After the rebellious young literary star Marek Hłasko was forced to leave the People's Republic of Poland as a "traitor to socialism," he went on to wander the world. In 1959, he ended up in Israel, where he explored both his own the fate and that of the young country through his writing. As in Poland, he was primarily interested in the dark side of society – the criminals, the drunks, the prostitutes.
Based on Hłasko's socially critical novel The Eighth Day of the Week, Portnoy constructs, 60 years on, a work of "true fiction". In a collage of texts by the author, documentary film footage, articles and photographs, he explores this brief episode in Hłasko's life, while also recounting the early challenges encountered by the young Jewish state.
From a vast mass of material, Portnoy crafts the story of Hłasko's arrival, survival, failure, and departure, almost as if Hłasko himself had written it, while simultaneously depicting the upheavals of the era.
Text: Rainer Mende
Following the screening on May 8th at Filmkunst66 there will be a Q&A with director Zvika Greogory Portnoy.**
