One of the leading figures in contemporary European cinema, Krzysztof Zanussi is not just key figure in the post-war Polish “cinema of moral anxiety,” but a true man of culture. While on campus, Zanussi will participate in the following events for the 2015 Nanovic Forum.
Wednesday, September 9 at 5:00 p.m.
Strategies of Life: How to Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
The Nanovic Forum Lecture at the Eck Visitors Center Auditorium - Free and open to the public.
Thursday, September 10 at 12:30 p.m.
Yeltsin and Putin: My Personal Experience
Lunch lecture at McKenna Hall (Room 200)
Zanussi will deliver remarks about his personal experiences with Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, past and current Presidents of the Russian Federation. Free and open to the public. Lunch provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
Thursday, September 10 at 7:00 p.m.
Foreign Body (2014)
Film: Introduction and Q&A session on his latest film Foreign Body
Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
Tickets ($4-7) are available at 574-631-2800 or performingarts.nd.edu.
Angelo and Kasia meet in Italy and fall deeply in love. However, she ends their relationship when she decides to return to her home in Poland and enter the convent. Desperate to win her back, Angelo takes a job in Warsaw with an international corporation but he finds his moral principles tested when he must contend with a ruthless and cynical boss who uses her power to manipulate him.
Born in 1939, Zanussi studied physics and philosophy before turning to cinema in 1966. Making his first film shortly thereafter, he became the artistic director, producer, and eventually president of TOR Film Production. A key figure in Poland’s post-war cinema, and particularly known for his “cinema of moral anxiety,” Zanussi has won major film prizes at Cannes, Venice, and Leipzig, as well as prizes in Russia and international festivals outside the west. He has also directed stage plays from Euripides to Stoppard in theatres across Europe and has directed the staging of operas in Poland, Italy, and Switzerland. He serves as a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
The Nanovic Institute for European Studies established the Nanovic Forum through the generosity of Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic to deepen Notre Dame’s rich tradition of connections to Europe by bringing prominent figures to campus in a wide range of fields to explore, discuss, and debate the most pressing questions about Europe today. Past speakers have included Lord Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of the University of Oxford; Horst Koehler, former president of Germany; and Hanna Suchocka, former Prime Minister of Poland.
An archive of past Forum lectures is available at nanovic.nd.edu/forum.