She could kill with just one gaze and she has a Golden Angel
The brightest star of Thursday was Krystyna Janda, who was awarded the rebellious Golden Angel. As for Friday, we shall see the newest productions by some of the greatest names of modern cinematography, including Michael Haneke, Marjane Satrapi and Walter Selles, as well as a controversial “art porn”, made to save the Amazon Rainforest. The festival shall finish with the awarding of Golden Angels and a concert of Maria Peszek.
“This prize has gained more significance, over the four of waiting to get it”, said Krystyna Janda, when receiving the Special Golden Angel for Artistic Insolence, in Torun. The awarding ceremony followed immediately, after the performance of Shirley Valentine. Earlier that day, Janda had a meeting with the audience, who jam-packed the entire room of the festival centre. The actress reflected on the making of her most important films. She remembered that Wajda chose her to be Agnieszka in Man of Marble (1976), when he caught the gaze of a film school student. He said then: “We’ll take her, because her eyes kill.” Janda also told a somewhat sensational story about the stealing of a copy of Interrogation by Ryszard Bugajski (1982) from a film studio and its distribution among members of the political opposition, which would now be considered as “piracy”. The communist authorities in Poland made a petition for burning the tapes with the recorded film. Finally, the film remained on the shelf, until 1989. The Palme d’Or in Cannes for Interrogation was awarded to Janda, as late as in 1990. The actress also spoke about the making of Sweet Rush by Andrzej Wajda, which took place in Grudziadz (a close neighbour to Torun) – the film that she described as “the most important work in her entire life.” The significance of the film comes from the fact that it was a peculiar epitaph in memory of cinematographer Edward Klosinski – Krystyna Janda’s husband and a dear friend of Andrzej Wajda.
Janda was very straightforward and uncompromising about her work: “Many claim that acting resembles prostitution a little, and in fact the two are much alike. You are stripped of all your deepest emotions, in front of perfect strangers.” She also made some references to the gigantic emotions that accompanied the premiere of her latest spectacle Danuta W., based on the biography of the wife of Lech Walesa.
On Thursday, the most important screening events of Tofifest were the last two full-length debuts of the ON AIR International Competition. It was the Dutch-Spanish Hemel by Sacha Polak and French Crawl, which is a debut feature film by Hervé Lasgouttes.
The meetings with three directors from the FROM POLAND Competition ended up lat at night. The audience had an opportunity to meet with Tomasz Wasilewski – the author of In the Bedroom, Greg Zglinski – the director of Courage and Maciej Kowalewski – the director of Three Sisters T.
On Friday, we shall be part of the ceremony of Awarding Golden Angels and have an opportunity to see the films by the greatest modern filmmakers, i.e. Amour by the Austrian master Michael Haneke, Chicken with Plums by Iranian Marjanne Satrapi (famous for Persepolis), On the Road by Brazilian Walter Salles and the well-known winner of this year’s Palme d’Or in Cannes and Jury Award at Sundance, Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin from the USA.
Much controversy surrounds Fuck for Forest, which tells a story about a group of young Europeans, who decided to save the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, by making… porn films. The film has been directed by a Pole, Michal Marczak.
The festival shall be completed with the ceremony of awarding Golden Angels at Baj Pomorski Festival Centre and the sound of the music performed by Maria Peszek, who will be promoting her latest album Jezus Maria Peszek. The concert will take part in the Od Nowa Student’s Club and it shall constitute the first Polish concert promoting a very controversial third album by the artist.
The Tofifest Night will end at the festival’s Kawalerka Club. The festival’s “ending party” is free of charge and open for everybody.
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