Film screening followed by a Q&A with lead actor Marek Probosz.

Ryszard Bugajski, director. In Polish with English subtitles (85 min., 2006).

The story of the trial of Polish Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki in 1947-8. A military hero, Pilecki had voluntarily gone to Auschwitz in 1940 as part of a plan to liberate the camp. When these plans failed, he escaped from Auschwitz after nearly three years and rejoined the Home Army, where he fought in the Warsaw Uprising. After the war, he was ordered to continue his intelligence work, but was arrested by the Communist government, repeatedly tortured, and put on trial. He was sentenced to death. All mention of his life and activities were suppressed by the government until 1989.

Marek Probosz is an actor, director, and screenwriter. He graduated from the State Theatrical and Film College in Lodz, Poland, faculty of acting (1983), and the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, faculty of directing (1993). He played leading roles in Helter Skelter, portraying Roman Polanski, and recently in The Boxer, playing a boxing agent. He also appeared in Love Affair with Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, and Katharine Hepburn. Probosz has acted in two TV shows and over 40 movies, and teaches acting classes at UCLA.

Sponsors: Copernicus Program in Polish Studies, Frankel Center for Judaic Studies