Festival poster designed by Tomasz Opasiński
The evening of the 5th of August marks the start of the Transatlantyk International Festival of Film and Music in Poznań. The opening gala features a performance of Jan A.P. Kaczmarek's "Yankiel's Concerto", a musical work by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek based on the performance described in Adam Mickiewicz's epic masterpiece "Pan Tadeusz". Many major names in global film, arts and music are in attendance at the event, including Miloš Forman and James Cromwell
Film music is in the spotlight at the opening gala, with concerts of works by Ennio Morricone, John Williams, John Barry and a performance by the Festival Orchestra and Choir conducted by Maciej Sztora. A screening of Kamil Polak's "Switeż" rounds out the multi-faceted programme on the festival's grandiose kick-off.
The event features hundreds of screenings, open-air concerts, discussion panels, workshops and master classes with international guests from the film, art and music industry. The ultimate goal of the festival is to stimulate open debates on current social topics. "Open, Bold and Glocal" is the festival's ideology, focusing on local identities and actions with simultaneous understanding of their reflective impact on a global scale. Scientiest, writer and academic Bjørn Lomborg, whom The Guardian named "one of the 50 people who could save the planet" in 2008 and Time called one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2004, is to receive the festival's Glocal Hero Award at the ceremonial opening gala on Friday. Ecology is a major part of the festival, making up one of the main film series in the film programme, featuring screenings of such films as Ondi Timoner's "Cool It".
The founder and director of the Festival is 2004 Academy Award winner Jan A.P. Kaczmarek calls the festival "a new artistic platform aimed at building a stronger relationship between society, art and the environment through music and movies". Kaczmarek's "Yankiel's Concerto" and "Open Window" are to be performed by Leszek Możdżer, Byelorussian cymbalists from the Wasilinki troupe and the Rozbitek Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Adam Banaszak. The Silesian Quartet performs Kaczmarek’s string quartets, including the Polish premiere of quartets from Hisako Matsui’s Japanese-American film "Leonie".
The world premiere of "Koncert Jankiela" / "Yankiel's Concerto", commissioned by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute took place on the 3rd of July at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. The work, which previously existed only through the words of Poland's premier poet, was brought to life by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek and first performed by the Sinfonia Varsovia and three cymbalists from the Wasilinki ensemble (Belarus), conducted by Marc Minkowski. Following its premiere at the opening gala, the concert repeats on the 10th of August.
"Yankiel's Concerto" forms a significant part of Book XII of Adam Mickiewicz's epic poem. It is played to celebrate the engagement of the poem's protagonist Pan Tadeusz and his bride-to-be, the young and beautiful Zosia. It is Zosia who manages to convince the Jew Jankiel to play for the gathered guests. Jankiel is a renowned figure, known for his work as a cymbalist ('There were many cymbalists / but none of them dared to play alongside Jankiel' / Book XII, verses 641-642). See more on "Yankiel's Concerto"...
The premiere of Kaczmarek's "Open Window" took place on the 29th of July, 2011 in Warsaw to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising. The work was composed for piano, orchestra and a DJ. The Transatlantyk rendition features the Rozbitek Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adam Banaszak and the Silesian Quartet.
The festival also hosts two separate competitions geared towards musicians under the age of 35. A movie soundtrack challenge for the Transatlantyk Film Music Competition will square artists against each other in the attempt to compose music for two short films: a piece from "Till the Grave" directed by Aaron Schnedier and a short animation "AH" created by Simon, Moreau, Bastien Dubois and Joris Backquet. The second challenge comes as a compositional improvisation competition - the Transatlantyk Instant Composition Contest in which participants compose piano music to a live screening of a short film in a very short time.
Master Classes play a pivotal role during the Festival, led by respected professionals across a diverse range of fields. Special guests include Miloš Forman Peter Golub, Paul Broucek, George S. Clinton, Christopher Young, Tomasz Opasinski and Daniel Horowitz.
The film series makes up a substantial chunk of the festivities. The programme has been subdivided into topical categories:
- Transatlantyk Panorama – premiers and most interesting films of the 2010/2011 season
- New Scandinavian Cinema – reviews of some of the more note worthy pieces of Scandinavian cinematography.
- Culinary Cinema – This section will focus on healthy and Eco-friendly food. It will combine movie screening with wine and food tasting.
- B-rated Cinema “Ecstasy and Nausea” - evening screenings of low budget and amateur Hollywood flicks from the 50s.
- Transatlantyk Docs – documentaries dealing with the current socio-political world situation, the economic crisis, human rights and other global issues.
- Transatlantyk Spotlight – documents focusing on various locations world wide. This year, the spotlight falls on California and New York.
- 10 German Voices – featuring the newest world renowned cinema, new cinematic phenomena, sensitive topics, and debuts accompanied by widely recognized artists
- Transatlantyk Eko – movies which underline the importance of sustainable energy issues, alternative energy sources and science related topics such as nanotechnology.
- Arabian Revolutions “Then and now...” - North African and Middle Eastern cinema.
- Transatlantyk Art – music documentaries, archival recordings from concerts and movies covering modern artistic events.
- Transatlantyk for kids – movies for young adults.
For more info, see: www.transatlantyk.org
Also see: Transatlantyk 2011 Video Coverage on Culture.pl