EVENTS
EVENTS from Page 18
MUSIC
You’ll need a shot to rock at Z2 venues
In the depths of the ash
Criterion releases ‘Ashes and Diamonds,’ a potent reminder of the power of Polish cinema
by Michael J. Casey
DANA RAMSEY
Lollapalooza. Telluride Blues and Brews. Bonnaroo. Across the country, music festivals and entertainment venues are requiring patrons to show proof of full vaccination for COVID-19 or that they have tested negative for the disease within the last two to three days. Z2 Entertainment, which owns the Fox and Boulder theaters in Boulder and the Aggie in Fort Collins, has joined the growing collection of venues upping Delta variant that began sweeping the nation earlier this year. Starting Aug. 7, all attendees at all Z2 venues are required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test result within 72 hours, effective until further notice. We checked in with Cheryl Liguori, CEO of Z2, to clarify these policies and see how patrons have reacted to what, for some, is a very controversial policy. Boulder Weekly: Will those who have purchased tickets to a show but come without proof of vaccination or negative test be given a refund? Cheryl Liguori: Yes, we have been giving refunds for those who will not have a card or test results. BW: What will happen to those who refuse to mask up inside the venues? CL: Our staff is required to mask up. While there is currently no mask mandate in place, we are highly encouraging our patrons to mask up while not enjoying a beverage or food. BW: Will a passport be accepted as a valid form of ID? CL: We will accept legitimate passport apps to show proof of vaccination. BW: How many folks are working across all three of these venues — Fox, Aggie and Boulder? Are 100% of these employees vaccinated? CL: We have close to 180 on payroll but only staff that is fully vaccinated will be scheduled to work at this time. BW: Has Z2 faced any pushback against this? If so, what has that looked like? CL: Yes, of course we have seen some pushback and some people are not happy about our decision and others are very happy about our decision who have reached out to say thank you. It is a very small ask of our patrons. I think people don’t realize that if our venues are required to return to 6-foot social-distancing indoors then we would likely need to cancel all shows until we can return to 100% capacity. The Fox was closed for 15 months because we couldn’t allow more than 36 people (inside the venue), and the Boulder Theater opened with 10% capacity under these restrictions. We had to move all our Chautauqua shows to late summer in order to get to 100% capacity. Going back to restrictions on indoor venues is not sustainable for our business. BW: How has Z2 responded to pushback? CL: We understand people’s desire to come to concerts but we are not making exceptions to our new policy. Touring artists are setting their own safety protocols for the venues they tour through. We all want to slow the spread for the health of our industry and our community. I would like to add that during these stressful times, we need people to be understanding, cooperative and kind. We are all doing the best we can to ensure a safe environment to enjoy live entertainment. Digital copies of vaccination cards may be obtained through: https://ciis.state. co.us/public/Application/PublicPortal or mycolorado.state.co.us.
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AUGUST 12, 2021
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wo men wait outside a church. They are armed and tasked with an assassination mission. The mark approaches, and the men leap into action, gunning their target down as he opens the doors to the chapel. Mission accomplished. The date: May 8, 1945. By nightfall, news of the Axis surrender will reach this rural area, and the two Polish assassins of the Home Army will be free of Nazi rule. Except that the man they just killed wasn’t a Nazi. He was a Communist. Furthermore, he was the wrong man. So opens Andrzej Wajda’s 1958 masterpiece, Ashes and Diamonds, considered by many to be one of the greatest Polish movies ever made. Top tier, no doubt. And a large part of the praise CRITERION goes to the theatricality Wajda employs throughout (Zbigniew Cybulski) opens outside the church, the bullet holes in the man’s Realistic? Absolutely not. But it’s catches your attention. To take one’s life is to take your own. And when Maciek heads to the ON THE BILL: hotel where he will spend the rest of the movie, you don’t have A new 4K digital restoration of Ashes to strain too hard to see the strata of heaven and hell joined via & Diamonds will be shabby staircases and boozy bars. available on Blu-ray In addition to his work behind the camera, Wajda was from The Criterion a renowned director of the stage, and it shows. He also Collection on Aug. studied painting and romantic Hollywood cinema. Both lend 24. themselves to the rich chiaroscuro compositions Wajda and cinematographer Jerzy Wójcik craft. But images are inert without performers, and Ashes and Diamonds has Cybulski. Looking like a young Warren Beatty, Cybulski wore his own clothes and dark glasses instant icon with Polish audiences, and his psychologically wracked and physically fraught performance is in league with Marlon Brando and James Dean. You believe every tortured word coming out of his mouth. The Dean comparison goes tragically further: On Jan. 8, 1967, Cybulski died while trying to jump aboard a speeding train. He slipped and fell under the wheels. He was 39. Coincidentally, Cybulski has a brief role in A Generation 1955, where he jumps aboard a speeding train. That movie is also set during World War II, as was his follow-up, Kanal. Ashes and Diamonds concludes this informal trilogy, imbuing the three with moral resonance. You’ve got to see all three, if for no other three years. Ashes and Diamonds takes its title from a poem by 19th-century Polish poet Cyprian Norwid: “Will only ashes remain, and chaos whirling into the void. Or will the ashes hold the glory of a starlike diamond, the Morning Star of everlasting triumph.” Maciek come across it inscribed on the wall of a bombed-out church. Maciek used to be a student. Now he’s a soldier. He would give anything to go back to being a student, but it’s not in the cards. Wajda and co-author Jerzy Andrzejewski would give anything for Poland to be its own sovereign nation, but in the late 1950s, they had about as much optimism as Maciek. As soon as the Nazis surrendered in 1945, the Communists took over, and things went downhill from there. Starlike diamonds may form in time, but it’s ashes in the chaos dragging us all toward the abyss until then.
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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE