The Golden Angels have flown up and Tofifest has officially started
On Saturday, during the Opening Ceremony of the 12th edition of the Tofifest International Film Festival, Agata Kulesza, Jerzy Hoffman, and Miroslaw Dembinski received special awards of the festival – Golden Angels and Flisaks. The festival that starts on Saturday, 18th October, will include 16 film sections with more than 160 films to be screened during the event. The festival is accompanied by Audiowizje music festival.
During the Opening Ceremony, a Special Golden Angel for Lifetime Achievement was presented to film director Jerzy Hoffman, nominee for Academy Awards and author of the film adaptations of the Trilogy by Henryk Sienkiewicz. “This Angel will be my guardian angel. I am very moved that this award comes from this festival and from this very city I have so many memories about,” said Hoffman, who shot his famous film “The Law and the Fist”, starring Gustaw Holoubek in the leading role, exactly in Torun. “It feels somewhat nostalgic, as this is an Angel for lifetime achievement, so one may conclude that it is time to die. But let me reassure you that I have no intention of dying yet!” and the end of his speech was drowned out by a storm of applause. Hoffman’s visit to Tofifest is also connected to the screening of his documentary Ukraine – The Birth of a Nation, which is part of the Ukraine section. “After Poland, Ukraine is the second most important country to me,” Hoffman declared at the Opening Ceremony, when referring to his documentary project.
Agata Kulesza received a Golden Angel for an Outstanding European Actress. This Polish actress is famous for her brilliant performances in Rose by Wojciech Smarzowski and Ida by Pawel Pawlikowski. For the latter of the two, Agata Kulesza has recently been added to a wide circle of actresses nominated for Academy Awards in 2015. When accepting the Golden Angel, the actress extended her gratitude to include another award of Tofifest, which she won… 7 years ago. In 2007, she received one of the first acting awards in her career for her performance in A Few Simple Words by Anna Kazejak, and the award was given at the festival in Torun. „Back then, I was unable to come and get it myself, but I am happy to be here with you tonight, as every award comes as a wonderful reminder that there are people, who appreciate what I do,” said Kulesza.
The third of the winners of special awards of Tofifest was documentary filmmaker Miroslaw Dembinski, who received a special Flisak of Tofifest, i.e. the award presented to filmmakers connected with the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region. Dembinski has already won several dozen awards at international film festivals and he is also the author of the “From Dawn till Dusk” project. When accepting the award, Dembinski emphasised it meant a lot to him, as he is a man, who grew up living with one foot rooted in Torun and one in Bydgoszcz.
Throughout the 9 days of Tofifest and Audiowizje festivals, we will have an opportunity to see 164 films and participate in more than 30 music concerts. The guests of Tofifest will include Daniel Olbrychski, Danuta Szaflarska, as well as film directors Bohdan Slama (Czech Republic), Ilmar Raag (Estonia), Lech Majewski, Syllas Tzoumerkas (Greece), and many others.
Film awards will be awarded in four main competitions: the ON AIR competition for full-length debut films, the SHORTCUT competition for short films, the FROM POLAND competition for Polish films, and the LOKALIZACJE competition for films made in the region of Kujawsko-Pomorskie. Films will be assessed by jury compositions, which will include, among others, the following people: Stefan Kitanov, director of the Sofia International Film Festival, director Tomasz Wasilewski (Floating Skyscrapers), actors Agata Trzebuchowska (Ida), Marcin Kowalczyk (You are God), Olga Bołądź (Służby specjalne), as well as film director Robert Wichrowski (The French Trick).
The thematic axis of this year’s edition of Tofifest is the Phenomena – Nordic Noir section, i.e. films based on the extremely popular crime fiction novels from Scandinavia. Tofifest will the first Polish festival making an attempt to investigate this genre in cinema, which is being born right in front of our eyes. There will also be a special section dedicated to Ukraine, which will include The Guide – Ukrainian candidate for Academy Awards – or I am Femen about Oksana Shachko, leader of the feminist protest group Femen.
The Viva Baltic section will present the cinema of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, while the Flanders vs. Wallonia section will be dedicated to Flemish and Walloon films. Tofifest will also commemorate the 30th anniversary of Francois Truffaut’s death, by presenting a retrospective of his films. Another interesting section is Three Bs, which is a confrontation of the film work by three film directors from Spain, i.e. Luis Garcia Berlanga, Luis Bunuel, and Juan Antonio Bardem.
AUDIOWIZJE, an innovative music festival, based on interactions between sound and image, will have its first edition at Tofifest 2014. As many as 30 young music bands from all around Poland will compete for the main award in the Audiowizje Showcase contest. During the Muzyka do nakręcenia contest, a film crew supervised by director Bogdan Dziworski will make a video clip to the music of the band selected by Internet users (the contest is co-organised by nuplays.pl and tlumtlum.pl websites).
The 12th edition of the Tofifest IFF will take place in Torun, from 18th to 26th October, 2014, at the Od Nowa Academic Centre for Culture and Art and the Centre of Contemporary Art. Audiowizje will take place at the Od Nowa Club and in 5 music clubs in the Old Town in Torun, from 21st to 25th October.
Sunday (19th October 2014) at Tofifest
Free admission to meetings — tickets (sets or passes) are not required
- Find out what’s on: http://www.tofifest.pl/en/program-2014/day/2
- Open meetings:
- 2:30 p.m. Od Nowa Club: New stage – Agata Kulesza and Agata Trzebuchowska
- 6:20 p.m. Centrum Cinema – Bartosz Warwas
- 6:35 p.m. Od Nowa Club: Big Stage – Violetta Vajda
- 8:50 p.m. Centrum Cinema – Ana Kitanova
Monday (20th October 2014) at Tofifest
Free admission to meetings — tickets (sets or passes) are not required
- Find out what’s on: http://www.tofifest.pl/en/program-2014/day/3
- Open meetings:
- 1:15 p.m. Od Nowa Club: Small Stage – Bartlomiej Topa, Grzegorz Jaroszuk, and Piotr Zurawski
- 4:45 Centrum Cinema – Krzysztof Skonieczny and Marcin Kowalczyk
- 5:00 p.m. Od Nowa Club: Small Stage – Jerzy Hoffman
- 7:10 p.m. Centrum Cinema – Hubert Gotkowski and Marcin Kabaj
- 8:30 p.m. Od Nowa Club: Small Stage – Poetic Slam
- 9:30 p.m. Centrum Cinema – Syllas Tzoumerkas
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