Mariusz Brymora, and Ambassador's Confession at the Bolton Hall Museum, 25 March 2023 at 6:30 pm

Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club invites members and friends interested in the history of Poland, its heroes and secrets to an interesting meeting with the former Consul of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles, writer and editor Mariusz M. Brymora. The topic of the meeting will be the newly published book by Romuald Spasowski, entitled Ambassador's Confession, which was edited from over 3,000  pages down to 750 pages by Mr. Brymore.

The meeting will be held on Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 6:30 pm at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga; 10110 Commerce Ave, Tujunga, CA 91042. Admission free, RSVP to prezes@modjeska.org. During the meeting the audience will be able to buy books and get an autograph with the editor's dedication. After talking with P. Brymora, we invite you for kabanosy, hors d'oeuvres and beverages.

AMBASSADOR ROMUALD SPASOWSKI

(Brief Biography From Wikipedia, alas full of errors, to be corrected during the event and as described in the book).

 F. Romuald Spasowski (August 20, 1920 – August 9, 1995), was a Polish politician, ambassador and the best known defector from PRL in 1981.  The Spasowski family was active in the Polish resistance during World War II. Spasowski and his father were arrested several times by the Gestapo. His father committed suicide in 1941 after being tortured by the Nazis. Spasowski hid in his mother's home in Milanówek for a time, where the family harbored several Jewish families. Spasowski served on the Central Auditing Commission, which maintained and audited the party's finances. He later served as a member of the Polish War Crimes Mission at the Nuremberg trials. Fluent in both English and Spanish, Spasowski served at the embassy in London from 1951 to 1953 and then two years as ambassador to Argentina. 

Spasowski's first tour as Polish ambassador to the United States lasted from 1955 to 1961. In 1964, Spasowski represented Poland as a member of the International Commission for Supervision and Control in Vietnam, which was established to mediate peace between Hanoi and Saigon during the Vietnam War. From 1967 till 1971 Spasowski served as Poland's ambassador to India. In the mid-1970s, Spasowski was named Deputy Foreign Minister in the Polish Foreign Ministry. In the mid-1970s he also served as the Chief of the Polish Military Mission in West Berlin. 

Spasowski returned to the United States for a second tour as ambassador in 1978. His wife had been a practicing Catholic for many years. The former Wanda Alina Sikorska was a cousin of Poland's former prime minister, General Władysław Sikorski. Wanda Spasowska's influence and religious views helped undermine her husband's belief in Communism. For years, Spasowski's faith in the Polish Communist regime had been wavering, but the ascension of a Pole to the papacy in 1978 provided the impetus for a clear break. The day Karol Cardinal Wojtyła became Pope John Paul II, Spasowski attended a special Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D.C., taking a place of honor in the first pew. It marked the beginning of an increasingly contentious relationship with the Polish Foreign Ministry.

The formation of Solidarity in September 1980 deeply moved Spasowski. He is said to have privately voiced support for Solidarity's leader, Lech Wałęsa, and the labor movement's goals. Spasowski's daughter and son-in-law, supporters of Solidarity, fled to the United States early in 1981 and received asylum. In October 1981, the Polish government ordered Spasowski home. He protested, and the recall order was rescinded. On December 13, 1981, Polish government leader General Wojciech Jaruzelski started a crack-down on Solidarity, declaring martial law. On the afternoon of December 19, 1981, Spasowski telephoned the U.S. State Department to announce that he was defecting and requesting asylum. The next day he told a worldwide radio audience that he had defected to show support for Solidarity and Lech Wałęsa. "The cruel night of darkness and silence was spread over my country," he said. The Polish government confiscated his family's property, branded him a traitor and condemned him to death in absentia.

Spasowski US Residence, National Park Service

Spasowski toured the United States throughout the 1980s, denouncing the Communist regime in Poland and playing a leading role in the U.S. Information Agency's anti-Communist television program, 'Let Poland Be Poland'. In 1985, Spasowski, who was of a Calvinist family, was baptized a Catholic by Philadelphia's Archbishop John Krol.  In 1986, Spasowski published his autobiography, The Liberation of One, and eventually became an American citizen. After the overthrow of Communist rule in Poland in 1989, Spasowski's death sentence was revoked. In 1993, Polish President Lech Wałęsa restored Spasowski's Polish citizenship. [biographic information cited from Wikipedia]

MARIUSZ M. BRYMORA

Mariusz M. Brymora – philologist. He holds an MA diploma from the Department of English Language of Maria Curie Skłodowska University in Lublin and a postgraduate diploma in British Culture and History from the University of Warsaw and Ruskin College in Oxford. 

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he worked as an academic teacher and translator. His literary translations include short stories by Bernard Malamud published by Wydawnictwo Literackie in Kraków in 1989. From 1994 until 1998, he served as a Councilman and then the Deputy Mayor of his native city of Radom, Poland. Career diplomat – in the Polish Foreign Service since 1999. 

Mr. Brymora served as the Deputy Consul General in Chicago (1999 – 2003), Public Affairs Counselor at the Embassy of Poland in Washington D.C. (2005 – 2009), and Consul General in Los Angeles (2013 - 2017). While in Warsaw, he was the Deputy Director of the Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he supervised the promotional activity of Polish diplomatic missions and the screenplay and production of Polska? Tak! - a short documentary on Poland’s image as seen through the eyes of the world’s greatest cultural celebrities. 

His books include: 400 Years of Polish Immigrants in America – published in 2008 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first Poles’ arrival at Jamestown, Virginia. He also wrote a short history of the Embassy of Poland in Washington DC (2009). In 2019 M. Brymora published One Hundred years of Polish Diplomatic Presence in The United States: 1919-2019 which was followed a year later by its Polish version titled: Historia polskiej dyplomacji w Stanach Zjednoczonych 1919-2019.

In 2022 he published the Polish version of the memoires of ambassador Romuald Spasowski under the title Ambassador’s confession.

Recently Mr. Mariusz Brymora was promoted to the rank of minister plenipotentiary (ambassador ad personam) - the highest rank of a Polish diplomat.  

Hybrydy in Santa Monica "Life is a Theater" Performance, April 2, 2023 at 7 pm

 

Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club presents the Hybrydy Theater of Warsaw University in the performance entitled Life is Theater and given in Polish, without English subtitles. The performance will take place on Sunday, April 2, 2023 at  pm at the Illusion Magic Theater (formerly known as Magicopolis), 1418 4th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Free admission, limited seating, RSVP to prezes@modjeska.org with RSVP and date of event in the subject line, send replies to March 25, 2023.

The event is part of the Spring of Polish Culture in the Western United States, supported by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles. The Consulate supports three projects of the Club with grants: 1) a lecture by Katarzyna Winnicka, 2) the Hybrydy Theatre, 3) the Wojciech Wysocki Theater with the play Zyciorys/ Biography and music by Piotr Matczuk. The grants pay for the venue rental and AV technician costs. Since these events are supported by the Consulate, they are free to the general public. 

Zycie to jest teatr / Life is a Theater is a concert of hits by the masters of Polish song, Agnieszka Osiecka and Wojciech Młynarski, graduates of the University of Warsaw and co-founders of the Hybrydy Theatre, whose lyrics are hummed and listened to by subsequent generations of Poles. The most beautiful hits in new, energetic arrangements will be interspersed with funny literary cabaret sketches from pre-war and post-war Poland. The program will also feature retro hits by excellent Polish composers in a cheerful, lively mood, as well as more lyrical and nostalgic pieces. Starring: Magdalena Rossowska, Dominika Świątek, Maciej Dzięciołowski

The Hybrydy Theater of the University of Warsaw is one of the oldest student theaters in Poland, existing since the late 1950s, reactivated in 2005 at the University of Warsaw. It is a cultural and ideological continuator of the legendary Hybryd founded in 1957, from which such artists as Wojciech Młynarski, Jonasz Kofta, Urszula Dudziak, Krzysztof Komeda and many others come from. The team consists of students, doctoral students and graduates of our University under the supervision of experienced and thoroughly educated teachers. The theater's repertoire includes several dozen performances, concerts and other artistic projects, from ambitious texts by the greatest Polish and world poets and playwrights to lighter comedy forms, farces, choreographic shows and popular science projects in the field of theater and music.

Over the 16 years of its activity, the Hybrydy Theater has performed several hundred performances in the country and abroad in professional theaters, cultural centers, museums, and has taken part in many festivals and reviews, where the performances of the Hybrydy Theater have won awards and distinctions, including the most valuable ones - audience awards. The Theater's projects are constantly or occasionally patronized by many eminent personalities and public institutions, including His Magnificence Rector of the University of Warsaw. The co-founders of the Theater are director and director Maciej Dzięciołowski and Dominika Świątek, music director, vocalist and composer. The last LA performance of this theater was organized by Dr. Maja Trochimczyk and sponsored by Moonrise Press in June 2013.

Dominika Swiatek in Santa Monica, Feb. 2020

Dominika Świątek – pianist, composer, vocalist, actress, songwriter. A graduate of the music school and Polish philology of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Co-creator and long-term music director of the Hybrydy Theater of the University of Warsaw, reactivated in 2005. She has released three albums with her own compositions to poems by Zbigniew Herbert ("The Seventh Angel" under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage), Juliusz Słowacki ("Proroctwo" under the patronage of the Senate of the Republic of Poland) and a contemporary poet - Jerzy Hajduga ("Early Quieter"). Awarded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage with the honorary badge "Meritorious for Polish Culture". Juror of many competitions and festivals.

Swiatek  and Andrzej Perkman in Concert "Sweet peas and Roses" in Santa Monica, Feb. 2020

Magdalena Rossowska – singer, actress, coordinator of the artistic work of the Hybrydy Theater at the University of Warsaw. A graduate of Computer Science and Econometrics at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. Awarded many times at music festivals. She collaborated with the Roma Theater, and now also with the Buffo Theater in Warsaw.

Maciej Dzieciolowski JPL/NASA, June 2013

Maciej Dzięciołowski – director, actor, screenwriter, culture manager. A graduate of directing at the State Higher School of Theatre. Ludwik Solski in Krakow, Branch in Wrocław, culture management at the University of Warsaw and law at the Cardinal S. Wyszyński University in Warsaw. Academic lecturer at the University of Warsaw, co-founder and director of the legendary Hybrid Theater of the University of Warsaw, reactivated in 2005. Winner of many awards for directing plays at theater festivals and individual awards of the Rector of the University of Warsaw, multiple scholarship holder of the Minister of Science and Higher Education and the Minister of National Education. Member of the Directors' Section of the Polish Actors Association (Polish Actors Association, Member of FIA).

Hybrydy in Los Angeles, June 2013

Hybrydy in Los Angeles, June 2013

Curator Krystyna Winnicka on Icons and Beksinski - with Guest Alexander Rybak, 4 March 2023, at 4:30 pm, Bolton Hall, Tujunga

15th-19th -Century Icons & the Work of Zdzisław Beksiński 

in the Collections of the Historical Museum in Sanok  

Lecture by Katarzyna Winnicka of Sanok, Poland

Saturday March 4, 2023 at 4:30 PM, 

Bolton Hall Museum, 10110 Commerce Ave, Tujunga, Los Angeles, CA 91042

Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club presents a lecture by Katarzyna Winnicka from Sanok Historical Museum in Poland. It is a presentation of the most important examples of icons, which are part of one of the largest and most beautiful collections of Orthodox church art in Poland and all of Europe. Icons are sacred paintings (Marian, Christological or Hagiographic), painted on wood boards, and collected from former Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches in south-east Poland. The second part of the presentation will cover the work of Zdzisław Beksiński (1929-2005) - one of the most famous contemporary artists. In his paintings, one can see the features of visionary Romantic and surreal painting, or inspirations by Eastern mysticism. In 2001, Beksiński bequeathed his entire artistic output to the Historical Museum in Sanok, to which he donated about 300 works during his lifetime. Currently, the Museum has the largest collection of the artist's works, including several thousand paintings, reliefs, sculptures, drawings, prints and photographs. Free admission. RSVP prezes@modjeska.org.

Free admission. RSVP prezes@modjeska.org. After the lecture, we invite you to a reception with appetizers and desserts.

Curator Katarzyna Winnicka, our lecturer, holds a Master's of Art History degree, with studies completed at the Catholic University of Lublin. She serves as the Curator in the Department of Orthodox Art at the Historical Museum in Sanok. As part of this function, she organized numerous temporary exhibitions, publications, museum lessons, museum workshops, catalogs of collections, and others. Curator Winnicka also conducted classes at the State Higher Vocational School in Sanok at the Faculty of Cultural Studies - classes in iconography and church art.

Mrs. Winnicka's visit to California is a project organized jointly with Jerzy Barankiewicz from the Polish Art Salon in San Diego, where the Curator will give a lecture next Saturday, March 11, 2023. In Los Angeles, the guest will be hosted by Dr. Maja Trochimczyk, President of the Club, organizing trips to the Huntington Library and the Getty Center.\

Zdzisław Beksiński (born February 24, 1929 in Sanok, died February 21, 2005 in Warsaw) - is a Polish engineer, architect, painter, sculptor, photographer, draftsman and fantasy artist who also uses computer graphics. In 2001, Beksiński bequeathed his entire artistic output to the Historical Museum in Sanok, to which he bequeathed about 300 of his works during his lifetime. After the artist's death, the Museum received about 20 of his last paintings, about 1,000 photographs and graphics, as well as all his property - apartments, bank deposits, computer equipment. The museum's collections have also been enriched with multimedia records, letters and films documenting the artist's family life. The museum currently has the largest collection of the artist's works, including several thousand paintings, reliefs, sculptures, drawings, prints and photographs.

Photographs of Beksinksi's paintings: Dariusz Szuwalski, Historical Museum in Sanok. The works are on permanent display in the Zdzisław Beksiński Gallery in the Historical Museum in Sanok.

SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE BY ALEXANDER RYBAK

In his special guest appearance, Belarussian-Norwegian violinist Alexander Rybak will play a violin solo piece that he composed and selected specially for this event. 

Alexander Rybak, or, in Belarussian, Alyaxandr Iharavich Rybak (Belarusian: Аляксандр Ігаравіч Рыбак; born 13 May 1986) is a Belarusian-Norwegian singer-composer, violinist, pianist and actor. Based in Oslo, Rybak extensively worked on television programs and on tours in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe throughout the early 2010s. Performing in English, Russian and Norwegian, Rybak held on to a teen idol status in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and to a certain extent in Western Asia in his early twenties. His debut 2009 album, Fairytales, charted in the top 20 in nine European countries, including a top position in Norway and Russia. After two pop albums in Fairytales and No Boundaries (2010), Rybak switched to become a family-oriented artist, focusing on children's and classical music and frequently performing with youth orchestras throughout the world. 

Rybak is known for his extensive involvement in the Eurovision Song Contest. Representing Norway in the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia, he won the competition with 387 points—the highest tally any country has achieved in the history of Eurovision under the then-voting system—with "Fairytale", a song he wrote and composed. Winning at the age of 23, Rybak remains the youngest solo male winner of the contest and the only Belarusian-born winner to date. Since then, Rybak has been involved several times in the contest. He represented Norway again in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal, with the song "That's How You Write a Song", winning the second semi-final and finishing in 15th place in the final. He performed for Eurovision also in 2010, 2012 and 2016. 

A son of a classical violinist Igor Rybak and a pianist, Irina, Rybak received a Bachelor’s degree in violin performance in 2012 from the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, Norway.  He then studied film music at Columbia College in Chicago and graduated with an MFA in 2022; his new focus is film music. He does not neglect his violinist's roots: in 2022, he performed in Sweden and Norway on a 62-concert tour.

Rybak in 2016.

PHOTOS FROM THE EVENTS

Alexander Rybak, Maja Trochimczyk, Katarzyna Winnicka, Beata Czajkowska

Alexander Rybak

K. Winnicka, Jadwiga Inglis, Beata Czajkowska

Presenting the diploma and flowers for the lecturer at Bolton Hall Museum

Polish Alma Mater lecture, with Kasia Smiechowicz, Henryka Lazarz, and Sister Bozena

TRochimczyk, Jennifer Audette, Winnicka

Pola Negri monument

At the Cross of El Pueblo de la Reyna de Los Angeles

2022 Modjeska Prizes Presented to Katarzyna Smiechowicz and Marek Probosz, 19 February 2023

Presentation of Modjeska Prize in 2021 by Maja Trochimczyk and Marek Probosz

Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club proudly presents the 2022 Modjeska Prizes, named after the patron of the Club, actress Helena Modjeska (1840-1909), to two of its own, a Club member and Vice President, eminent actress Katarzyna Smiechowicz, and a great friend of the Club and frequent performer at its event, distinguished actor Marek Probosz. The award presentation will take during a dinner reception at the elegant and artistic residence of fiber-artist Monique Chmielewski Lehman and her husband retired NASA manager and Naval Officer, David Lehman in Pasadena.  The event is scheduled for the afternoon on Sunday, February 19, 2023, at 4 p.m. with the presentation at 5pm and dinner at 6 p.m. We had to reschedule the event due to the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of our most faithful members scheduled for February 18, our original date. The event, held in a private residence is open to Club members, their guests, and VIP honorees' guests. 

Anna Sadowska and Maja Trochimczyk present Modjeska Prize to Jan Englert

ABOUT THE MODJESKA PRIZES

In 2010, to honor its patron and recognize acting talent of Polish actors, the Modjeska Club created the Helena Modjeska Prize for the Most Eminent Polish Actor. The prize was first presented to Jan Nowicki in 2010, then to Anna Dymna in 2011, and to Barbara Krafftowna in 2012. The prize was discontinued in the years 2013-2017 ; the 2018 prize was presented to Jadwiga Baranska, in 2019 the honorees were two emigre actress of the Polish Theater in Toronto, Maria Nowotarska and Agata Pilitowska, in 2020 the award was presented virtually to Andrzej Seweryn and in 2021, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Modjeska Club, the awards were presented in person to Californian actress Beata Pozniak and virtually to Director of Warsaw's National Theater, a legend of Polish film and tv, Jan Englert.  In September 2022, Jan Englert came to California to personally receive the 2021 award, and perform "Kwiaty Polskie" in Beverly Hills and Vista, San Diego County with his wife, talented and beautiful actress Beata Scibakowna. 

KATARZYNA SMIECHOWICZ

KATARZYNA A. SMIECHOWICZ sometimes acting as Kasia A. Leconte is a Polish actress who has been working in Poland and the USA. Katarzyna started her artistic career as a teenager studying acting with many excellent teachers. Initially, she was involved in ballet and theater; over time film and television have become the closest to her heart. Her passion for ballet and poetry turned to acting when a respected Polish actor, Wirgiliusz Gryn, discovered her acting talent and convinced her to pursue acting as a profession. 

Residing in Los Angeles since 2000, she studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and at the Margie Haber Studio. Throughout her career, she has appeared in over 30 feature films and television series having worked with such directors as Steven Spielberg, Krzysztof Krauze, Jacek Bromski, Tomasz Konecki, Andrzej Saramonowicz, and Olaf Lubaszenko.  

Selected film roles include: 

• 2020 -“BEZ SKRUPULOW”, dir. Jacek Bromski, TV series (Wanda)

• 2019- “SOLID GOLD”, dir. Jacek Bromski, Film (Wanda Szulc)

• 2018- “DR. SUGAR”, dir. Paul Saleba - Film (k.m.) (Boo Boo)

• 2015 - “ANATOMIA ZŁA”, dir. Jacek Bromski, Film 

• 2015 - “BILET NA KSIĘŻYC”, dir. Jacek Bromski, Film (Donata KRUGER)

• 2012 - “PARADOKS”, dir. Borys Lankosz, TV series

• 2011 - “WYGRANY”, dir. Wieslaw Saniewski, Film

• 2009 - “U PANA BOGA ZA MIEDZĄ” dir. Jacek Bromski, Film (Ludmiła Niedbałko)

• 2009 - “U PANA BOGA W OGRODKU", dir. Jacek Bromski, Serial TV (Ludmiła Niedbałko

• 2007 - “TESTOSTERON” dir. Tomasz Konecki & Andrzej Saramonowicz Film (Barbie)

• 2003 - “SZPITAL NA PERYPETIACH”, dir. Krzysztof Jaroszynski Serial TV (Monika)

• 2001 - “WIELKIE RZECZY”, dir. Krzysztof Krauze - GRA (odc.2), Serial TV 

• 2000 -“ CHŁOPAKI NIE PŁACZĄ”, dir. Olaf Lubaszenko, Film 

• 2000 -“ BARDZO OSTRY DYŻUR”, dir. Wojciech Mann & Krzysztof Materna, Sitcom TV 

• 1989 - “MDM”, dir. Wojciech Mann & Krzysztof Materna Program TV 

• 1998 - “TALK SHOW JERZEGO K”, dir. Jerzy Kryszak., Program TV

• 1997 - “CIEMNA STRONA WENUS”, dir. Radoslaw Piwowarski, Film 

• 1996 -“ EKSTRADYCJA 2”, dir. Wojciech Wojcik, Serial TV 

• 1996 - “GRY ULICZNE”, dir. Krzysztof Krauze, Film 

• 1996 - “PRZECIĄG” dir. Maciej Zak & Jacek Kecik, Program TV 

• 1995 - “DZIEJE MISTRZA TWARDOWSKIEGO”, dir. Krzysztof Gradowski, Film 

Beyond film and television, she has portrayed many great parts on stage, including Katharina in Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", and Roza in Juliusz Slowacki's "Lilla Weneda." Kasia's U.S. theater debut was in the leading role of Carrie in "Cafe Hollywood."

In addition to acting in many critically acclaimed roles, Smiechowicz has written scripts and worked as a voice-over actor. She is the President of the Film and Television Studio Kasia Films, through which she aims to create international productions. She is also known for her charity work for the sick and those in need. Katarzyna constantly supports and promotes Polish culture in the USA. With a home on both continents, but a husband in the U.S., she spends most of the time in Los Angeles, but works both in Europe and the States. Her husband Dominik J. Leconte is an executive at Sony Pictures. On July 3rd 2010 Kasia and Dominik welcomed their identical twin boys, Antoni and Fabian at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The multi-talented 12-year-old sons are gaining recognition as child actors and models.

Smiechowicz with Dominik LeConte and their sons, Adrian and Fabian

Ms. Smiechowicz became a member of the Modjeska Club in 2018, and was elected its Vice President in June 2022. She has appeared in many programs as a interviewer or being interviewed about her career highlights and artistic interests.

LINKS TO SELECTED FILMS 

• Bilet na księżyc: https://m.imdb.cLINKom/video/vi2355673625?playlistId=nm0993314&ref_=m_nm_ov_vi
• U Pana Boga za Miedzą:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8rXgD6NUn60
• Idealny Facet dla mojej Dziewczyny: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DkyUkAfdul8
• Szwedzi w Warszawie: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TQD4GZx_gVY
• Przeciąg: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CVQMjZ9YJd8

MAREK PROBOSZ

Marek Probosz, a Polish-American actor, director, screenwriter, author, and producer, has about 60 film roles to his credit. Many of these films have won awards at prestigious film festivals, such as, Cannes, Berlin, San Sebastian, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, Los Angeles, and Houston. Probosz emigrated to the U.S. at the peak of his career in Europe, invited by The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles in 1987, as the “Idol of his generation.” His film and television career spans roles in Polish, Czech, German, French, Italian, and American productions and co-productions. He has guest starred on the popular CBS TV series “Scorpion”; ABC’s “Scandal”; CBS’s “Numbers”; NBC’s “JAG” and USA’s “MONK”. Probosz had excellent reviews in The New York Times, Hollywood Reporter i Variety for his portrait of Roman Polanski, a world cinema legend, in the film “Helter Skelter”  by Warner Bros. TV 2004. The film “Once Upon A Time in November” directed by Andrzej Jakimowski, in which Probosz played a doctor of law, opened the International Film Festival in Warsaw. It received the main award at the International Film Festival in Taormina, Sicily in 2018.

In 2006, he starred in an unforgettable role as the Polish World War II hero and legendary volunteer to Auschwitz, Witold Pilecki, in the film “The Death of Captain Pilecki”, directed by Ryszard Bugajski. The film won the Special Jury REMI award at the 2007 WorldFest – Houston International Film Festival. Probosz has toured the globe with the film, participating in many international film festivals, screenings, and discussions at niversities, museums and embassies around the world. In 2012, he recorded the critically acclaimed audiobook “The Auschwitz Volunteer. Beyond Bravery” for audible.com, which is a collection of Pilecki’s reports from Auschwitz. The project received the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Silver Award in 2013 and the Best Prose Award in 2012. In 2018, Probosz directed the monodrama “Volunteer to Auschwitz: Captain Pilecki”, in which he once again transformed into one of the greatest war heroes of the 20th century. This spectacle, which he performed multiple times on Broadway for a sold out audience, won the Best Documentary Show Award 2018 at United Solo NYC Festival (best of 130 shows). 

In 2022, Probosz was honored by a prize for the Best New York Premiere at the United Solo NYC Festival for his performance in a play by Kazimierz Braun "Norwid's Return" (Powrot Norwida) based on poetry and life of a great Romantic poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid. The world premiere of this play was staged with music by Anna von Urbans and first presented in Poland at the Pola Negri Film Festival in Lipno. At the same festival Probosz received a lifetime achievement award POLITKA 2022 andhis name was inscribed on the Pola Negri Avenue of Stars. In 2008, Probosz played Odysseus in a classic play by Sophocles, "Philoktetes" playing along Henry Goodman at the Getty Villa Theater in Malibu. Another main role in a theater play was in "The Tower of Babel" at the Mark Taper Forum Theater in Los Angeles in 1990.  He directed and performed in his contemporary adaptation of the classic "Salome" by Oscar Wilde, this performance received an Award from Chech Critis as the best theater performance of 1986. 

 

Some of the acclaimed films which Probosz is most known for include: “End of the Lonely Farm Berghof” (Main Award at Karlovy Vary 1984); “The Shadow of the Ferns” (San Sebastian International Film Festival 1985); “Ferdydurke” (Venice Film Festival 1991); “Horizontal 8” (Main Award for Independent Film Venice Film Festival 1991); “Reverse” (Golden Lion Award Gdynia Film Festival 2009); “Janosik: The True Story” (Gdynia Film Festival 2009); “Boxer” (Golden Eagle Award at Los Angeles Film Festival 2011); “Closed Circuit” (People’s Choice Award Toronto 2013, Humanitarian Society Award Chicago 2013); “I Love Cinema” (KMTF Award Turin 1988); “Our God’s Brother” (Nominee at the Japanese Grand Prix Festival in Tokyo 1997, MFF Award Teheran 1999); “Players” (Gdynia Film Festival 1995); “Time of Maturation” (Special Jury Award San Sebastian 1984); “No More Dreaming” (Bronze Lions Gdansk Film Fetival 1982); “Moth” (Silver Medal MFF Figuiera de Foz 1980, Moscow Film Festival prize in 1981). 

In the world of documentary films, Probosz has directed the feature-length “Jan Kott: Still Alive”, about the world famous Shakespeare specialist, Jan Kott. His short film “Rebel”, a psychological drama delving into the problem of suicide among American youth, was a precursor to his U.S. feature debut, “Y.M.I.”, which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in (People’s Choice ABBOT Award, Los Angeles – 2004). Probosz is an Adjunct Professor at University of California, Los Angeles – UCLA, where he has taught theater and film acting since 2005. He taught at Emerson College in Los Angeles from 2000-2005, at Edgemar Center For The Arts in Santa Monica from 2008-2011, and at the Theater Academy of A. Zelwerowicz in Warsaw in 2016. As an acting expert, he has also been invited to teach film acting at the prestigious Williams College in Massachusetts in 2021. 

The actor, director, and professor is also a writer, an author of two books: Eldorado (Pub. Stentor, 2009) and Call Me When They Kill You (Latarnik, 2011). His publications include 11 original and adapted feature-length screenplays, such as “AUM, or the Torturing of Actors,” “Y.M.I.” (People’s Choice Award at The Other Venice Film Festival, Los Angeles 2004), or “Cruel Story.” He is the author of two theater play "AUM, or torturing of actors" and "Auschwitz No. 432" as well as six screenplays for short films, and dozens of essays, book chapters, and articles. Since 2018, Probosz is a regular contributor to literary artistic quarterly, Afront.  Frequently invited to serve on festival juries and give Master Classes worldwide, Probosz received his Master’s Degree in Fine Arts and Acting in 1984 from the Polish National Higher School of Film and Theater of L. Schiller, Łódź. He also earned a MFA degree in Directing from The American Film Institute – AFI, Los Angeles, in 1993. In 2018 he received the "Oscar" of Polish Diaspora -the "Golden Owl" for lifetime achievement in the category of film, presented in Vienna, Austria.  In 2011 he received the medal Mortui Sunt ut Liberti Vivamus in London, and gold medal Witold Pilecki - Faithful to the End in Oświęcim.

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE EVENT

Maja Trochimczyk, Kasia Smiechowicz, Marek Probosz, Anna Sadowska, Beata Czajkowska

Beata Czajkowska, Smiechowicz, Probosz, Trochimczyk Anna Sadowska

 

 

Smiechowicz & Lehman

Slawek Brzezinski, Trochimczyk

Smiechowicz, Probosz and Inglis