Ryszard Kapuściński

In 1975, Ryszard Kapuściński, a veteran Polish journalist, embarked on a seemingly suicidal road trip into the heart of the Angola's civil war. There, he witnessed once again the dirty reality of war and discovered a sense of helplessness previously unknown to him. Angola changed him forever: it was a reporter who left Poland, but it was a writer who returned…

Haile Gerima and Ryszard Kapuscinski travel around Ethiopia talking to people about their current situations and what needs to be done for a prosperous country.

A POET ON THE FRONTLINE will introduce audiences to the world of Ryszard Kapuscinski, the famous daredevil war correspondent and one of the world's most important contemporary literary figures. Known as "Indiana Jones with a notepad," Kapuscinski is a legend among his peers who has been looking for the truths of human experience in the most dangerous places. Filmmaker Gabrielle Pfeiffer traveled with Kapuscinski in four countries, capturing his true character, his passion, his humor and his demons. Her film interweaves Kapuscinski's childhood as a refugee in Poland during WWII, with his later experiences on the battlefields of the Third World, in a poetic reverie of the tragedy and the absurdity of war. It also looks at the lines between journalism and literature, and challenges of the writer in the face of censorship.—Gabrielle Pfeiffer