“X-Men” in the jury of the Tofifest IFF in Torun
Tómas Lemarquis, who plays one of the characters in the latest part of “X-Men”, will be one of the jury members during the Tofifest IFF. Other members of the jury will include Danish actress Sonja Richter and Jacek Szumlas, founder of the first independent film distribution company in Eastern Europe.
Kafka Jaworska, director of Tofifest, disclosed the names of jurors for the 14th edition of the festival, during a press briefing that has been organised today. The jury for the main competition will be comprised of 5 people. In addition to the people mentioned above, the following have agreed to be part of the jury: Kinga Debska, who has made international success with her “Moje córki krowy”, and one of the best Polish film critics, Malgorzata Sadowska from Newsweek.
The jury for the Shortcut section dedicated to short films will be comprised of Giorgi Ovashvili, film director from Georgia, winner of the Karlovy Vary IFF, who also received three film awards at Tofifest, as well as of Polish actress Gabriela Muskala, and young film director Bartek Warwas.
The jurors will select the winners of Golden Angels of Tofifest, which are the main prizes awarded during the festival that make a reference to the medieval symbol of Torun. They will judge full-feature debuts and sophomore films of the film-makers featured in the On Air Main Competition. This year, there have been as many as 790 films submitted to take part in the competition. The Shortcut section is dedicated to short films, documents, and animations that will compete to win the Golden Angel Awards. This year, we have had as many as 1,870 entries for the competition. But let us tell you more about the jurors themselves.
“X-Men” from Iceland and “The Keeper of Lost Causes”
The somewhat magical white face, without hair and eyebrows. Enthusiasts of good cinema know the face quite well from Noi Albinoi by Dagur Kari, while music fans from a music video to the song “Sirens” composed by Artur Rojek. Tómas Lemarquis has definitely played for the best. In “Snowpiercer” by Bong Joon Ho, he performed alongside Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, and Jamie Bell, while in “3 Days to Kill” by McG, he accompanied Kevin Costner. And this year, this Icelandic actor has appeared in the latest part of “X-Men: Apocalypse”, where he was a prtner of Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender.
However, his role in Nói albinói still remains his most memorable appearance. That film brought him the Edda Award (an award given by the Icelandic film industry) and two nominations for the European Film Awards.
Sonja Richter is known to a wide audience as the main protagonist in the dark Scandinavian crime story “The Keeper of Lost Causes” (Kvinden i buret). Before that film made her famous, she had become popular with her appearance in “Open Hearts” (Elsker dig for evigt) by Susanne Bier, which brought her a nomination for the Bodil Award given by Danish Film Critics Association, and for the Robert Award awarded by the Danish Film Academy. In 2007, her theatre and film appearances were recognised by the Danish Royal Family, which brought Sonia the Culture Award given by the Crown Prince Couple of Denmark.
In 2014, she appeared in the American film “The Homesman”, in which she accompanied Tommy Lee Jones and Hillary Swank. More than that, Sonja has also been featured in popular TV series, like “The Killing”, “The Bridge” and “Tatort”.
The First Independent
As for Jacek Szumlas, he is truly a unique figure among the jury. It is for the fact that we definitely owe this person the majority of our artistic emotions experienced by Polish cinema-goers, back in 1990s. In 1990, Jacek started his company named Solopan, which was in fact the first film distribution company in the former Eastern Bloc that was completely independent from any government structures. And since the very dawn of its existence, it was Solopan that brought films made by outstanding, international film directors to Polish cinemas, including: Robert Altman, Emir Kusturica, bracia Coen, Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Agnieszka Holland, Jim Jarmusch, Ken Loach, David Cronenberg, Jane Campion, Carlos Saura, Todd Haynes, Wim Wenders, Pedro Almodóvar, or Takeshi Kitano, to name some of the most significant ones.
Malgorzata Sadowska, in turn, will turn her watchful eyes of an excellent film critics to festival films. She is a journalist and a film reviewer, currently working for “Newsweek” weekly. She is also a winner of an award given by the Polish Film Institute in the Film Reviews category (2015).
A Georgian and Strong Women in Cinema
George Ovashvili, who is a member of the jury in the Shortcut competition, gained international fame with his “Corn Island”, which won the Golden Angel of Tofifest, the Crystal Globe Award at one of the most important film festivals in Karlove Vary, as well as awards at the following film festivals: Cinequest San Jose FF, Cottbus IFF, Fribourg IFF, Montpelleier IFF, Nika Award, Palm Springs IFF, and Sao Paolo IFF.
There are also two women in the jury, both of who are connected by the same film, i.e. “These Daughters of Mine”. It is Kinga Debska, director of the film, and Gabriela Muskala, who portrays one of the sisters in the film. Gabriela is a magnificent theatre and film actress, as well as a playwright. She is known for hear appearances in “Be like Kazimierz Deyna”, “Courage” and “The Londoners” TV series. It is also worth mentioning that the actress has won more than 30 awards for her performances on stage.
The 14th edition of the Tofifest International Film Festival will take place in Torun, from 15th October to 23rd October, 2016. The main topic of this year’s edition will be a discussion about the rebellion of women and struggle for human dignity with reference to “Thelma & Louise”by Ridley Scott, which has its 25th anniversary this year. The festival will be opened with a concert by Steve Nash & Film Orchestra with guest appearances of Tomasz Organek and Natalia Nykiel. The Closing Ceremony will be accompanied by the “Tribute to David Bowie”concert featuring Brodka, Skubas, Natalia Przybysz, Tomek Makowiecki, and Tymon Tymanski singing selected songs of the Master. Ticktes for both concerts are already available on www.bilety24.pl.
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