ICA is closed from the 30 May – 3 June inclusive.
5 - 26 April 2025
The first full retrospective of the great Polish director Wojciech Jerzy Has, is presented in partnership with KINOTEKA and the BFI.
For many decades, Has seemed perilously close to being recognised as a one-film director, so disproportionately famous was The Saragossa Manuscript. However, as dazzling as that masterpiece undoubtedly is, he produced an impressive body of work comprising 14 features and 12 shorts. And Has’ ostentatiously extravagant, quasi-Surrealist, distinctly Wellesian sensibility emerged fully formed with his 1957 feature debut The Noose.
Whether in black and white or colour, Academy or widescreen, Has was a great visual stylist and a superb director of actors (especially Zbigniew Cybulski, Gustaw Holoubek and Barbara Krafftówna). This complete retrospective, with all films recently restored, reveals Has’ strong affinity with themes of nostalgia and the inexorable pull of history, peppered with the filmmaker’s distinctive use of sarcasm.
– Michael Brooke, Season Curator
The first full retrospective of the great Polish director Wojciech Jerzy Has, is presented in partnership with KINOTEKA and the BFI.
For many decades, Has seemed perilously close to being recognised as a one-film director, so disproportionately famous was The Saragossa Manuscript. However, as dazzling as that masterpiece undoubtedly is, he produced an impressive body of work comprising 14 features and 12 shorts. And Has’ ostentatiously extravagant, quasi-Surrealist, distinctly Wellesian sensibility emerged fully formed with his 1957 feature debut The Noose.
Whether in black and white or colour, Academy or widescreen, Has was a great visual stylist and a superb director of actors (especially Zbigniew Cybulski, Gustaw Holoubek and Barbara Krafftówna). This complete retrospective, with all films recently restored, reveals Has’ strong affinity with themes of nostalgia and the inexorable pull of history, peppered with the filmmaker’s distinctive use of sarcasm.
– Michael Brooke, Season Curator
Programme
Saturday 5 April, 6.30pm
Tuesday 8 April, 4.10pm
How to Be Loved
Felicja hides actor Wiktor from persecution in her flat, but his selfishness strains their relationship, damaging her life and career.
Sunday 6 April, 2.30pm
Saturday 12 April, 12.10pm
The Codes
Tadeusz obsessively searches for his missing son, using conflicting scraps of conflicting information gleaned from possibly unreliable witnesses, but his quest alienates him from family and reality.
Thursday 10 April, 6.30pm
Tuesday 15 April 4.10pm
An Uneventful Story
Based on short story by Chekhov, Wojciech Has’ first film after a decade's pause explores an elderly professor’s existential musings and personal frustrations.
Saturday 12 April 2.30pm
Wojciech Has: The Shorts
A screening of Wojciech Has’ eleven short films, made between 1947-1955.
Sunday 13 April, 2.30pm
The Saragossa Manuscript
A cult classic, this adaptation of Jan Potocki’s novel blends Napoleonic and Inquisition-era stories with supernatural twists, anchored by a bewildered-looking Zbigniew Cybulski.
Saturday 19 April, 7pm
Thursday 24 April, 4.10pm
Write and Fight
Journalist Rafał, safecracker Szpicbródka, and monk Sykstus are cellmates in Has' vivid and delirious vision where reality and fiction blur.
Sunday 20 April, 6pm
Friday 25 April, 4pm
The Memoirs of a Sinner
Inspired by James Hogg’s 1824, Has' film follows Robert’s haunting life, crimes, and encounters with a devilish Doppelgänger.
Tuesday 22 April, 6.30pm
Saturday 26 April, 2.30pm
The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober
In 16th-century Germany, Balthazar and alchemist Cammerschulze flee to Venice, amid plague and religious persecution.
Friday 25 April, 6.30pm
Closing Night
The Hourglass Sanatorium
A hallucinatory masterpiece blending Bruno Schulz’s novella with Has’s obsessions, where Józef, seeking his past, finds a sanatorium portal revealing his fears. Stylistically rich, with a striking atonal score.
Friday 25 April, 8.40pm
KINOTEKA Closing Night Gala
Sanatorium Under the Hourglass musical interpretation by Bester Quartet
The festival closes with a special musical interpretation of Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass by Bester Quartet
Saturday 5 April, 6.30pm
Tuesday 8 April, 4.10pm
How to Be Loved
Felicja hides actor Wiktor from persecution in her flat, but his selfishness strains their relationship, damaging her life and career.
Sunday 6 April, 2.30pm
Saturday 12 April, 12.10pm
The Codes
Tadeusz obsessively searches for his missing son, using conflicting scraps of conflicting information gleaned from possibly unreliable witnesses, but his quest alienates him from family and reality.
Thursday 10 April, 6.30pm
Tuesday 15 April 4.10pm
An Uneventful Story
Based on short story by Chekhov, Wojciech Has’ first film after a decade's pause explores an elderly professor’s existential musings and personal frustrations.
Saturday 12 April 2.30pm
Wojciech Has: The Shorts
A screening of Wojciech Has’ eleven short films, made between 1947-1955.
Sunday 13 April, 2.30pm
The Saragossa Manuscript
A cult classic, this adaptation of Jan Potocki’s novel blends Napoleonic and Inquisition-era stories with supernatural twists, anchored by a bewildered-looking Zbigniew Cybulski.
Saturday 19 April, 7pm
Thursday 24 April, 4.10pm
Write and Fight
Journalist Rafał, safecracker Szpicbródka, and monk Sykstus are cellmates in Has' vivid and delirious vision where reality and fiction blur.
Sunday 20 April, 6pm
Friday 25 April, 4pm
The Memoirs of a Sinner
Inspired by James Hogg’s 1824, Has' film follows Robert’s haunting life, crimes, and encounters with a devilish Doppelgänger.
Tuesday 22 April, 6.30pm
Saturday 26 April, 2.30pm
The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober
In 16th-century Germany, Balthazar and alchemist Cammerschulze flee to Venice, amid plague and religious persecution.
Friday 25 April, 6.30pm
Closing Night
The Hourglass Sanatorium
A hallucinatory masterpiece blending Bruno Schulz’s novella with Has’s obsessions, where Józef, seeking his past, finds a sanatorium portal revealing his fears. Stylistically rich, with a striking atonal score.
Friday 25 April, 8.40pm
KINOTEKA Closing Night Gala
Sanatorium Under the Hourglass musical interpretation by Bester Quartet
The festival closes with a special musical interpretation of Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass by Bester Quartet
no. 236848.