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Corn Island and musical Audiowizje

Audiowizje a.k.a. an avalanche of music has started and there are more that 30 concerts to attend at Tofifest. On Tuesday, there were some prominent films to see in the On Air competition, three of which were Polish premieres. However, it was the meeting with the authors of “Polish Shit” that caused the greatest commotions yesterday.

The guests of the meeting included Tymon, Brylewski, Jankowski, Glinska, as well as Skiba and Konjo. The meeting that followed the screening of Polish Shit was just as unpredictable, as the film itself. The number of the guests that came on stage was growing and changing all the time. Well, no wonder, since we had a chance to see a full-length debut of the crew commanded by one of the most rebellious musicians in Poland – Tymon Tymanski. Polish Shit won an Audience Awards at the festival in Gdynia. The room where the meeting took place was filled to the brim.

The audience had an opportunity to talk to the author of the script and concept for the film Tymon Tymanski, to Robert Brylewski – the legendary musician from such prominent bands, as Brygada Kryzys, Izrael, and Armia – to the film editor Agnieszka Glinska, and to the director Grzegorz Jankowski. Quite unexpectedly, they were joined by Krzysztof Skiba, the leader of Big Cyc, and Pawel “Konjo” Konnak. This turned the meeting into a boiling pot of emotions, as the film crew saw Polish Shit not only as a film they did, but as a cry of protest against the reality the see. It was a very loud voice of dissent to the world of show-business and the rule of money that permeates everything around.

The highlight of the day was the Polish premiere of the Georgian Corn Island by George Ovashvili. The winner of this year’s Karlovy Vary IFF has been heralded as the great discovery and the Georgian candidate for Academy Awards – it is an artistically ascetic drama that includes only a few dialogue lines. Film critics have compared the film to the works by Tarkovsky, Bresson and… Shakespeare. The film takes us to the area near the Inguri River on the borderline between Georgia and Abkhazia. It is 1992 and the Abkhaz-Georgian conflict is in progress. One of the many small islands located in the middle of the river live Abga, an old farmer from Georgia, and his teenage granddaughter Asida, who try to plant corn on it. One day, the girl finds a young Georgian soldier hiding on the island. The idyll of the Corn Island comes to an end. The director manages to build a very crystal clear drama about the bond between man and nature, at the same time demonstrating a very practised eye for picturesque landscapes. The Hollywood Reporter commented on the film: “The Georgian director weaves a powerful life-and-death fable from simple ingredients in this almost wordless drama”.

Sweden is represented by Tourist by Ruben Östlund – the film has had its Polish premiere today. Tomas and Ebba take their children to spend a few days skiing in the French Alps. They intend to have an idyllic short winter holidays. And just when everybody is having their lunch on the restaurant’s terrace, they are hit by an avalanche coming directly from the mountains. This incident transforms this holiday rest into the test of their marriage. Tomas and Ebba will everything in their power to save their ties. The film has won the Jury Award in the Un Certain Regard section, during this year’s Cannes.

In 2007, Hallam Foe from Great Britain won all the important awards of Tofifest. This year, Snow in Paradise by Andrew Hulme, which was screened on Tuesday, can repeat this success ­the film had its Polish premiere at Tofifest. It is a powerful film based on an authentic story of Martin Askew, who grew up in the crime-ridden East End district in London, ruled by the culture of crime. The protagonist in the film is Dave, a petty criminal, who thrives on drug dealing and violence. When his actions end up in his best pal Tariq being killed, Dave finds himself thrown in the world of remorse and guilt he did not expect to exist. Quite unexpectedly, he discovers Islam and that introduces peace in his life, until his former way of crime comes back to him, putting his new beliefs to a test.

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The following films were show in the From Poland competition: Polish Shit (already mentioned above), No Matter How Hard We Tried by Grzegorz Jarzyna, and Little Crushes directed by Aleksandra Gowin and Ireneusz Grzyb – the latter two had a meeting with the audience, after the film.

The Tuesday also marked the beginning of Audiowizje Tofifest. The concerts are taking place at five clubs in the Old Town in Torun. Estrada Stage Bar Torun played host to Benzin Machine and 30daysofline, Klub Dwa Swiaty (the main festival club of Tofifest) presented TGI Teraz improvisational theatre, while Kulturhauz played host to AlphaShip and Soundscape Mirror, NRD Club had its Stardust Memories and Tau Ne, and there was a concert of Hulajdusza in Galeria i Kawiarnia Muza.

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Finally, we cannot ignore to offer a short summary of the earlier meetings with filmmakers we have not mentioned yet. “There is always a man, behind each artist. One can be a great artist and at the same time a scumbag” – this was one of the strongest opinions voiced during the meeting with Jerzy Hoffman, winner of this year’s Golden Angel for lifetime achievement. The master also hinted at the possibility of making another film and claimed that if there actually was another to be made, it would not be about any current issues: Nowadays, I am more into human problems that are universal and not rooted in any particular period of time: love, hate, jealousy, lust for power – in other words, all those things that have accompanied humanity to this day and have been the driving power of their actions, since the times of Cain and Abel. Nepotism, corruption, gangsters…? I am sure that young people will deal with such issues better than I would, he disclosed during the meeting.

“The way I see things, everything is falling apart” – this short statement is a blunt summary of the concept concocted by Syllas Tzoumerkas, author of the Greek film A Blast, which was presented in the On Air section. We had a chance to meet with this filmmaker, after the film. The film demonstrates the reality of Greece we do not know – it is a country plunged in crisis. There is a human drama, hidden behind the beautiful landscape. However, according to Syllas Tzoumerkas, it is precisely this political incorrectness and people confronted by life that are supposed to give the audience hope… The film has been received as a controversial one, same as the main protagonist. It is interesting to know that the film has not yet been released in Greece.

There was also a meeting with director Hubert Gotkowski and actor Marcin Kabaj, who met with the audience of Tofifest to discuss their debut film Beavers. During the meeting, they put a great emphasis on the problem of humour that is often missing in Polish films. Polish cinema, including the independent one, is too often too depressive, too serious, and lacks distance, commented Gotkowski.

“Hardkor Disko is one of those films, in which the plot is secondary, because the experiences and emotions of the audience are of utmost importance,” Krzysztof Skonieczny said about his film, during the Monday meeting at Centrum Cinema. This film drama by Skonieczny is a unique film, on many different levels. The director himself described the film as a “mirror” that reflects emotions, experiences, sensitivity, and knowledge of a viewer about the world, thus making it possible to interpret the film in an intimate way. “You need to let this film filter through yourselves,” as Skonieczny summed up the deliberations on the complexity of the film.

Recommendations for Wednesday, 22nd October 2014:

Recommendations for Thursday, 23rd October 2014:

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