January 2012
1 post
Polka King screens in Milwaukee January 27!
Hey Polka King fans! It’s been a while. Anywhere near Milwaukee? This Friday January 27 at 6:30 PM THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING screens at the Turner Hall Ballroom, in a special screening hosted by local morning radio DJ’s Bob and Brian! Pizza! $10 all you can drink special! What more could you want?
Check out the event website for more information.
April 2011
1 post
POLKA KING now streaming on Netflix!
Hooray, THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING is now available for streaming on NETFLIX! And check out the article in Moviemaker about the making of our documentary!
December 2010
1 post
DVD Now Available on Amazon!
Hello! We’re happy to announce that the special edition DVD of our feature documentary THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING— is now available on Amazon! CLICK HERE TO BUY ON AMAZON! Please help spread the word by posting our Amazon link on Facebook, Twitter and everywhere!
In addition to the full-length feature version of our doc, the DVD is packed with almost a half-hour of polka-tastic...
October 2010
1 post
Bad Lit on Polka King
The fantastic underground film site Bad Lit just wrote a great piece about our film, calling it “wickedly fun” and “the perfect film for our current economic climate!”
September 2010
1 post
Polka King now streaming on Hulu!
The time has come! THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING is now streaming for free on HULU.COM!!
Click here to watch it now!
Please help us spread the word… And if you liked the film, you can rate it or leave a comment on our Hulu page.
More news coming soon about our special-edition DVD coming out late next month too!
August 2010
2 posts
Hotter than a Well-Cooked Kielbasa!
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reviews our film in advance of our screenings this weekend at the Twin Cities Polish FilmFest.
Best! Pullquote! Ever!
Polka King is back, Twin Cities style!
Hello Polka King Fans!
Sorry to have been away for so long, we’ve been busy formulating our DVD and digital download release which is now scheduled for this fall! More exciting details about that very soon. But in the meantime…
Get ready Minneapolis/St.Paul, The Man Who Would Be Polka King is coming your way this weekend! We are screening three times at the Twin Cities Polish...
April 2010
1 post
Sacramento Premiere Sunday April 18!
Hey Sacramento! We’re coming to your town to screen THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING at the super-cool micro-cinema series Movies on a Big Screen at the historic Guild Theater! Catch Polka King Fever on Sunday April 18 at 7:30 PM! Tickets are only $5! Let’s Polka Northern Cali-style!
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING Sunday April 18 7:30 PM Movies on a Big Screen Guild Theater...
March 2010
2 posts
UK Premiere This Saturday!
What’s up UK polka people? A happy-tappy polka reminder that our UK premiere of THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING is this Saturday March 20 at 2:45 PM at the Pictureville Cinema at the Bradford International Film Festival! UK polka fans you won’t want to miss this! And on a very different tip, stick around afterwards for a screening of Zach Clark’s amazing Modern Love is Automatic!
UK Premiere of Polka King!
Hello United Kingdom! We’re excited to announce that THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING will be premiering at the 2010 Bradford International Film Festival this month! This is an incredible festival with an amazing lineup, particularly deep with American independents (hello to our favorite, Modern Love is Automatic, screening right after us!)— so we’re very proud to be a part of...
January 2010
1 post
Add Polka King to your Netflix Queue!
Happy 2010, fans of THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING! Sorry we’ve been away for so long, but we’ve been in a series of pierogi-filled backroom negotiations.
We are pleased to announce that worldwide digital rights for THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING will be handled exclusively by Cinetic Rights Management! They rep some amazing films and we are thrilled to be in such good company. Stay...
November 2009
1 post
Chicago Premiere Announced!
We’re very excited to announce our Chicago premiere this month at the Polish Film Festival in America!
PFFA is the largest film festival of Polish film outside of Poland and we are honored to be a part of it.
Chicago! Please join us on Friday November 20 at 7 PM at the Gallery Theatre/Society for Arts for our screening. John will be in attendance and possibly Josh as well. Hope to see...
October 2009
2 posts
Hot Springs Doc FF tickets here
Reminder: POLKA KING screens this Saturday night at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. Online tickets are available here!
Hot Springs Doc FF announced!
We’re excited to be a part of the 2009 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival! Hot Springs is a wonderful documentary festival in Arkansas, and this year they are showing a ton of fantastic documentaries from the world festival circuit.
Tell all your Arkansas friends!
THE MAN WHO WILL BE POLKA KING will be screening on Saturday October 24 at 6:00 PM in theater 1 of the Downtown Historic...
September 2009
2 posts
PS
More exciting announcements about where you can see the Polka King documentary coming very soon!
Polka King at Notre Dame
Irish eyes are sure to be smiling this week for the Indiana premiere of The Man Who Would Be Polka King at the University of Notre Dame! If you’re near South Bend, IN or happen to be coming in a little early for some Fightin’ Irish football this weekend…stop on by the INDustry Alliance Documentary Film Festival, Thursday October 1st at 6:30 p.m. at the Browning Cinema. John will...
August 2009
2 posts
Atlanta Premiere This Wednesday!
Just a reminder… Our Atlanta premiere of THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING is this Wednesday August 26 at 6:30 PM! Please join us on opening night at the fantastically programmed Atlanta Underground Film Festival, we’ll be screening at Young Blood.
Be there or miss out on the New Polka Explosion that’s bubbling up from the underground. See check it out, we even made the cover of...
Atlanta Premiere Announced!
Hello Polka King fans…
Stan, your host here. It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me, hasn’t it?
Well, I’m here to tell you that we are happy-tappy-happy to announce that THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING will be screening opening night of the Atlanta Underground Film Festival! That’s Wednesday August 26th at 6:30 PM at Youngblood. We are flattered to be...
July 2009
2 posts
Krakow Post reviews Polka King! →
Great wrap-up of our screening at the Krakow Film Festival last month. More news and pictures from our Brooklyn screening (including the live appearance of the Polka King himself!) coming shortly…
June 2009
4 posts
Breaking News: Jan and Rhonda Lewan LIVE at...
We have received word that Jan Lewan, the Polka King himself, and his wife Rhonda will attend this Thursday’s repeat screening of THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING at the Brooklyn International Film Festival.
Jan is recently released from 5 years in state and federal prison, and is apparently anxious to see our film about his life and his illegal investment scheme. We assume he is prepared to...
NY Times writes about tonight's Brooklyn premiere!
We’re very excited for tonight’s US premiere at the Brooklyn International Film Festival… and so is the New York Times!
READ THE FULL NYTIMES.COM POST HERE!
To update, online ticketing is now up on the Brooklyn International Film Festival website if you want to buy tickets in advance (which we recommend, as we are not sure how large the theater is).
And please join us at...
The Playlist plugs our Brooklyn screening →
From one of our favorite film websites, The Playlist!
May 2009
3 posts
Polka King Int'l Premiere Tomorrow Night in...
Just 24 hours until our big big big International Premiere at the amazing Krakow Film Festival. It’s 8 PM on Monday June 1. John is apparently doing an interview tonight for Polish TV. Anyone in Poland reading this? Please join us at the screening! All of the details are here.
Screening times for Brooklyn announced!
We now have our screening times for our U.S. Premiere at the BROOKLYN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL:
Saturday June 6 at 6 PM at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema (with a repeat screening Thursday June 11 at 5 PM, at the same location).
For those of you in or near New York City, we need your help in spreading the word. We’re hoping for a big hometown turnout for our premiere (much of our film was...
Polka King: Two Big Premieres to Announce!
We promised to announce the exciting premiere of THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING. A special surprise… how about two?!
We are excited to announce that on June 1, we will world premiere our film at the prestigious KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL in Krakow, Poland. It is the oldest film festival in Poland and one of the best documentary festivals in Europe. What better way to launch the film than where...
April 2009
1 post
World Premiere to be announced soon!
Hello Polka King Fans…
We had a great sneak preview screening at the Boston Underground Film Festival in March, showing where we were at with the film. Post-screening, there was much debate in the audience about how much Jan Lewan knew about the dealings of his Polka Empire. What did he know and when did he know it?
In the coming days check back to our site as we will be announcing the...
March 2009
7 posts
Berkeley Beacon too
In advance of tomorrow’s sneak preview, Emerson College’s Berkeley Beacon previews our film.
Bad Lit highlights tomorrow's sneak preview in...
The Man Who Would Be Polka King is Joshua von Brown’s triumphant return to BUFF after last year’s killer Altamont Nowwith this sneak preview of his co-directional effort with John Mikulak. The film tells the outrageous true story of Jan Lewan, a polkafied Mini-Me version of Bernie Madoff. I reviewed the film here and it’s screening March 21 at 12:30 p.m.
READ THE FULL POST ABOUT SOME OF THE...
BUFF Sneak Preview Announced!
Dear Polka King fans,
Stan here again. We’re thrilled to announce a special sneak preview of our documentary THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING at the Boston Underground Film Festival! Get a glimpse of where we are at with the project, and meet the film’s directors who will do a Q&A after the screening.
Our special sneak preview screening will be on Saturday March 21 at 12:30 PM...
February 2009
1 post
Bad Lit digs Polka King
“The Pope, Ponzi and polka form the incongruous triumvirate that swirls around the center of The Man Who Would Be Polka King, the deliriously entertaining documentary by John Mikulak and Joshua von Brown. However, the center of the film is not Jan Lewan, the eponymous ‘would be’ king. He’s just the engine that powers the real center: A heady, complex examination of the American...
January 2009
6 posts
“I’m just disgusted at how a person can be that dirty, when we give him money to...”
– Lois O., investor
“The people that got hurt by Jan, they went to Jan to invest the money because of...”
– Wash King, Jan Lewan Orchestra
Bernie Madoff vs. Jan Lewan
During the past month, we have been deluged with emails and phone calls: “Have you heard about Bernie Madoff? It’s just like your Jan Lewan documentary!” “Can you believe the Bernie Madoff story?” “What can you tell us about Bernie Madoff? Did his scheme operate in the same way as Jan Lewan’s?”
We’d be interested in hearing YOUR opinion...
December 2008
11 posts
“He could sell an eskimo an igloo.”
– Dolly Kubasko, polka promoter
GREETINGS FROM YOUR HOST: Stan Tadrowski
Hi everyone. I’m Stan Tadrowski, your host for THE MAN WHO WOULD BE POLKA KING. People tell me I’m a pretty happy fella. I guess that’s why I’ve been a polka fan since as long as I can remember. See, the toe-tappin’ world of polka music is for people that like to have a good time. And for years, one of the most colorful polka performers had to be Jan Lewan, backed by his fabulous orchestra. Lewan...
“You’re going to tell me to my face that 400 people are liars? No way.”
– Peter Chacho, former member of The Jan Lewan Orchestra
“How the hell could you have done what you did to us?”
– Gerald C., investor
“I am the loser too. If I had, I would give… but I don’t have.”
– Jan Lewan