The 7 films you certainly cannot miss during Tofifest
The Tofifest IFF is a celebration of the cinema that gets under your skin, irritates, sometimes hurts, but above all leaves a mark and stays in your head for long. These are the types of films that I invite to Torun. Some of them are still with me, although I saw those even months ago. I am certain that they are going to stay with the audience for more than just a moment, too, says Kafka Jaworska, who has personally selected seven films she considers to be the toughest competitors.
It would be impossible for me to put them in order and prioritise, defining the very best one and the one that is second to it, but only slightly. Such rankings have no place, when we are talking about films aimed at making people thing, rather than at competing for the largest audience. The films listed below have made me take a closer look at the issues they discuss, leave my comfort zone, and get in touch with the world that only seems to be so distant. I am confident that the audience of Tofifest will come to the same conclusion, emphasised Kafka Jaworska.
The seven most significant films of the Tofifest IFF
by Kafka Jaworska:
Joy – At first glance, we seem to be dealing with a story that cinema has worked on many times over. We have a poor Nigerian woman coming to wealthy Austria with a debt she has run up to have a chance at living in a better world. To pay that debt, she works as a prostitute. However, this film is far from the typical moaning about social inequalities. Instead, we have humanism and great consideration for the fate of the people to whom the realisation that they need to go through hell to get what others have by birth is a fact of life. It is both frightening and deeply humane cinema, and I have always taken sides with emphatic people.
- Screening: 26th October, at 3.00 p.m.
Dear Son – It is not only an amazing portrait of family relations, but also a fantastic social panorama of Tunisia, which is disillusioned with the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Why would the son of the main protagonist choose to join the Islamic fundamentalists, if all is supposed to be getting better after overthrowing the dictatorship? It is a film that Western countries, Poland included, really need, as it clearly proves that radical Islam is a threat to Muslims themselves. I do want such voices to resonate during our festival.
- Screening: 25th October, at 8.10 p.m.
Musical Cosmos – This event will be unprecedented in Poland. A gigantic spherical screen will be used to present “Macro Cosmos,” a film with original soundtrack composed by DJ Funktion. Cinema has always been about making film directors fulfil their dreams. My dream is to see films in the highest possible quality. This screening is the quality I have always wanted to have. It is a source of my personal pride and the most significant element of the programme, and at the same time beautiful correspondence between the international nature of the festival and its local inclinations. I want to boast about the achievements of international cinema in Torun, and boast to the entire world about Torun. This will be one of such opportunities.
- Screening: 26th October, at 7.00 p.m.
3 Faces – I admire Jafar Panahi for his courage, steadfastness, and talent for directing. It is his fourth film to date, although the authorities have banned him from performing his profession. The director is not afraid, though – he shows his face in front of the camera and does not hide the fact that what he does is illegal. This attitude certainly shows in “3 Faces.” There is a smile, hope, and true love for Iran. A true manifestation of patriotism, although his homeland does not reciprocate this love. My dream of going to Iran only intensified, after seeing this film.
- Screening: 21st October, at 4.45 p.m.
I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians – Radu Jude is already an icon of Romanian cinema. Among others, it is also his films that help us learn how similar Poles and Romanians really are, and that we can easily identify with their problems, concerns, inner conflicts, and history, which remains unsettled. With this film, which won the film festival in Karlovy Vary, the director touches upon one of such painful episodes in Romanian history, when anti-Semitism leads to a tragedy. It is a story told without any ideology and mindless accusations, instead being one that makes you think deeply. It stayed with me for many days, after I saw the film.
- Screening: 28th October, at 6.00 p.m.
Girl – We are used to cinema that portrays transsexualism as a problem. Among its standard ingredients are homophobia, lack of acceptance, and confusion. But not his time, though. In Scandinavia, the things others would lament about, they see as a challenge they need to face. That is exactly what the “Girl” is like – strong, independent, and unyielding to stereotypes – and I love her for that.
- Screening: 25th October, at 5.00 p.m.
My Brilliant Friend – I dreamt about having its Polish première at Tofifest and it has come true. This brilliant films series from HBO has all the ingredients one can expect of modern cinema: the HBO quality, a fantastic script based on a best-seller series of books by Elana Ferrante, and herstories, the latter of which is what I always wish to have in abundance in any film. It is one of the strongest accents of this year’s edition of the festival, beyond doubt.
- Screening: 26th October, at 7.30 p.m.
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