CAC Book Club: THE PIANIST - Book Club & Film Screening
Schedule
Mon, 29 Sep, 2025 at 07:30 pm
UTC-04:00Location
Cinema Arts Centre | Huntington, NY
CAC Book ClubTHE PIANIST
Screening and discussion on:
Monday, September 29th at 7:30 PM
$16 Public | $10 Members
Join us for the third event of our new CAC Book Club where we'll be examining exciting works of literature and their film counterparts. Read the book prior to the event then join us for a film screening and discussion to reflect on characters, storylines and the central themes that drive the story’s impact across the two mediums. Come share your ideas and viewpoint in this engaging conversation with our community.
The next program will take place on Monday, September 29th. Prior to the screening, we will read Wladyslaw Szpilman’s 1946 memoir The Pianist, and then watch Roman Polanski’s 3x Academy Award Winning film adaptation, followed by a discussion of both.
On September 23, 1939, Wladyslaw Szpilman played Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor live on the radio as shells exploded outside so loudly that he couldn't hear his piano. It was the last live music broadcast from Warsaw: That day, a German bomb hit the station, and Polish Radio went off the air. Though he lost his entire family, Szpilman survived in hiding. Written immediately after the war and suppressed by the Polish government for decades, The Pianist is a stunning testament to human endurance.
The true story of celebrated Jewish composer and concert pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), detailing his odyssey of survival in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust, the deportation of his entire family to concentration camps, and the German officer (Thomas Kretschmann) who saves his life. Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival & Academy Awards for Best Actor (Brody), Best Director (Polanski), & Best Adapted Screenplay. (USA, France, Poland, Germany, UK, 2002, 149 mins, R, English, German, Russian | Dir. Roman Polanski)
Copies of Wladyslaw Szpilman’s The Pianist are available, in person or online, from our friends at The Next Chapter in Huntington!
Our facilitator Lisa Fostvedt is a long-time resident of Huntington, New York and a former advertising and marketing professional in New York City. She is an avid reader and film fan who has participated in book clubs for over 20 years analyzing and debating great stories.
