CITY IN CINEMA. CINEMA IN THE CITY - a film journey through Warsaw and the history of cinema

About the event

We invite you to the meeting “Sfinks Without Riddles. The Film Empire of Aleksander Hertz.” Faustyna Toeplitz-Cieślak and Izabela Żukowska will present the colorful biography of Aleksander Hertz and tell the story of the stars and productions of the Sfinks film studio. DSH presents the series of meetings “CITY IN CINEMA. CINEMA IN THE CITY – a film journey through Warsaw and the history of cinema”, prepared according to the concept and led by Ula Urzędowska. At the beginning of 1909 Aleksander Hertz, a thirty-year-old banker, faced the need to change professions. He is bold, prone to risk, well-read. He knows how to calculate and counts on himself, and the film industry seemed a great field for future business. He founded the Sfinks Joint-Stock Company and opened a cinematograph at Marszałkowska Street 116, right under the nose of his future competitor Mordechaj “Mordka” Towbin. The gentlemen fought fierce battles, the spectacular culmination of which was the kidnapping of the French star Max Linder. The SFINKS film studio operated until the mid-1930s. It was here that the first films with Pola Negri were made — the film Sfinks had an eye for stars. “I admit, it was I who made stars of Pola Negri, Lya Mara and Jadwiga Smosarska,” Hertz boasted in a survey for the “Kalendarz Wiadomości Filmowych” and he was right. He wanted not only to promote stars but also words: he proposed to call the cinema screen a display or viewing-room. In 2026 we celebrate the 130th anniversary of the first cinematograph screenings on Polish lands. It is an excellent occasion to tell the history of cinema and to cast Warsaw in the leading role. The capital will be the stage for pioneers and inventors, owners of cinematographs, visionaries and entrepreneurs building the first film empires, as well as for film stars and Warsaw audiences. This is a film journey in which the movie projector becomes a time machine. On July 18, 1896, an itinerant entrepreneur, unknown to us today by name, showed moving photographs in Warsaw for the first time. Posters and announcements heralded the miracle of the 19th century and an extraordinary novelty: EDISON’S CINEMATOGRAPH – THE THEATRE OF LIVING PHOTOGRAPHS. The screening took place in the Hall of the Resursa Obywatelska at Krakowskie Przedmieście 64. Another screening of moving photographs took place in Kraków on November 14, and less than 10 days later the sensational invention of the present was seen for the first time by the residents of Poznań. Faustyna Toeplitz-Cieślak – a Warsaw native, graduate of the Faculty of Theatre Knowledge at the State Theatre School in Warsaw. In the 1990s she began working at Polish Radio, preparing cultural programs. She loves prewar cinema. Together with Izabela Żukowska she wrote and published two books: Sfinks – Visionaries and Scandalists of Cinema (Prószyński, 2016) and Hotel Bristol. On the Corner of History and Everyday Life (Arkady, 2018). The first of these received the Book of the Month award from the Literary Magazine Książki; the second was chosen as Book of the Year 2018 in the Varsaviana category. Izabela Żukowska – by education a musicologist, sociologist and Gedanist, by profession a music journalist. Her entire professional life has been associated with Polish Radio; since 2005 she has worked in the music editorial office of Program I of Polish Radio. She debuted with a crime trilogy about Inspector Franz Thiedtke (“Teufel”, “Gotenhafen”, “Nad miastem anioły”). She is the author of historical-social novels and radio plays for the Polish Radio Theatre. Together with Faustyna Toeplitz-Cieślak she prepared popular-science publications devoted to the history of Warsaw. Ula Urzędowska – journalist, reporter, radio presenter and screenwriter. For more than a decade she has collaborated with RMF Classic, where she hosts programs about music and culture. She also conducts meetings with creators of music and film as well as festival concerts. CITY IN CINEMA. CINEMA IN THE CITY – save the dates: - 19.02.2026, 18:00 – Cinema. Let's Rewind to the Beginning. Socio-cultural contexts of the birth of film | Małgorzata Hendrykowska - 26.03.2026, 18:00 – Cinema. First Takes. Pioneers, visionaries and inventors | Andrzej Bukowiecki - 23.04.2026, 18:00 – “Rozkosz”, “Czary” and “Colosseum”. Panorama of Warsaw illusion shows | Katarzyna Czajka-Kominiarczuk - 21.05.2026, 18:00 – Sfinks Without Riddles. The Film Empire of Aleksander Hertz | Faustyna Toeplitz-Cieślak, Izabela Żukowska - 18.06.2026, 18:00 – Pola Negri. The Birth of a Star | Katarzyna Wajda - 17.09.2026, 18:00 – Between Silence and the Negative. Accompaniment of silent cinema | Filip Presseisen - November 2026 – The Great Niemowa and His First Words – the sound revolution | Barbara Giza - November 2026 – Stars and Whistles. Who the capital’s audience loved and what the illusionist’s savoir-vivre looked like? | Michał Pieńkowski - December 2026 – Cinema from Large Panels. Gramofonowej | Jarosław Wojciechowski Media patrons: Legalna Kultura, Radio RMF Classic.