“Auntie Eva, it’s me, Geraldine, and I’m in Poland!”
Geraldine Chaplin, one of the greatest actresses in the world was awarded the Special Golden Angel of Tofifest for Lifetime Achievement, in the evening, on 20th October. The prize was awarded during the Opening Ceremony of the 10th Edition of the IFF Tofifest. The “rebellious” festival Torun is going to host such prominent figures as Krystyna Janda, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Anca Damian, Jakub Gierszal and Manya Patil. On Sunday evening, the latter shall open the first European retrospective of Smita Patil, an Indian film star, feminist activist and actress.
The words about Auntie Eva were a surprising conclusion of the speech given by Geraldine Chaplin. The actress said that for many years she had dreamt of visiting Poland and the places she got familiar with, when she was in her teens and worked… as an au-pair for a Polish family in London. Auntie Eva was the doyenne of the family and became a long-time mentor for Geraldine, who back then was only 17 years old. Geraldine Chaplin (who has appeared in films by Sura, Almodóvar and Scorsese) declared that Poland had always had a special place in her heart. She was also spellbound by Torun, which she called “a dreamlike city”. The visit paid by Geraldine Chaplin opened the jubilee 10th edition of the IFF Tofifest that emphasizes a distinctive feminine element and strong women: the visual identification of the festival focuses on Pam Grier, a star of the Blaxploitation genre; Krystyna Janda shall be awarded the Golden Angel of Tofifest for Artistic Insolence and Maria Peszek is going to give her first concert of the tour promoting her new album, here in Torun.
On Sunday, the main event will undoubtedly be the launching of the FEMALE MASTERS section that focuses on Smita Patil, an Indian film star, feminist and actress. The special guests that accompany this section will include Manya Patil – Smita Patil’s sister and director of the Smita Patil Foundation – and Mohan Agashe, an actor who worked with Smita Patil for many years. The meeting shall also be honoured by the presence of Monika Kapil Mohta, India ambassador to Poland and Jarosław Jozefowicz, president of TZMO S.A., who has made this Indian presentation possible. The meeting shall be followed by the screening of Spices by Ketan Mehta (the first film that open the retrospective of Smita Patil) and an interesting discussion with Manya Patil and Mohan Agashe.
The second important event on Sunday will be the ceremony of awarding Jakub Gierszal two important and traditional festival prizes, i.e.: Flisak Tofifest for an outstanding film personality connected with the region of Kujawsko-Pomorskie and the Flisak Tofifest Film Award for the Best Rising Talent of the European Cinema. The latter of the two has already been awarded to Julia Jentsch and Dagur Kari. The ceremony is going to take place after the screening of Yuma, which is part of the From Poland competition.
It is also worth going to see the retrospective of Jedrzej Baczyk (Localisations section) – a young cinematographer, director, musician, graphic designer from Torun and a graduate from the Film School in Lodz – as well as Filmowy Torun, the first Polish city film-tour and a complete novelty among out film events. The tour is the idea of Tofifest and it will go through 15 locations that have connections with Polish, international and local cinematographies. The tour will present the locations where Jerzy Hoffman, Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Seweryn have made their films and the location where legendary The Cruise by Marek Piwowski sailed from.
Nearly 150 films from several dozen countries are going to be presented during Tofifest 2012. When going through the festival’s programme for Sunday, we particularly recommend seeing films from the On Air international competition for debut and second feature films: Austrian Kuma by Umut Dag, which tells a story of two women. The film focuses on the traditions of a Turkish village, which are cultivated in the heart of Europe – the imperial Vienna – and yet, they are completely incomprehensible for the people living according to the principles of Western European culture. A 19-year-old girl becomes “kuma” (a fellow wife, concubine) of a Turk living in Vienna, whose real wife is dying of cancer. Contrary to their own expectations, this peculiar triangle brings the two women closer to each other. Sharqiya, the second film of the On Air competition also offers an in-depth analysis of Islamic countries. The film was directed by a debuting director Ami Livne and it is a co-production by France, Germany and Israel. It tells a story about some events in the life Kamel, a young Bedouin, who lives in a small Arab village in Israel. On day, Kamel stands on the edge of disaster and must take some firm steps to protect the peaceful existence of his village.
We also strongly recommend seeing an American film Our Father by Christopher Zall. The film won Tofifest 2008 and shall be part of the TOP 9 section that features the winners of previous editions of the festival.
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