Directed by Tadeusz Konwicki • 1958 • Poland

Tadeusz Konwicki’s austere but beautiful examination of life in the aftermath of tragedy is one of the most exacting early masterpieces of the Polish Film School. Made with a crew of just five, with no artificial lighting and no sets, the film unfolds among the windswept dunes and crashing waves of the Baltic coast, where a nameless man and woman (Jan Machulski and Irena Laskowska) play out a thwarted attempt at romance. Recalling the modernism of Beckett and the French and Japanese New Waves, The Last Day of Summer finds a new film language to capture the disorientation and grief of the post-war generation.

THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER • OSTATNI DZIEŃ LATA
Written and directed by Tadeusz Konwicki
Cinematography by Jan Laskowski
Edited by Wiesława Otocka
Music by Adam Pawlikowski
Starring: Irena Laskowska, Jan Machulski

In Polish with English subtitles

Winner of the Grand Prix for Short Films at the Venice International Film Festival 1958