Cinema “Schron”. Series of screenings in Wrocław Contemporary Museum. Meeting no 4: „Smoke”
08.04.15, 19:00, educational space, level I
entry: free, limited space, free passes will be available on the day of the screening, from 18:00, at the box office of MWW (Wrocław Contemporary Museum).
Introduction by: Katarzyna Kajdanek
The current (temporary) location of Wrocław Contemporary Museum was originally an anti-aircraft bunker, constructed in 1942. The building has very quickly been adapted to serve many different purposes. In the 90’s, where now the offices of the museum are located, there was a cigarette wholesaler, sex shop and a pub called “bunker”. The film screening of Wayne Wang’s and Paul Auster’s “Smoke” will serve as a pretext to remember those other functions of the building and analyse the situation back in those days.
“Smoke” shows us a small community in Booklyn NY. Stories of people cross over in a local tobacco shop, whose owner is Auggie Wren, played by Harvey Keitel. Auggie takes a photo of his shop every day. One of his regular customers in Paul Benjamin (played by William Hurt), a writer, who is often associated with the author of the film’s script- Paul Auster.
“Smoke” was made in the mid 90s and over the last twenty years the role of Brooklyn has dramatically changed in the landscape of New York. Today Brooklyn is a hub for wealthy artists, back then Brooklyn was Manhattan’s poorer cousin.
This series of screenings organised in the space of the museum, in an old bunker, provokes a certain type of questions. First of all: what is the function of a place and what determines its function? Secondly: what is a perfect location for a film screening? Is it still a cinema? Home? Or maybe alternative spaces? Finally: how does this particular space affect its surrounding? In the first half of 2015 we will be looking for answers to those questions, with movies as our starting points we will look to understand the complicated history of the bunker at Strzegomski Square.
On the 2nd of September 2011, in the space of an old anti-aircraft bunker, the Contemporary Museum was opened. After the siege of Breslau, in the first years of the Polish People’s Republic it was a location for a gypsy camp.
The curator of the series of screenings is Lech Moliński, a co-founder and a vice president of Wrocławska Fundacja Filmowa (www.wrocff.com.pl), a journalist, cultural animator. The series is organised by Wrocław Contemporary Museum and its partner organisation is Wrocławska Fundacja Filmowa.
Details:
8 April, 19:00
free entry – tickets can be collected at the museum box office on the day of the screening from 18:00
“Smoke”, dir Waybe Wang, Paul Auster, USA, 1995, 112min
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debate moderator – Bartek Lis (MWW)
+ meeting with Katarzyna Kajdanek –sociologist from University of Wrocław- PhD in humanities, specialisation in urban sociology and sociology of local communities.