French film director Patrice Chereau's latest film Persecution will open this year's Tofifest International Film Festival. This year, the film has already won French César award, as well as awards in Cannes and Berlin. The uncanny, abstract mood of the picture, set in Paris, is punctuated by brilliant performances from Charlotte Gainsbourg and Romain Duris.
The festival will host three competitions - one national and two at the international level. New rules apply this year to the selection process determining the winners.
The ON AIR International Feature Film Competition is the main competition of the festival, dedicated to debuts or second full-length feature films from directors from around the world. The competition is focused on the presentation of cinema created by filmmakers who pursue new solutions, new ways of storytelling and ways of depicting the truth about humanity. The following films will battle it out for the "Golden Angel" grand prix: Shirin Neshat's feature debut Woman Without Men (2009 Silver Lion winner in Venice), Street Days from Georgian director Levana Koguashvili, Altiplano (dirs. Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworths), the controversial picture Eyes Wide Open from Haim Tabakman and Francesca, the film from Romanian director Bobby Păunescu that incited a political scandal at 2009's Venice festival. The competition also features "First of All, Felicia", the Romanian-Dutch collaboration by duo Razvan Radulescu and Melissa de Raaf, To the Sea from Mexican director Pedro González-Rubio and 10 to 11 from Turkish director Pelin Esmer. These diverse stories are linked by the festival's main message - a call for filmmakers to give their voices to the debate on contemporary man, his world and his future.
The SHORTCUTS competition accepts short film submissions from around the world. As of this year, SHORTCUTS has expanded its scope to include feature, animations, documentaries and experimental films. Festival director Kafka Jaworska explains that the decision was based on the intention to expand the competition to include all relevant forms of expression from filmmakers in the genre. From year to year, it became increasingly difficult to reject films from outside the feature category.
This year's SHORCUT competition will bring two world premieres to the Tofifest screen, along with 17 Polish premieres. 35 films from 21 countries have qualified this year, all dealing with issues of contemporary man and problems related to his existence. These filmmakers analyse subjects that cover family drama, kinship, relationships, the tragedy of refugees and the issue of illegal immigration. Through film, they attempt to answer the question "What is mankind in AD 2010?" The Tofifest competition includes several premieres, as well as prize-winners at past festivals in Berlin, Locarno, Venice and Clermont-Ferrand. It will present such films as Daniel Nocke's 12 Years (Germany), a powerful story of the transformation of a woman who remains in a toxic relationship for years, and Michael Müller's Miramare (Croatia), a film about Swiss woman living in Croatia for many years. The latter film is an insightful look into the life along the Adriatic coast, where tourists relaxing on holiday and illegal immigrants searching for a better life exist side by side.Among the pearls of this year's SHORTCUT festival is the Polish film Birthday, by the Swedish filmmaker trained at Poland's famous film school in Łódź, Jennifer Malmqvist. The picture, which touches upon complex romantic themes between two middle-aged lesbians, won the Young Cinema competition at the last festival in Gdynia. Rowland Jobon's "Girl Like Me" (Great Britain) received a warm reception at the prestigious Sundance Festival in the USA and in Torino, winning awards at the Venice festival, Slamdance in the USA and Premiere Plans in Anders. The film tells the story of a 13-year-old girl who wants to be an adult and gets caught up in a risky sex game with a grown man. Tornike Bziava's Aprilis Suskhi, honoured at the Clermont-Ferrand festival, tells the Russian side of the story with this tale of a Soviet soldier whose heart opens up to deeper human emotion, inspired by the art of a young Georgian dancer.
Efecto Domino (Cuba), nominated for the "Bingo" Student Academy Awards and The Descent (Israel) are also noteworthy features of the festival.
The final competition of the festival is dedicated to full-length feature films produced in Poland or co-produced by Poles. 12 films will be presented within the framework of the competition, accompanied by discussions with the filmmakers.
This year's special guest is Shirin Neshat, one of the most important contemporary artists. Neshat will host the Polish premiere of her award-winning film, Woman Without Men. The brilliant, world-renowned filmmaker, whose works are fought over by galleries across the USA and Europe, is based in New York and considered one of the first artists who brought in a strong voice on women's issues in Islamic nations to the forefront of the global debate on art. In doing so, she avoids aggressive tactics and instead engages in an incisiveness that is as sharp as a surgeon's blade, mainly exploring the essence of Islam and questioning why a woman should be inferior to man under Islam.
The winner of a Silver Bear from the Berlinale, two EFA prizes and the "German Oscar" Julia Jentsch will arrive in Toruń for the festival. During the opening ceremony, she will accept a "Tofifest Golden Angel" award for the Most Promising European Actress. Jentsch follows Holland, Mészáros and Janda in a line of important women in European cinema honoured by the festival in Toruń. Jentsch's incredible roles in The Educators,
33 Scenes from Life and Sophie Scholl - The Final Days have proven her to be a multi-faceted and talented actress who is unafraid of playing rebellious, insolent characters. This was one of the most significant reasons for the organisers of the "rebellious" Tofifest festival to award their first and most important actor's prize to Jentsch.
A special Golden Angel prize will also go to Polish actor Bogusław Linda for his own "rebellious" work as an artist.
For more information and a full program, see:
www.tofifest.pl .
Source: submitted press materials.