Screen Tests

A film about filmmaking, created by a group of young filmmakers with a cast blending newcomers and veterans alike. It opened the very first Göteborg Film Festival.

The Polish director Andrzej Wajda appears in the film to discuss the screen tests made by his novice colleagues. The film also offers glimpses into Polish society. The narrative is divided into three parts, each directed by one of the three co-directors. Excerpts from audition footage are shown and contrasted with the real lives of the hopeful actors.

The film first follows Anka, a girl from a working-class family, who graduates and experiences her first romance with a boy during the summer holidays. We then follow Pawel, who leaves an orphanage and joins an amateur theatre group, where he becomes involved with an older woman. In the final segment, Anka and Pawel meet again as they reach the final auditions for new acting students at the film school.

• From the 1979 programme