THE EIGHTH DAY OF THE WEEK

The outcast masterpiece of the CCC catalogue: an act of understanding between nations that became an unparalleled political affair. A story of love in search of a roof over its head for a couple of undisturbed hours, cast with the coolest man on the Eurasian landmass (Zbigniew Cybulski) and a Black Forest girl as the one true goddess of depravity (Sonja Ziemann), it was rigorously rejected by both of the participating sides: edited by the West German film establishment as a “foreign piece”, left to rot on the shelf in the Polish People’s Republic for a quarter century, longer than any other feature. Aleksander Ford was no longer around to experience the Polish premiere – he had already taken his life by then.