Knife in the Water
(Nóz W Wodzie)

After surviving the persecution of Jews during World War II, Roman Polanski attended the National Film School in Łódź during the 1950s. He started his career making short films but became an instant success with his first featurelength film Knife in the Water . Its unusual silence on the emotional scars from the war meant the film failed to win domestic acclaim. Nevertheless it was recognised at major international film awards, notably the Golden Lion and Oscars, and won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award at the 1962 Venice Film Festival. A middle-aged couple invites a young hitchhiker to join their boating trip. Tensions arise on the boat as the hitchhiker refuses to take orders from the husband and the two compete for the wife's attention. The mind games come to a head when the men fight over the hitchhiker's pocketknife and one falls overboard. The film's subdued ending provides a deep and witty insight into humanity. Polanski masterfully utilizes cramped spaces such as the car and boat, to create a thrilling explosion of repressed passions and emotions.

Date	Time	Venue
5/6/2016 (Sun) #	2:00pm	Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive
25/6/2016 (Sat)	3:30pm	UA iSQUARE

# Post-screening talk with Thomas Shin

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