“Filip” by Michał Kwieciński

Wednesday, August 30th at 8:00 PM

The Avalon Theatre
5612 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20015

One show only!

Join us for a showcase of the best in Polish cinema at Washington, D.C.'s historic Avalon Theatre! The August 30th screening will feature  “Filip” by Michał Kwieciński. This film is a gripping character study of a young Polish Jew assuming a French identity, as he navigates his job at a luxurious hotel in Frankfurt in Nazi Germany amidst the tumultuous backdrop of the Second World War. “Filip” is based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the identical title penned by Leopold Tyrmand, a Polish-Jewish writer and an icon of Poland’s artistic realm of the 1950s.

About the film:

Frankfurt, World War II. Filip, radiating cosmopolitan charm and a magnetic presence, is seemingly impervious to deeper emotions. Despite the profound loss of his entire family in occupied Poland, he miraculously evades death within the heart of Nazi Germany. Concealing his Jewish identity, he assumes the role of a waiter in a refined restaurant at an upscale hotel, among other forced laborers from all over Europe. Amid opulence and amidst the company of lonely German women, Filip embraces the world with fervor, his life becomes a daring dance of provocation. Yet, Filip’s carefully built world collapses like a fragile house of cards once the war starts to take its bloody toll among his loved ones.

2022, 125 min, Poland
Polish, German with English subtitles
Cast: Eryk Kulm Jr. (Filip), Caroline Hartig (Lisa), Zoe Straub (Blanka), Sandra Drzymalska (Marlena), Victor Meutelet (Pierre), Robert Wieckiewicz (Staszek)