Film in Polish

Refren - Feliks Konarski

• Date: Monday, October 28, 2024
• Time: 7 p.m. for 7:30 p.m.

Ognisko Polskie and Discovery Video present:

A film in Polish about the celebrated Polish poet, songwriter and cabaret performer Feliks Konarski (pseudonym Ref-Ren)

This documentary chronicles Feliks Konarski, a star of Polish theatre, before, during and after World War Two. The director of this documentary film, Bogdan Kowalski, will discuss Konarski’s career and life, in conversation with Ewa Stepan, before the screening.

Konarski was born in Kiev in 1907 and discovered his love of the theatre as a student at Warsaw University. Adopting the pseudonym Ref-Ren, he wrote songs, and satirical plays for theatre groups. In 1931, he married the actress Nina Oleńska and in 1934 they moved to Lwów (then part of the Second Polish Republic, now Lviv in Ukraine). There he established a theatre group, and wrote numerous poems as well as lyrics to popular songs. After Lwów was occupied by the Red Army, Konarski performed in a traveling orchestra touring the Soviet Union. When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union he enlisted in the Polish Armed Forces and served in Italy under General Władysław Anders.

On the eve of the Polish victory at Monte Cassino, Konarski wrote the emotive anthem, ‘Czerwone Maki na Monte Cassino’ (Red Poppies at Monte Cassino). At the time, the mountain terrain of Monte Cassino was covered with red poppies, which formed a dramatic backdrop to this brutal battle. After the War Konarski settled in Britain, where he wrote for, and performed at the Ognisko Polskie theatre, then moved to Chicago where he lived until his death in 1991.