Still from Jerzy Hoffman's "Battle of Warsaw 1920", photo: Glinka Agency
While Holland's Oscar candidate garners the BIAFF Grand Prix, Staron's true story showing the challenges and triumphs of the meeting of different cultures, Borowski's portrait of the consequences of 15 years of imprisonment on the human perception of reality and Kotetishvili's Polish-Georgian production come to the spotlight
While Agnieszka Holland's existential tale of the volatility of the human spirit recounts the story of Leopold Socha, a sewer worker and petty thief in Lviv during the Nazi occupation, Wojciech Staroń's eight year old son Janek and his new Argentinian friend Marcia show how friendship narrows the gap between heterogeneous cultures. Holland's In Darkness, a 2012 Oscar contender in the Best Foreign Film Category receives the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival 2012 Grand Prix in the International Feature Film Competition. Wojciech Staroń's 2011 documentary, a continuation of the movie Siberian Lesson where Argentinian Lesson's protagonist - the filmmaker's son was born receives the BIAFF 2012 Best Doc Film Award in the International Doc Film Competition.
Łukasz Borowski's 3 Days of Freedom is a short documentary about the feelings and tribulations of a man who experiences freedom for the first time after 15 years of prison. He re-evaluates the past, considers prospects for the future and attempts to choose what is most important to him. As one of 16 runner ups, the 2011 film won the BIAFF Jury Special Prize in the International Short Film Competition Section. The Best Short Film Award in the same section was given to a 10 minute short by Georgian director Tato Kotetishvili - Watermelon. A 2012 Polish-Georgian production, the film is a day in the life of a watermelon vendor in a remote area of Georgia. "Away from cities a man puts up a watermelon stall. Rare local drivers pass by without stopping. Only tourists stop to have a picture taken in front of such a peculiar sight. Such a business can hardly bring profit. To make things worse another seller puts up his stall opposite". Tato Kotetishvili, born in Georgia in 1987 is a student of Cinematography Department at the Film School in Łódź (PWSFTviT).
Additionally, the Master's Collection section screened Jerzy Hoffman's first ever Polish 3D feature film - Battle of Warsaw 1920. One of the most expensive movies in the history of Polish cinema, the film tells the story of the 1920 clash between the newly reborn Poland and Soviet Russia. Known as the so-called "Miracle on the Vistula", in the Battle of Warsaw Poland defeated the Red Army.
Organised since 2006, the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival is an up and coming Black Sea region film festival focusing on art-house and independent cinema. this year's edition featured 40 full length and 40 short films from over 20 countries.
Sources: BIAFF, culture.pl, Polish Shorts, Reelport
Author: Marta Jazowska