PWA: Polskie Wydawnictwo Audiowizualne

[Morgan Creek]

What is the consensus view on best way for Americans to buy these? Merlin as well?

I've ordered reliably from Merlin several times. Google Translate will get you through any language issues, and as has been noted here often, Merlin's packaging will survive nearly anything.

[MichaelB]

Merlin's my regular supplier too - the packaging being a major reason, but the fact that they've never let me down yet is another good one! Also, once you've done it once, subsequent orders are very straightforward, and they even provide an English walkthrough of the procedure.

[Adam]

Thanks. I need to start getting their animation & doc sets.

[MichaelB]

I'm very happy to endorse Zedz' recommendation for the Experimental Animation set - as he rightly says, the definition of "animation" is so wide (seemingly encompassing any kind of post-production manipulation) that it doubles as a very effective survey of 50 years of the Polish avant-garde.

Really startlingly good transfers, too - some of the source prints are a bit ropey (when dealing with celluloid that's been physically painted on, scratched on or otherwise directly handled by the filmmakers, there's an upper quality limit), but the average standard is very very high indeed. My only tiny quibble is that widescreen material hasn't been anamorphically enhanced (this is true of the other animation set), but this only affects a tiny minority of the titles.

Subtitles seem fine, but are barely necessary in most cases - it's also worth noting that the discs are 100% bilingual: you select 'English' when loading up, and you'll get a complete set of English menus. (I dipped into the Polish and confirmed that that option automatically generates Polish subtitles on, say, the Themersons' English-language The Eye and the Ear).

And anyone ordering from the US will be delighted to hear that each PWA set costs roughly twelve dollars - obviously, postage is extra, but I generally make bulk orders every three or four months to keep that as low as possible.

[Arn777]

I have followed the praises here for PWA and ordered the Drygas, Karabasz and Wiszniewski sets from Merlin over the weekend (took me an hour or so to figure it all out, but they very safely arrived this morning in that very sturdy packaging). I will probably check the 'animated' next. Any other good ones to consider for my next order?

[MichaelB]

I have followed the praises here for PWA and ordered the Drygas, Karabasz and Wiszniewski sets from Merlin over the weekend (took me an hour or so to figure it all out, but they very safely arrived this morning in that very sturdy packaging). I will probably check the 'animated' next. Any other good ones to consider for my next order?

To be honest, I've yet to see a disappointing PWA release, and I own virtually everything they've put out - the quadruple-DVD Pawel Szymanski concert is the only exception that I'm aware of, and given the quality of their other music DVDs (the Kronos Quartet's Polish Quartets and the Szymanowski King Roger) I might well take the plunge with my next order.

So it really depends on what you're into. Here's a very brief precis:

Polish School of the Documentary

Andrzej Munk - the oldest films in the series, dating right back to the early 1950s Socialist Realist era. Probably more worthwhile for those already interested in Munk's career, though it sheds lots of fascinating light on the kind of compromises that talented directors had to make in the first half of that decade.

The Black Series - the series' only themed collection, but I hope it's the first of many. This primarily chronicles the mid-1950s explosion of hard-hitting, socially-concerned documentaries that came about as the result of a relaxation of censorship, but the DVD also offers some valuable contextual material.

Kazimierz Karabasz - one of the giants of the Polish documentary movement, and a huge direct influence on his students Krzysztof Kieslowski and Marcel Lozinski. His The Musicians (included here) is frequently cited as the most important of all Polish documentaries, though it's just one of several subtle, poetic and allusive treatments of people usually ignored by cinema.

Krystyna Gryczełowska/Irina Kamieńska/Danuta Halladin - triple-disc set devoted to important female documentary-makers. I've only dipped into this one thus far, but the early titles are clearly school of Karabasz.

Krzysztof Kieślowski - should need no introduction, except to say that his documentaries are just as worthwhile as his features. Surprisingly, there's very little overlap between the contents of this set and the documentaries that turn up as extras on DVDs of his features.

Wojciech Wiszniewski - a complete one-off: an absolutely essential purchase for the more adventurous (see Zedz' breathless eulogy above)

Marcel Łoziński - an almost exact contemporary of Kieslowski who very much shares his poetic/humanist concerns, the crucial difference being that he didn't abandon non-fiction with the onset of martial law, and many of his best films were made afterwards (Anything Can Happen in particular is a masterpiece).

Maciej J. Drygas - the only set exclusively covering post-1989 work, these four documentaries are all essential, not least for their inspired deconstruction and reinterpretation of Communist-era footage, whether exploring the life of a would-be martyr (Hear My Cry) or matching banal images of life in the early 1960s with transcripts of what was going on behind the scenes (secret police reports, etc.) in A Day in People's Poland.

Marek Piwowski, Jacek Bławut and Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz - haven't seen these yet: now that I've got Piwowski's seminal The Cruise (just reissued in Poland with English subtitles for the first time) I'm planning a Piwowski blowout in the next fortnight or so.

Animation

The Anthology of Polish Animation and Anthology of Polish Experimental Animation are both utterly unmissable: superbly-programmed surveys of, respectively, Polish animation and the Polish avant-garde in general (thanks to a gratifyingly loose definition of the term "animation"). I haven't yet watched the Anthology of Polish Children's Animation, but I'd expect similar standards. Prices are insanely low for what you get (this applies to PWA's releases as a whole, but especially these ones).

Music

Kronos Quartet: Polish Quartets is a magnificent release - four very different string quartets (by Witold Lutosławski, Pawel Mykietyn, Krzysztof Penderecki and Henryk Górecki) that span a bewilderingly wide range of styles and techniques from the wildly experimental (the Penderecki features almost every sound that it's possible to produce from a stringed instrument) to the hauntingly lyrical (the Górecki). Essentially a live concert recording, technical standards are fine - though I'd have liked an option to fill the screen with the horizontally-scrolling Penderecki score that forms the background to that particular performance.

King Roger - a recording of a live stage production of Karol Szymanowski's only opera: I've only watched the opening choral scene, but will certainly be returning to it when I have sufficient time to pay it the attention it clearly deserves.

[ryan11]

I've been following this thread for a while, and decided to take jump in and buy the following ten sets. I was originally interested in the Kieslowski set, but the glowing reviews and nice editions prompted my to explore a little deeper. Ten sets delivered to Australia for app: AU$215 using Merlin. Descriptions of their packaging give me confidence the order will arrive safely. Really looking forward to dipping into the sets.

1. 5908259554051 - Anthology of Polish animation, 1 piece, 36zł
2. 5908259554105 - Anthology of Polish animation for children, 1 piece, 36zł
3. 5908259554181 - Anthology of Polish experimental animation, 1 piece, 36zł
4. 5908259554099 - Black series, 1 piece, 35.5 zł
5. 5908259554013 - Kazimierz Karabasz, 1 piece, 35.5 zł
6. 5908259554006 - Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1 piece, 35.5 zł
7. 5908259554020 - Maciej J. Drygas, 1 piece, 35.5 zł
8. 5908259554044 - Marcel Lozinski, 1 piece, 35.5 zł
9. 5908259554082 - Marek Piwowski, 1 piece, 35.5 zł
10. 5908259554075 - Wojciech Wiszniewski, 1 piece, 35.5 zł

[MichaelB]

That's good news - your post suggests that the original Anthology of Polish Animation is back in circulation!

[posto]

That's good news - your post suggests that the original Anthology of Polish Animation is back in circulation!

I called PWA last Friday (after not receiving any response to my e-mail) and asked about status of Animation Anthology.
They were very surprised I even asked, since it is readily available on many polish websites.
If you check status on Merlin it says ships within 24 hours. Maybe demand spiked before Christmas and retailers run out of stock, but apparently it was false alarm - Polish Animation Anthology is not out of print.

[ryan11]

That's good news - your post suggests that the original Anthology of Polish Animation is back in circulation!

I've just had a comfirmation email that all but one title is ready for shipment. The Experimantal Polish Animation set is on back-order, but I'm happy to say the original Polish Animation set has been supplied. I was happy to back-order this title, as there will only be the original shipping cost for the individual title, so it won't cost me any more to back-order. Good to know future orders.

Also, I came across this Polish dvd site which gives detailed info about titles. I'm including the Google-translated English link for one of the 50 YEARS OF POLISH Film School sets.

http://209.85.175.102/translate_c?hl=en ... FabI3E6PFw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also, this site is listing the third 50 Years set. I can't find it on any Polish site at present. (Prices aren't too bad, considering)

http://pffamerica.com/store.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[skuhn8]

Hate to be a nuisance but I made my first merlin order last week and today received this email. Does anyone have any idea of what the gist is? Are they telling me there's a problem or that it's on the way....or that I have great taste in film?

Ponownie witamy ze sklepu internetowego Merlin.pl!

Przepraszamy za opóźnienie w realizacji zamówienia nr 4609841.

Niestety nie będziemy mogli zrealizować go w deklarowanym wcześniej terminie.
Opóźnienie w realizacji może potrwać około tygodnia.

W związku z tym, czekamy na decyzję, dotyczącą dalszych losów zamówienia.
Prosimy dokonać wyboru i kliknąć w odpowiedni link poniżej.
Odpowiedź zostanie automatycznie zarejestrowana w naszym systemie.
Wyboru można dokonać tylko raz.
Zapraszamy do śledzenia dalszego toku realizacji zamówienia poprzez strony "Historia zamówień"

1. poczekać z realizacją zamówienia do czasu wyjaśnienia dostępności brakującego towaru
- decyzja ta wiąże się z wydłużeniem czasu realizacji zamówienia o około tydzień
- w tym czasie przeszukamy inne źródła dostaw poza naszymi bezpośrednimi kontrahentami. Jeśli towar okaże się niedostępny w sprzedaży zostanie wycofany z oferty, o czym poinformujemy osobnym mailem.
2. wysłać towar już przygotowany, a pozostałe usunąć z zamówienia
3. podzielić zamówienie
- towar już przygotowany do zamówienia zostanie wysłany w najbliższej wysyłce
- brakujący towar zostanie przeniesiony do osobnego zamówienia (koszt dostawy zostanie wyliczony bez ceny podstawowej za przesyłkę, będzie wyłącznie zawierał koszt za każdą sztukę w przesyłce) o którym poinformujemy osobnym emailem. Jeśli towar okaże się w ciągu tygodnia niedostępny w sprzedaży zostanie wycofany z oferty, o czym poinformujemy osobnym emailem.
4. rezygnuję z całego zamówienia

Na decyzję będziemy czekali 7 dni, jeżeli przed upływem tego terminu zamówienie zostanie uzupełnione o brakujący towar, paczkę skierujemy do wysyłki.
W przypadku braku odpowiedzi na e-mail oraz niemożności zrealizowania pełnego zamówienia w ciągu tygodnia, zostanie ono anulowane.
Jeśli z jakiegoś powodu nie możesz dokonać wyboru automatycznie prosimy odesłać e-mail z decyzją pod adres [email protected]

[MichaelB]

My Polish friend Kamila says:

Ok there is a delay of about a week in his order

Therefore they are asking him to decide what he wants to do (there should be a link under each option, which I cannot see in this email).

So, option 1: wait with completing the whole order until it becomes clear why one of the items is unavailable, therefore delaying the package to arrive at a originally promised time (that is a week of delay they are talking about)

Option 2: to send what they have prepared already without the missing item and the missing item will be sent with your next order or will be send separately at no cost

Option 3 (well, in their case 4 here): I want to cancel my whole order

They will wait for his decision 7 days and if in the meantime they will get the missing item, they will send the parcel.

Does that help?

[skuhn8]

Hi Michael, thanks to you and Kamila.
The lines after the numbers are all links...and all lead to the same page where I can click on history, login and see my order info page (which still reflects something about the 28th).
I don't see anywhere to make a decision. Certainly if there's no extra charge I'd like them to ship whenever they're ready with each item separately...

Trying to keep my nuisance factor down here: if I take no action will they just send my gear when they can? This is what I get for ordering hot-button animation sets.

[EDIT] I'm actually on their live chat with 'Marta' (does she really look like the girl in the chat pic? wowza!). No English but trying to help. I copied/pasted options 2 and 3 into window...and she said instruction accepted (which one?).

[der_Artur]

the last line sais:

"If you can not click on one of the 4 options, you can send your decission to [email protected]."

In your case you should choose:

"3. podzielić zamówienie
- towar już przygotowany do zamówienia zostanie wysłany w najbliższej wysyłce
- brakujący towar zostanie przeniesiony do osobnego zamówienia (koszt dostawy zostanie wyliczony bez ceny podstawowej za przesyłkę, będzie wyłącznie zawierał koszt za każdą sztukę w przesyłce) o którym poinformujemy osobnym emailem. Jeśli towar okaże się w ciągu tygodnia niedostępny w sprzedaży zostanie wycofany z oferty, o czym poinformujemy osobnym emailem."

(3. split the shipment
- all available products will be sent asap
- the yet unavailable product will be shiped in a new shipment (the shiping-costs for that second shipment will be seperated from the shiping costs of the first shipment). If the product is then still unavailable we will cancel it and inform you about that in a new email.)

[skuhn8]

Thanks folks. Friendly support here on the forum and there with chat. Fingers crossed. I'd suggest deleted these posts except this may come up with others as well.

[arsonfilms]

For those of you who in the US who have ordered PWA discs from Merlin and received your shipment, about how long did it take and how big was the package that was sent? My local post office doesn't always successfully deliver odd sized packages (odd sized being anything that they think will fit in my mailbox but doesn't), and I just want to get a sense of what I'm working with before I unjustly bother the mail carriers.

[MichaelB]

Definitely don't delete - this stuff's really useful.

If I ever get round to it, I might well write up a guide to ordering from Merlin that's a bit more comprehensive than their own one. It seems to be the online Polish retailer of choice round these parts, and for good reason - that packaging alone is enough to guarantee loyalty from me until they seriously screw up.

For those of you who in the US who have ordered PWA discs from Merlin and received your shipment, about how long did it take and how big was the package that was sent? My local post office doesn't always successfully deliver odd sized packages (odd sized being anything that they think will fit in my mailbox but doesn't), and I just want to get a sense of what I'm working with before I unjustly bother the mail carriers.

I'm based in the UK, but in my experience deliveries are impressively fast if everything's in stock (my last order was placed on Sunday and arrived on Thursday - it was via UPS so I can't believe the US delivery would take that much longer).

I'm probably not best placed to answer your packaging question as I generally order in bulk (7-10 items a time) to keep postage down. So the packages I get probably wouldn't fit in a standard mailbox - but given the content they're not overly large. What they do is wrap the items themselves in cardboard, seal that up with tons of tape, then stick that in another tight-fitting box, and seal that up with yet more tape (this is why it takes ages to open anything from them!). But in terms of wasted space, they seem a lot more efficient than Amazon.

[arsonfilms]

Thanks MichaelB, thats very helpful. My order shipped about three weeks ago and within that time I ordered and received another shipment from the UK so I was a bit worried. It sounds as though my 3 dvd order would probably fit into my mailbox with little effort, at which point I just need to keep waiting.

Does anyone in the US have a sense of how long shipping takes between Poland and the US?

[skuhn8]

Thanks MichaelB, thats very helpful. My order shipped about three weeks ago and within that time I ordered and received another shipment from the UK so I was a bit worried. It sounds as though my 3 dvd order would probably fit into my mailbox with little effort, at which point I just need to keep waiting.

Does anyone in the US have a sense of how long shipping takes between Poland and the US?

I understand that shipping is usually rated at 7-10 business days between Central Europe and the US....but then there are those region-specific anomalies.

[Dr Amicus]

What they do is wrap the items themselves in cardboard, seal that up with tons of tape, then stick that in another tight-fitting box, and seal that up with yet more tape (this is why it takes ages to open anything from them!).

My mother-in-law must have trained them - seriously, you have never seen so much sellotape when she sends parcels to the UK.

[RodneyOz]

Enormously useful page of this thread, after the rest of it had convinced me that I wanted, nay needed, to get as many items from this company I had never heard of a month or so ago. Between ryan11 (who like me lives in Australia so I now have an idea of costs - quite reasonable), the translation of the options, and the description of the packaging method, I feel I know exactly what I will (now happily) be getting myself into. Polish animation here I come.

[Morgan Creek]

My Merlin shipments have usually taken from two to three weeks, to NYC.

[arsonfilms]

My Merlin shipments have usually taken from two to three weeks, to NYC.

Perfect! Thanks a lot for that. It still isn't quite three weeks for me yet, so that sounds like I'm right on schedule to get it soon. This is sort of a test run for me, and as long as my post office doesn't lose it, I'll start going at the PWA stuff pretty regularly from here on out.

[Galen Young]

Does anyone in the US have a sense of how long shipping takes between Poland and the US?

I've been ordering from Merlin for awhile now and my experience has been two-three weeks max for delivery to Seattle. As MichaelB said, since they triple wrap in cardboard I've have never once had a damaged disc or digipak.

My last order was for three films mentioned in the Polish Cinema thread - Rejs, Mís and Seksmisja - I thoroughly enjoyed each one. (it's too bad the extras aren't subtitled, but it's hard to complain given the quality of transfers, packaging and price.) (and yes, the disc Sex Mission looks far better than the Facets release.)

Have blind bought every PWA set to date - and have yet to be disappointed!

[ryan11]

I have attached the merlin link for the third 50 Years of Polish Film School set. It can be pre-ordered, with a February 19 release date.

Empik have it listed at Zl 116, but Merlin is cheaper after postage (to Australia at least)

50-lecie Polskiej Szkoły Filmowej 3 (5 DVD): [Google translation]