Beautiful Smita Patil and Tofifest seem like two halves of the same apple
“The rebellious Smita Patil and this rebellious festival are like two halves of the same apple”, said Manya Patil, when opening the first European retrospective dedicated to Smita Patil, an Indian actress and feminist. The most prominent events of the second day of the festival were the mentioned retrospective and awarding the special prizes of Tofifest, i.e. the Golden Angel and Flisak Tofifest Awards for Jakub Gierszal.
“This rebellious festival and my sister Smita are like two matching halves of the same apple. She was a young, rebellious and daring woman, as well. For this reason, there could be no better place to present the retrospective of my sister, than Torun itself,” said Manya Patil, director of the Smita Patil Foundation, greeting the audience at the official opening of the festival section dedicated to the icon of the New Wave, better known internationally, as Parallel Cinema.
The first film of the retrospective was a shocking social drama Mirch Masala by Ketan Mehta, featuring Smita Patil as the leading character. It is the first European portrait of this extraordinary actress, who fought for the right of Indian women. Smita Patil is one of the most fascinating and tragic figures of the Indian cinema. She died in 1986, when giving birth to a child. She was only 31. It was a true mockery of fate, as Smita Patil spent her entire life fighting actively for equal rights of Indian men and women and her film characters reflected the struggle to bring down the existing stereotypes. Her unique talent was honoured with the Indian equivalent of the Oscar – Filmfare Award and two times with the Indian Film Award. She was also awarded the Padma Shri Award by the federal government of India.
The retrospective has become an inherent part of the “rebellious” vein of the programme of the IFF Tofifest, since the festival is created and managed by a woman, which has its significance. The retrospective was made possible, thanks to the invaluable support of Monika Kapil Mohta, India ambassador to Poland, Manya Patil and Jaroslaw Jozefowicz, a true business visionary, president and creator of TZMO in Torun.
The Smita Patil’s section started with Mirch Masala by Ketan Mehta, which was made in 1985. That film and Bhumika were the two titles in which Smita Patil gave truly memorable performances, portraying an independent and strong Indian woman. In the first of the two films, Smita gives a very powerful and sensual presentation of her artistry, portraying a fearless village woman, who finds the courage to stand against men and other women, and fight for her dignity. The screening of Mirch Masala was followed by a meeting with Manya Patil and Mohan Agashe, actor and director of the FTII (The Film and Television Institute of India).
During the meeting, Agashe remembered Smita as a powerhouse of energy and emotion. “She is an icon in India and people react to her name not with their heads, but hearts”, he said. Manya emphasized that is was only natural for her to establish a foundation under the name of her sister, which serves as a continuation of the work of Smita Patil, who had died so prematurely. “Nobody is able to say that they have fulfilled all life plans. I’m sure that Smita would say that she has portrayed all the characters she had ever dreamt of, but failed to finish her fight for the equality between men and women”, said Manya. Smita’s last great dream was to become a mother. In 1986, she finally managed to get pregnant. The delivery ended up in severe complications. She died 16 days later. Her son Praitek has also become an actor…
Jakub Gierszal, the other hero of the day, feels strong connections with Torun. He lived in this city for many years and graduated from Secondary School No. 5 in Torun. He was also responsible for a small-scale scandal, when he wrote an article about “an invasion of Bible-bashing grannies” for a school newsletter, which lead to… a quite stormy session of the City Council. Jakub still has his entire family here and has always made warm comments about the city.
However, Jakub Gierszal is above all a talented young film artist. Undoubtedly, we are already familiar with his performances in All That I Love by Jacek Borcuch, Suicide Room by Jan Komasa and the newest film Yuma by Piotr Mularuk. In winter 2011, he became part of the most prestigious group of young European actors, as he was nominated one of the Shooting Stars Berlinale, i.e. a group of actors considered to be the most promising European talents.
For that reason, Kafka Jaworska, director of Tofifest, decided to honour Jakub Gierszal with two important prizes of the festival. The first one is the Flisak Tofifest Film Award of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region, i.e. an award for a film personality that has connections with the region of Kujawsko-Pomorskie. The prize was established in 2003, during the very first edition of the festival and is definitely the oldest prize awarded at the festival. It has already been awarded to Olga Boladz, Magdalena Czerwinska, Marcin Sauter, Maciej Cuske and Piotr Głowacki.
The other is a Special Golden Angel for the Rising Star of European Cinema – the prize was established three years ago and it is awarded to the most promising rising talents of European cinema. It has already been given to German actress Julia Jentsch and Icelandic director Dagur Kari.
But Tofifest is first and foremost about films! The festival’s programme for Monday includes two films that are extremely important to us. The On Air international competition for debut and second feature films will feature Sister by Ursula Meier. She is a Swiss director, who won Tofifest 2009 with her debut feature film Home (also to be screened today). The prize Meier won at Tofifest 2009 was one of the first awards she ever won and it kick-started her career. Therefore, it was her own decision to submit her second feature film for Tofifest 2012 – the film has already been recognised as sensational and awarded at Berlinale 2012. It is a story about a teenager, who steals from tourists in a Swiss ski health resort, his emotional relationship with his sister and a curator (portrayed by Gillian Anderson, known for hear appearance in The X-files). The film is a fascinating story about deep emotions that we all carry within us.
We also recommend seeing another film of the competition, i.e. The Stoning of Saint Stephen by Pere Vilài Barceló from Spain.
Many people are having great hopes for My father’s Bike, a new film by Piotr Trzaskalski (the author of Edi), which is one of the films in the FROM POLAND section. The film features a debut role of Michal Urbaniak, a master of international jazz, which adds spice to the film. The musician is going to have a meeting with the audience of Tofifest, right after the screening.
We heartily recommend seeing Battleheart by Bydgoszcz-born Tomasz Matuszczak, whose films have been promoted during Tofifest for many years. It is important to know that the film has been produced by Dawid Janicki (born in Torun) and his Vostok 8 film studio. The section presenting films from Kujawsko-Pomorskie region has one more important event in store. In the evening, we will have an opportunity to see the screening of Taxi Driver by Ryszard Kruk, at Baj Pomorski Theatre. The film will be followed by a special meeting with Ryszard Kruk, Jacek Kielpinski and Mr Henryk Janicki, the leading character in the film and a true legend of Torun taxi industry – it is part of the Ratujmy filmowego fiata pana Henryka! (Save Mr Henry’s Film Fiat!) campaign.
The day will be completed by a concert and an energetic party at Enerde (one of the festival’s clubs). The concert will feature DJ Funktion and Avtomat.
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