Russian Poland

Long buried and never before published, Russian Poland may be David Mamet’s most enigmatic and haunting creation—a cinematic ghost story finally brought to light.

Written in 1993, this dreamlike screenplay fuses classic suspense with mystical storytelling and political urgency, its stories-within-stories hovering between farce and prophecy, tragedy and grace, illuminated in the flickering light between destruction and rebirth.

At its heart are two Jewish-American World War II veterans on a covert mission to ferry arms to the nascent Israeli state in 1948. But their journey soon slips its political frame, drifting into memory, parable and moral reckoning.

Both caper yarn and mythic meditation, Russian Poland reveals a master dramatist working in an unusually lyrical, elusive register. An unearthed dispatch from the shadowlands of cinema history and Mamet’s richly inventive creative vision, Russian Poland is a haunting reflection on exile, faith and the resilient thread of cultural memory that binds generations.

David Mamet, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter, and director, is one of America’s most distinctive and influential writers. His films include House of Game (1987), Homicide (1991) and Spartan (2004). His website is www.davidmamet.com.

^{Russian Poland (2025)
Paperback ISBN 978-1-942782-98-8 115pp 5×8 inches
Hardback ISBN 978-1-942782-99-5 115pp 5×8 inches}