 18-23 at the Harkins Arizona Mills 24 Theatres in Tempe. The films will be shown free of charge.
“His films almost inevitably deal with moral dilemmas,” said Don Castro, professor of film at Mesa Community College and founder and director of the International Film Festival.
“The Constant Factor,” “Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease” and “Persona Non Grata” will be in the Zanussi lineup. “Wherever You Are” and “The Silent Touch” will also be shown.
“What’s interesting is that most of the dilemmas aren’t major moral dilemmas that we might immediately think of,” Castro said. Instead, he said, Zanussi takes on more subtle and thought-provoking issues.
Zanussi filmed a movie about the early life of John Paul II, a personal friend of his, and filmed two plays the late pontiff wrote himself.
The Polish filmmaker will be at all five nights of the film festival. Zanussi will host a question and answer session after each screening.
“I think if you want action-packed ‘shoot ’em up’ films, then these films are not for you,” Castro said.
“If you like foreign films that make you think and go at a little slower pace than many American films,” he added, then you are sure to enjoy Zanussi’s films.
Castro believes films at the festival will be particularly appealing to Catholics because many of the characters in the selections are “very much Polish-Catholic and you can identify with their sense of right and wrong.”
“These films are more mood pieces,” he said, “certainly the kinds of films that make you want to talk about them afterwards.”
The Mesa Community College International Film Festival is part of an outreach effort on the part of the college and is sponsored in part by the Arizona Humanities Council.
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