Katyń in Spain and Germany

In Spain, the film will be screened in Madrid, Barcelona, Valladolid, Saragossa, Palma de Mallorca, Girona, Lérida, Valencia, Bilbao, Vitoria, San Sebastián, Pamplona, Santander, Seville, Cádiz, Granada and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Detailed information about the film (in Spanish) is available on the websites of the Spanish distributor Karma Films (www.karmafilm.es/Katyn) and the Polish Institute in Madrid (www.culturapolaca.es).

Katyń has also been released in Germany. It is screened in five cinemas in Berlin and seven others in other major cities. Distribution is handled by Pandastorm.

The film has received favourable reviews from German critics. “Bind-Zeitung” writes of the film’s significance: “Katyń is a film about crime and about hope for reconciliation”. “The Suddeutsche Zeitung” calls Katyń “Wajda’s most difficult film to date”. “Der Tagesspiegel” calls it “a film about a Polish trauma that has lasted for years”. “Der Spiegel” emphasizes the shocking finale: the execution of Polish prisoners, army officers and generals. “It is chilling” – admits journalist Ilse Henckel. She adds, however, that the episodic structure of the film can be fully understood only by those who are familiar with the historic facts.

The press has also emphasized that the film’s subject matter is of a personal nature for the director. Wajda’s own father was among the victims of the Soviet murders at Katyń.

At the premiere screening on September 16, Volker Schlöndorff said: “I consider Katyń to be a film of great importance. Poland and Germany have yet to reconcile. This may be a step in that direction”. Also present at the premiere were Polish ambassador to Germany Marek Prawda and Gesine Schwan, appointed by the German government as coordinator of relations with Poland.

Andrzej Wajda unfortunately was unable to take part in the premiere due to health reasons.

Translated by Karolina Kołtun