Passenger (1963 film)

Passenger (Polish: Pasażerka) is an unfinished 1963 Polish film directed by Andrzej Munk, which Witold Lesiewicz assembled for release.

Contents

• Cast
• Awards
• References

Passenger, using the form of a documentary, relates the experiences of one female SS officer (Slaska) at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II and her relationship with an inmate, Marta (Ciepielewska), whose life she manages to save on occasion.

Munk died in a car accident while the film was in production and the completed scenes were combined from parts of original footage and screenplay sketches by Witold Lesiewicz. The methods used are explained in a voiceover during the course of the film, so its unfinished state itself takes a documentary form. Parts of the film were shot at Auschwitz. The source was a radio drama Passenger from Cabin Number 45, written by Zofia Posmysz-Piasecka in 1959. Posmysz's play was later reworked into a novel. It was published in 1962 as Pasażerka.

Cast

Aleksandra Śląska - Liza

Anna Ciepielewska - Marta

Janusz Bylczynski - Capo

Krystyna Dubielowna

Anna Golebiowska - Female Prisoner

Barbara Horawianka - Nurse

Anna Jaraczówna - Capo

Maria Koscialkowska - Guard Inga Weniger

Andrzej Krasicki - Commission Member

Jan Kreczmar - Walter

Irena Malkiewicz - Oberaufseherin Madel

Izabella Olszewska

Leon Pietraszkiewicz - Lagerkommandant Grabner

Kazimierz Rudzki - Commission Member

Wanda Swaryczewska

Awards

The film was entered into the 1964 Cannes Film Festival where it won a FIPRESCI Award. The film was also selected as the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 37th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.