The first documentary films by Susan Sontag and her feature productions will be presented to the public in Poland. The first-ever such a rich retrospective of a renowned American essayist and pop culture icon will be held in May – as part of the 19th Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival.
The rich and diverse films of Susan Sontag, corresponding to her writing, remain almost unknown in Poland. In the 19th Millennium Docs Against Gravity, the organizers are planning to fill this gap and present the films of the essayist and cinema lover, complementing her understanding of the images that shape the culture and the way people see the world.
Viewers of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival will see the documentary film “Promised Lands” directed by Sontag, filmed in October 1973 in Israel, during the attack of the Syrian-Egypt coalition in the 20-day Yom Kippur war. The film is considered to be one of her most appreciated works.
The “Promised Lands” integrates layers of images of war and statements, dominated by opposition Israeli positions represented by Yoram Kaniuk, a writer and the friend of the author, and Juwal Ne’eman, a physicist, military, and later Israel’s minister of science and development. They reflect the complex reality of the land that has been promised to too many people.
In 1993, Sontag decided to go to Sarajevo in response to the suggestion of her son David Rieff, who was in the city reporting the war. As the author emphasized in interviews, as a result of consultations with the local community, she decided to direct the theatre play “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett. Festival viewers will be able to see the film “Waiting for Godot … in Sarajevo”, an anti-war appeal and a tribute to the city’s inhabitants.
The retrospective will also include early Sontag feature films. Viewers will be able to see films inspired by the works of Ingmar Bergman – “Duet for Cannibals”, a film debut made in 1969 in Sweden and her next work “Brother Carl” from 1971.
The Susan Sontag retrospective is the first such extensive presentation of the American essayist’s film oeuvre in Poland and one of the first in Central and Eastern Europe.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński