Trailer of "Year 1863" from 1922
There is a number of reasons to consider the Puchalski's adaptation as very important for the history of Polish cinema. One of the most important is the fact that the director recorded real veterans of the Uprising – the grey-bearded, venerable old men seen in one of the scenes, participating in a church service. This makes the movie priceless as a historical footage.
Two copies of the "Year 1863 movie" have been preserved in the National Movie Archive's collection. Both were scanned by the NITROFILM project and their content was analysed. The incomplete copy presented up to this time turned out to be the 1932 version. The second copy, recorded on AGFA tape before 1924, is without doubt the original version of the movie (and almost complete one). The differences between the two versions are significant enough to consider them two variants of the same film work. The original material underwent digitalization and restoration process, including the missing fragments from the 1932 copy.
The Cracow's premiere will take place on Thursday, 18th April, at 17:00 in the Bobrzyński Room in the Jagiellonian University Museum (free entry, seats limited). Join the event!