Jill Godmilow to Receive Knight's Cross of the Republic of Poland

The President of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, announced that American independent filmmaker Jill Godmilow will receive the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland on April 25, 2015 during the premiere of her film, Far from Poland, at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland.

The award is being given in recognition of Godmilow's "artistic commitment to the cause of the 'Solidarity' movement and Polish culture." Godmilow will be decorated by Henryk Wujec, one of the most important and heroic activists of the Solidarity movement, and Advisor to the President of Poland.

Denied a visa to travel to Poland in 1984, Godmilow re-invented the documentary to deal with the suppression of the Solidarity movement during martial law imposed in Poland. Using snippets of documentary footage, Godmilow reenacts Solidarity texts, vignettes and dramatic moments to engage the audience in the Polish struggle. Four long interviews published in the Solidarity press - with Anna Walentynowicz, the fired crane operator for whom the strike started in the Gdansk shipyard, an ex-censor, K-62, now looking for a new job, a Polish miner, and General Jaruzelski - are the centerpieces of the film.

Referred to "as careful as Ophuls' The Sorrow and the Pity" (East Village Eye), "like the best of Godard, it is film criticism and social criticism at the same time" (Pat Aufderheide, In These Times), and a film which "boldly stretches the familiar resources of the documentary" (David Denby, New York Magazine), Far from Poland is today considered a landmark in the development of the documentary form.

Far from Poland, along with other films by Jill Godmilow, is published by and available from Facets at www.facets.org or by calling 1-800-331-6197.