The long, strange trips of Wojciech Jerzy Has

2025 is the centenary year of Wojciech Jerzy Has – one of Poland’s greatest filmmakers, but a figure often misunderstood or underestimated outside of the country. That’s set to change. In partnership with the BFI and ICA in London, this year’s Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, which kicked off last week, includes a full retrospective of Has’s remarkable career: from his surrealist masterpieces The Saragossa Manuscript and The Hourglass Sanatorium, to his never-before-screened shorts. Several Has films are among the titles that will be travelling the country as part of the Kinoteka On Tour programme, in partnership with Klassiki.

To set the scene for this retrospective, host Sam Goff speaks with its curator, Polish film expert Michael Brooke, about Has’s peculiar place in Polish film history, his unique approach to literary adaptations, and the dreamworlds he conjured onscreen.

You can find information about all the Has screenings at this year’s Kinoteka Film Festival, both in London and on tour throughout the UK, on the festival site. Klassiki subscribers can watch both The Hourglass Sanatorium and Has’s beautiful post-war romance Farewells on the site now, and read Daniel Bird’s piece for the Klassiki Journal on Has’s literary adaptations here.

Listen above or head to your favourite podcast app to subscribe now. The Klassiki Podcast is available on all major podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, Audible, and more.

Intro music by Juliet Merchant.