Still from Aleksandra Terpińska All Soul's Day, photo courtesy of the artist
The 19th edition of the Aye Aye Film Festival features pieces created by Polish directors and animators. Two Polish films will compete before a panel of judges, another will be shown in open-air screenings, and seven shorts are in a special screening, Short Waves.
Big names in Polish cinema like Polański and Terpińska will be sharing the programme with rising stars at the Aye Aye Film Festival 2013 held in Nancy, France. Beginning on the 30th of August and lasting until the 7th of September, the festival has scheduled some half dozen programmes of screenings.
The open-air screening session on the last night will feature Roman Polański’s The Fearless Vampire Killers. Sure to leave audiences feeling entertained, the horror-comedy will share the screen with films from Germany, Serbia, Hungary and Belgium.
Aye Aye also features several programs tailored specifically to the interests of young audiences. At least eight short-film series have been organized for various age groups. Included in the program for those 12 and over is the 18-minute film by Aleksandra Terpińska titled Święto Zmarłych / All Soul’s Day. Curating these film groups is only a part of the focus for the festival organizers. Another event is the short-film competition, where over 30 titles are chosen to be presented to the audience and a jury of international film professionals.
Polish works will appear in two separate series. Muka! / Boo! by Kordian Kadziela will be shown in the series titled Itineraries. It is loosely based on the Kafka novel The Trial and tells the story of a middle-age man who encounters some bittersweet trials. In the fifth series, The Daily Struggle, Ziegenort by Tomasz Popakul will be competing. Popakul’s animated film explores the challenges of a half-fish, half-boy character growing up, and has already received awards from film festivals in Poland, Germany and the U.S.
The Short Waves exhibition will show seven shorts handpicked from Poland. This series was organized by the Ad Arte Foundation and draws its material from competitions held in over 30 Polish cities. In order to promote short film, each location holds screenings and collects votes for the best Polish production. This year’s catalogue includes: Katachi by Przemysław Adamski and Katarzyna Kijek, Strażnicy / The Guardians by Krzysztof Szot, Umiłowanie życia / To Love Life by Piotr Bosacki, O rządach miłości / The Governance of Love by Adela Kaczmarek, Sponge Ideas by Katarzyna Nalewajka and Paulina Szewczyk, Foton by Alexander Pawlik, and Wspomnienie poprzedniego lata / A Memory from Last Summer by Kuba Gryżewski and Ivo Krankowski.
The Aye Aye Film Festival was launched in 1995 and accepts film submissions from all genres. The only stipulation is that the movies be less than 45 minutes long. The festival is renowned for its willingness to show a variety of audiovisual genres in cinematography.
Sources: press materials
Author: SMG 13/8/13