Donation of American Film Classics Collection to American Corner

April 17, 2008

Piotr Piwowarczyk looks at the collection of DVDs at the American Corner in Wrocław

A collection of over 600 DVDs containing mostly American “classic” movies from the 40s, 50s and 60s was donated to the American Corner in Wrocław by Piotr Piwowarczyk, founder of Mam Marzenie in Poland.  The collection commemorates the life of an extraordinary human being, Joe Sedia.  The DVDs are available for circulation. For more on the collection of films, books and other materials at the American Corner, we invite you to visit the Corner website at http://www.amcorners.pl/wroclaw/

 

Joe Sedia was born in 1935 in New Jersey with cerebral palsy.  This condition left him handicapped for the rest of his life.  Despite his physical limitations, he graduated magna cum laude from St. Francis University (Pennsylvania) with a bachelor’s degree in English.  After finishing his studies, Joe started working for Gallup and Robinson, the world-renowned research company.  He worked as a survey analyst for Gallup and Robinson for almost thirty-five years.  From a young age, Joe had a great fondness for film and Broadway productions. Over the years, he developed an enormous store of knowledge and trivia about American movies and Broadway shows.  After retiring from work in the early 1990s, Joe’s passion became building and cataloguing a collection of DVDs of his favorite films.  In 2003, he moved permanently to Krakow, Poland, where he spent the last years of his retirement listening to music and watching his beloved films.  His love and passion for music and cinema helped him overcome his physical disabilities.  He passed away after a brief illness in February of 2007 at the age of 72.