As the festival is slowly drawing to a close, we are flooded with a genuine wave of excellent guests and good films. Following the screening of “These Daughters of Mine”, the audience had a chance to participate in a meet-the-author session with its director, Kinga Debska.
The director talked about her inspirations to make that film story, which was based on her actual experiences – both of her parents died, and she had a conflict with her sister. A huge audience attended the meeting and expressed their gratitude for the film that for many of them has become a peculiar therapy to better their lives. The film is one of the competitors in the FROM POLAND competition dedicated to Polish films.
Tomas Lemarquis has already come to Tofifest. On Friday afternoon, there was a meeting with Tomas Lemarquis, a juror at Tofifest and an actor appearing in such films as “X-Men” or “Snowpiercer”. The meeting followed the screening of “Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe”. Lemarquis has come to our festival directly from a film set in Hollywood. He is currently making three films simultaneously, as he had revealed during the meeting.
The latest edition of our newsletter also contains numerous film reviews and reports on meetings with festival guests. So, read on!
Reports
- Impressions after the screening of “Taste of Ink” (ON AIR Main Competition) In his film, Morgan Simon has discussed a common problem of lack of open and sincere communication in one’s family, as well as lack of understanding. His films are compared to the film work of Xavier Dolan. Is it justified? He did not deny that. The director claims that both of them use the same unpopular manner of communicating to the world what they want to say. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2eBvMPG
- “I hate my film,” confessed Jakko Kaján, a Finnish screenwriter and director of “Occupy Jämsä”, to the audience that had come to the meeting in the Od Nowa Club. He has come to Torun together with Jonne Lindholm, producer of the film. According to their point of view, comedies are not seen as serious films, which is completely unfair. In reality, making a comedy is quite a challenge, as one can never be sure, whether the audience will actually laugh. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2eZQbC2
- How much does a kilogram actually weigh, or about the meaning of trivial things – A meeting with Bent Hamer. Following the screening of “1001 Grams”, the audience had a chance to meet with another special guest of Tofifest. The Norwegian director talked about the significance he attaches to trivialities and details that form the foundation of his films. And then he had come up with this question: “How much does life weigh?”. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2e8fdwn
- “Trampoline”, a Croatian film about violent mothers – a meeting with Katarina Zrinka Matijević. One in three children in Croatia is either molested or falls victim to violence – this is the brutal reality in that country. When this problem came under close scrutiny, it turned out that things were actually much worse. “I was completely shocked,” confessed the film director. The film was screened as part of the On Air section. The official première of the film comes in three weeks, in Zagreb. Consequently, the audience at Tofifest had a unique opportunity to see the film before the audience in Croatia do. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2er7jPc
- “I have become addicted to film sets,” admitted Lukasz Grzegorzek, author of “Kamper”, during the meeting at Tofifest. Camping – to hide and lie in wait for somebody. It is a well-known tactics in the world of computer games used by players, in order to avoid open confrontation with their opponents. This strategy is commonly seen as cowardice. And the same applied to the main character in “Kamper”. During the meeting, Lukasz Grzegorzek talked about being lonely in a relationship, the Peter Pan Syndrome, and the contemporary generation of 30-year-olds. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2er2vJE
- A path to redemption. A meeting with Ryszard Bugajski and Maria Mamona. She was a sadist, who tortured, abused, paid no attention to pain or suffering, only to suddenly desire transformation and conversion. “Blindness” is a film that falls outside the obvious definitions and full of things that remain unsaid – therefore it fits Tofifest perfectly! Read more >> http://bit.ly/2eaLN24
- “It is not about forgiveness, as that is not always possible, but about experiencing a catharsis” – A meeting with Erik Poppe. The film discusses the most difficult moments in life, and it is about crossing the bridge to get to the other side, while walking over the title troubled water (this is the exact English title of the film). The film is not about forgiveness, but about reconciling with the past, about a peculiar catharsis. “It is one of my most personal films I have ever made,” confessed Erik Poppe. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2eclwTv
- The rebellion of women continues! - “Thelma & Louise” as a manifesto of people’s freedom. Following the screening of “Thelma & Louise” on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the film, there was a discussion panel at the Od Nowa Club. The audience got involved in that interesting and emotional discussion. According to the Fundacja na rzecz Równości i Emancypacji STER (STER Foundation for Equality and Emancipation), approximately 80% of Polish women fall victim to some sort of violence, while one in four Polish women has been raped, and one in five has experienced an attempted rape. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2epXhgB
- Dancing in Ciechocinek and a concert in Torun – A meeting with Sonia Bohosiewicz and Wlodzimierz Niderhaus. “Excentrycy, czyli po słonecznej stronie ulicy” is a film that has been around for over a year now. However, the screening of the film as part of the From Poland section and the meeting with its authors clearly demonstrated that the film by Janusz Majewski is still popular. And particularly in our region, since it was partly shot here. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2ecoiIa
- Animation offers total freedom. A meeting with Heta Jäälinoja. The author of “Penelope” talked to the audience in Torun about shaping her own style of making films, film education in Estonia, and the connection between her film and the Greek mythology, and many other things. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2eVZoLS
- “I like playing women, who are outsiders.” Malgorzata Foremniak at Tofifest 2016. Her first visit to Tofifest was in 2005. And now, 11 years later, she revisited Torun with “Sługi boże”, a film in which she portrayed Joanna Stanisz. During a meeting that took place in the small hall at the Cultural and Congress Centre Jordanki, she answered many comfortable and much less comfortable questions asked by Jaroslaw Jaworski.
- “Words are the most difficult channel to express one’s emotions, as it is not easy to talk about them.” A meeting with Morgan Simon. In his “Taste of Ink”, which competes in the festival, Morgan Simon has discussed a common problem of lack of open and sincere communication in one’s family, as well as lack of understanding. His films are compared to the film work of Xavier Dolan. Is it justified? He did not deny that. The director claims that both of them use the same unpopular manner of communicating to the world what they want to say. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2eBvMPG
Reviews
- Maciej Stuhr as the Slovakian Franz Maurer? – A review of “The Red Captain”. “The Red Captain” by Slovakian film director Michal Kollar, which is a Polish-Czech-Slovakian co-production, is one of the films included in the From Poland competition at this year's edition of the Tofifest International Film Festival. It is worth seeing this film as a full-blooded crime story that completely involves the audience and never ceases to slow down with the tempo. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2ePEUF9
- “Never lose your sense of humour” – A few words on “Toni Erdmann”. “Toni Erdmann” is an Austrian-German co-production by Maren Ade. For a long time, it was listed as one of the strongest candidates for the Grand Prix at this year’s edition of the Cannes Film Festival. And though it did not win the prize, the exuberant crowds at the film screening yesterday, at the Od Nowa Club, clearly demonstrated that the future holds a lot for the film. Read more >> http://bit.ly/2exsNrg