THE PIANIST

The Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman is playing live on Polish radio when the first bombs fall. In the course of 1939, life in Warsaw becomes increasingly tense. The occupying German forces are terrorizing the Jewish population with arbitrary violence and anti-semitic regulations. Szpilman is the only member of his family who manages to escape deportation to a concentration camp. Thanks to his piano playing and courageous helpers, he escapes almost certain death a number of times. Roman Polanski, himself a survivor of the Krakow ghetto, recounts a true tale of hope and humanity during the Nazi terror. Based on the memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman, THE PIANIST met with international acclaim and won prestigious awards.