Polish minister denies filmmaker’s ‘ blacklist’ charge
Director Pawlikowski alleges right- wing govt has ‘ blacklist’ of artists ■
Warsaw, May 13: Polish culture minister Piotr Glinski on Sunday denied an allegation by Oscarwinning film director Pawel Pawlikowski that Poland’s rightwing government has a “blacklist” of artists.
“The most complete freedom of creation rules in Poland,” Glinski wrote on Twitter, adding: “I wish Polish artists success at Cannes and not only at Cannes.”
Pawlikowski, 60, who won the best foreign- language movie Oscar for Ida in 2015, told AFP at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday that the film had been banned from being shown on television or in Polish cultural institutes abroad.
He said the film was on a “blacklist” and that he had “the honour” to be among the “books, theatre directors and filmmakers who must not be supported”.
His remarks were widely reported, including in Poland on the Onet. pl news portal, sparking indignation among politicians and media close to the nationalist government.
Glinski, who is also deputy Prime Minister, wrote on Twitter: “There is no blacklist of artists in Poland, and the culture minister has never accused Mr Pawlikowski of anything whatsoever.”
Ida, about a young Catholic nun who learns she is a Holocaust orphan, touches on the killing of Jews during the Nazi occupation by Poles with whom they had sought refuge — a fact swept under the carpet for decades.
The film became the target of attacks and a petition by Glinski, then in opposition, when it was nominated for an Academy Award.
He accused Pawlikowski of blackening the country’s reputation.
On Sunday, in a separate tweet, Glinski said he was “flabbergasted” over Pawlikowski’s interview, “all the more so because in March we supported the film Cold War with an extra million zlotys ( 234,000 euros, $ 280,000) so they could finish production.” The state TV news channel TVP reported that deputy culture minister Pawel Lewandowski said Poland’s National Film Institute “appears to have contributed six million zlotys to Pawlikowski’s latest film”.
Cold War is the story of two star- crossed lovers — loosely based on Pawlikowski’s own parents — flitting dangerously back and forth over the Iron Curtain until one is thrown into a communist work camp.
One of the film’s stars, Joanna Kulig, is already an early favourite for the best actress award at Cannes.
POLISH CULTURE minister Piotr Glinski on Sunday denied an allegation by Oscarwinning film director Pawel Pawlikowski that Poland’s rightwing government has a “blacklist” of artists. POWEL PAWLIKOWSKI, 60, who won the best foreignlanguage movie Oscar for Ida in 2015 said that film had been banned from being shown on television or in Polish culturPiotr al institutes abroad