director Piotr Szulkin
screenplay Piotr Szulkin
director of photography Zygmunt Samosiuk
music Józef Skrzek, Wojciech Gogolewski, Johannes Brahms, Franz Gruber, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Jerzy Maksymiuk
with Roman Wilhelmi, Krystyna Janda, Mariusz Dmochowski, Jerzy Stuhr, Bożena Dykiel, Joanna Żółkowska, Janusz Gajos, Wiesław Drzewicz, Marek Walczewski
awards (selection) Grand Prix, the Monolith, and Best Director, Screenplay, Cinematography and prize for Roman Wilhelmi at the International Fantasy Film Festival in Madrid, Grand Prix at Porto International Film Festival, 1982
Special Mention at Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival, 1982
Jury Special Prize for the film and Silver Asteroid for Roman Wilhelmi at the Trieste International Festival of Fantasy Films, 1982
the ESFS Award (the The European Science Fiction Society) for Piotr Szulkin (Best Science Fiction Director) at The European Congress of Science Fiction Society ‘Eurocon’ in Seacon, Brighton, 1984
PIOTR SZULKIN, IN ‘FILMOWY SERWIS PRASOWY’, 1981, NO. 8
(The film predicts a Martian invasion in the last days of 2000) But who said that I showed an invasion? Maybe it was a school trip which stopped at Earth for some sweets? Maybe they were not Martians at all? It might well have been a provocation, a television hoax. (…) The film tells about an incapacitated society, and incapacity is inherent in the very idea of community.
TADEUSZ SZYMA, WAR OF THE WORLDS [WOJNA ŚWIATÓW], ‘TYGODNIK POWSZECHNY’, 1983, NO. 211
Szulkin has never been interested in immediate reference in his films; his artistic ambitions are of a more universal kind. They’re shown in the way he treats the sci-fi subject matter, or in the confrontation of futurological elements and archaisms; the aim is to achieve a timeless message. (…) Szulkin philosophizes in a language of extremely vivid metaphors and symbols. He invites you to reflect on the darkest side of human nature which reveals itself mainly in the situation of organized violence and saturation lies.
history periods
