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Top 15 of Tofifest festival

Kafka Jaworska, director of Tofifest, presents a selection of the best films of the festival that are recommended to watch.

1. 1001 Grams

In “1001 Grams”, Bent Hamer, who is a special guest of Tofifest 2016, tells a story about Marie working in the Norwegian Central Office of Measures. And while she serves as an exemplary role model, whose work is well-ordered and precise, her private life is a mess where things are not going well. Marie is entrusted with a peculiar task – she must find out the real weight of the Norwegian standard of 1 kilogram. Marie goes to Paris, where she is going to test a Norwegian measure of 1kg. This journey will change a lot in her life.

2. Aloys

The film by Tobias Nölle has won the FIPRESCI Award at this year's edition of Berlinale and it tells a story of Aloys Adorn, a middle-aged private detective. He experiences life from a safe distance, through a video camera he keeps recording 24 hours a day. But when his father dies, Aloys is left on his own and his sheltered existence begins to fall apart. After a night of heavy drinking, Aloys wakes up on a public bus to find that his camera and precious observation tapes have been stolen. Soon after, a mysterious woman calls to blackmail him.

3. Clash (Eshtebak)

This film could change the way the Western world sees democracy and the politics implemented by the Near East,” director Mohamed Diab read in a text message sent to his telephone, much to his surprise. The surprise resulted from the fact that the author of the message was Tom Hanks, who thanked the director for the opportunity of watching his latest film, “Clash”. Diab takes us back to 2013, right in the middle of the dramatic riots happening in Cairo. A police truck full of detained demonstrators of divergent political and religious backgrounds is roaming through violent street protests. The detainees will need to overcome their differences to stand a chance of survival. “Clash” is the Egyptian candidate for Academy Awards in 2017.

4. The Lure

It is one of the craziest Polish début in recent months, made by Agnieszka Smoczynska. The film was applauded during the Sundance Film Festival. “Dynamic and modern fairy-tale for adults.” “The pulsating soundtrack and dreamy-like images make the film as unique as none before it.” The above are just excerpts from film reviews published in American newspapers, in reaction to the fantastic story about two sisters, nicknamed “Golden” and “Silver”, from a dancing party in the Communist Poland. And they are not just some ordinary girls, but sirens, who are trying to taste and understand what it is like to be a woman in the environment around them.

5. The Man Who Fell to Earth

Today, people attribute the “cult” status to far too many things, but this film has undoubtedly had a cult following. And the fans are quite fanatic. It was an inspiration for Guns N 'Roses when shooting the “Welcome to the Jungle” clip, while Michael Fassbender revealed that he used the performance by Bowie as a foundation to create his character in “Prometheus”. The typeface from the poster of “The Man Who Fell to Earth” was used by Iron Maiden to make their logo. The film was made by Nicholas Roeg, who is considered to be one of the most avant-garde film-makers in the history of cinema. It is a story about an enigmatic Thomas Newton (played by David Bowie), who comes to Earth from outer space. His goal is to find water, which is an ingredient that is becoming scarce on his home planet. Unfortunately, access to certain substances on Earth turns the mission into a nightmare.

6. The Dancer (La Danseuse)

The story made by Stéphanie Di Giusto is dedicated to Loïe Fuller – a long-forgotten pioneer of modern dance. At the beginning of 20th century, Loïe Fuller was an idol of the masses attending European cabarets. She used such sophisticated dancing techniques that re-defined the concept on movement on stage. She was adored by great many people, including such notable people as: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Lumière brothers, or François-Auguste-René Rodin, to name a few. In 1902, she met Isadora Duncan, who was much younger and hungry for fame. That eventful encounter would later cause the fall of the icon. The director cast Lily-Rose Depp, the daughter of Johnny Deep and Vanessa Paradise, to play Isadora Duncan.

7. Godless (Bezbog)

The Hollywood Reporter praised the film (the winner of Locarno IFF) for making “a grimly compelling viewing.” The title “Godless” place is an old people’s home located in a small town in Bulgaria. Gana is a social care worker, who looks after elderly people suffering from dementia. In reality, she steals their ID cards, takes drugs and has absolutely no restraints to kill, if that would help her avoid getting caught. One day, she meets a man, who will stand by her side in the fight against evil.

8. Stefan Zweig — Farewell to Europe (Vor der Morgenröte)

The films depicts the years of exile in the life of Stefan Zweig, one of the most read German-language writers of his time, between Buenos Aires, New York and Brazil. As a Jewish intellectual, Zweig struggles to find the right stance towards the events in Nazi Germany, while searching for a home in the new world, just as many other intellectuals in those dark times. One of the characters in the film is portrayed by one of the jurors during Tofifest 2016, Tomas Lemarquis. The film was made by a famous actress Maria Schrader (“Aimée & Jaguar”, “In Darkness”). The film is an Austrian candidate for Academy Awards.

9. Oliver Twist

The film is based on one of the most popular novels by Charles Dickens. Roman Polanski has once again cooperated with the “Academy Award-winning” team from “The Pianist”: the author of cinematography is Pawel Edelman, and the script was written by Ronald Harwood. The person responsible for production design is Allan Starski, who will be awarded the Golden Angel of Tofifest for lifetime achievement, during this year’s edition of the festival. Oliver Twist is an orphan, who decides to run away to London – a city the boy considers to be a safe haven that offers happiness and prosperity, following a scuffle at the house of an undertaker, where he works. Once in London, he meets a gang of pickpockets led by a very strange man. Soon, Oliver finds himself in a lot of trouble...

10. The Last Family

This is the great triumphant of the Gdynia Film Festival that has won awards in the most important categories. It is a bitter-sweet, warm and sweet, but above all a beautiful and complete film, not far from being the work of a genius. And quite contrary to expectations, it is not a biography of an artist. The film starts in 1977, when Tomek Beksinski moves into his new flat. His parents live nearby, in the same housing estate, which makes their relationship remain very intensive. After the first failed suicide attempt by Tomek, Zdzislaw and Zofia must not only struggle for their son, but also for having control over their lives back in their hands again. The brilliant performance of Andrzej Seweryn, this year’s winner of the Golden Angel of Tofifest, the Grand Prix for acting at the Gdynia Film Festival, and the Silver Leopard at the Locarno IFF, is particularly worthy of your attention.

11. Toni Erdmann

“Toni Erdmann” directed by Maren Ade was a major film event, during this year's festival in Cannes. Film critics see it as a favourite for the Academy Awards in 2017, in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The main protagonist in this “tragicomic film that keeps a distance” is Winfried, who decides to spend a few days with his adult daughter Ines. The woman works as a manager in a big corporation and is responsible to starting up a branch of her company in Bucharest. The father comes and starts annoying his daughter with corny pranks. Seeing that it is not a good way to re-connect with his daughter, the man pretends to be an imaginary Toni Erdmann, i.e. his mad and eccentric alter-ego.

12. It’s Only the End of the World (Juste la fin du monde)

The screening at Tofifest will be the second time this year’s winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes has been shown in Poland. It is another film by the “wonder child” of international cinema, Xavier Dolan. The director has made an adaptation of a play written by Jean-Luc Lagarce, who died of AIDS. It is a story about a writer in his thirties, who goes back to his hometown in the Canadian countryside, after 12 years of absence. He is terminally ill and this will be his good-bye with the family. The audience will certainly feast their eyes on the cast: Nathalie Baye (“Laurence Anyways”), Marion Cotillard (“Inception”), Lea Seydoux (“Spectre”), and Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan”).

13. Bill Douglas Trilogy: My Childhood, My Ain Folk, My Way Home

The film trilogy by Bill Douglas is based on true events in the life of this film director. It is a film version of his flashbacks from the traumatic childhood. Each shot in the film is returning to places, people, and events, and it documents a scene the film director remembers from his childhood. They are very personal films that combine highly subjective narration with the real problems of Scottish society. The film trilogy is both a universal story of a boy from a poor mining town, and an accusation of the unfair social order that condemns children with “bad” social background to live a life without any perspectives, right from the start.

14. Troubled Water (DeUsynlige)

It is a film by Erik Poppe, a guest of Tofifest that will receive a special Golden Angel, during this year’s edition of Tofifest. Jan Thomas is released from prison, after serving a few years for murder. He is a very talented organist, which enables him to secure a job at a church, quite soon. He has a house, a bicycle, and some clothes. He is able to create a little world of personal happiness. More than that, he even wins the hearts of his superiors. He is particularly fond of a woman pastor and her small child. In fear of being rejected, Jan decides to conceal the truth about his past. Unfortunately, the past returns, much sooner than expected...

15. Zoology (Zoologiya)

The Russian “Zoology” is a film based on a seemingly absurd starting point. In the film, director Ivan I. Tverdovsky tells a story about Natasha, a middle-aged woman, who works at a zoo. Since her life is very simple and monotonous, the woman does not expect any abrupt changes, when, one day... she grows a tail. Embarrassed at first, Natasha decides to go further with the transformation and use it as an opportunity to redefine herself, as a person and as a woman.

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Tofifest news

‘78 Days’ and ‘The Peasants’ are the winners of the 22nd edition of the Tofifest International Film Festival. Kujawy Pomorze Region!

The winner of the On Air Main Competition is ‘78 Days’ by Emilija Gašič, while ‘The Peasants’ by DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman triumphs in the From Poland competition.

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Below you will find titles of the nine films that are going to compete for the Grand Prix Prize of the festival

Martyna Wojciechowska to receive the Golden Angel for Artistic Insolence at the Tofifest International Film Festival. Kujawy Pomorze Region.

During this year’s Closing Ceremony, the award for artistic insolence is going to be given to Martyna Wojciechowska: a journalist, traveller, social activist, author of documentary films and numerous books.