With late-night showings on screens floating on the waters of the Piovego River, the River Film Festival’s 7th edition promotes and encourages young international talent, and features a rich lineup of Polish shorts, animations and documentaries
Tato Kotetishvili – Watermelon
In the middle of a desert in Georgia on the hottest day of summer, a man puts up a watermelon stall, but the occasional local drivers pass without stopping. Only tourists stop, to have a photo taken in front of the peculiar sight. To make things worse, another vendor puts up his stall opposite. A Polish-Georgian production from 2012, the film was directed by Georgian director Tato Kotetishvili (born 1987) who studied at the Łódź Film School’s Cinematography Department.
Still from Tato Kotetishvili's "Watermelon", photo: Polish Shorts
Piotr Sułkowski – Miruna
After an argument with her lover, a young woman recklessly gets into the parked car of a mysterious stranger. During a journey to the end of the night, their brief encounter leads to mutual attraction.
Through a maze of colorful flashbacks intricately related to the main character's painful past, the destiny of the young woman is eventually connected to that of an imaginary fish. The psychological thriller, featuring the well-known actor Andrzej Chyra, is the young director’s (born 1983) tenth short, and was made at the Łódź Film School.
Izabela Plucińska – Afternoon
A man and a woman are completely disengaged from each other's lives. They live together but behave as if the other didn’t exist. An unexpected incident allows them to look towards one another once again. The remaining question is how long the new perspective can last.
Still from Izabela Plucińska's "Afternoon"
Grzegorz Zariczny – The Whistle
Thirtysomething Marcin comes from a small town near Kraków. He is in no hurry to enter adult life and this reluctance meets with his mother’s disapproval. She expects him to make decisions and take action, specifically to find a better job and a wife. Marcin is trying to make it as a football referee. Every week at amateur matches, he has to listen to rough comments and opinions about his work from players and fans. For The Whistle, Zariczny (born 1983) received the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival 2013. Additionally it was awarded the main prize of the Kino Pavaris Short Film competition Vilnius, Best Short Film Award at the Slovak Febio Fest Festival and won Best Short Film at Documenta Madrid.
Jakub Wroński – The Mystery of Malakka Mountain
Six-year-old Junior is an extremely emotionally mature child. In a cloud of cigarette smoke, he ponders life, people and their problems. When his father, a famous pilot, crashes in China in mysterious circumstances, Junior sets off on a journey to find out exactly what happened. Inspired by the paintings of Fernando Botero, the drama takes the convention of magic realism, with a crime story in the background. Jakub Wroński, the animation's director. was born in 1982.
Still from Jakub Wroński's "The Mystery of Malakka Mountain"
Przemysław Adamski, Katarzyna Adamek – Noise
A world on the boundary between reality and imagination, based on the theoretical work of Anglo-Irish, 18th-century philosopher George Berkeley who advanced a theory that contends that familiar objects like tables and chairs are only ideas in the minds of perceivers. The 7-minute film by Katarzyna Kijek and Przemysław Adamski shows subjectively interpreted noises taking on a lives of their own - including a trumpet solo by Tomasz Stańko who also appears in the picture.
Polish participation in the River Film Festival:
Thursday, May 30th, 10 pm, (Film Schools programme):
Tato Kotetishvili - Watermelon
Friday, May 31st, 10 pm, (International Shorts programme):
Piotr Sułkowski - Miruna
Monday, June 3rd, 10 pm, (Extreme Shorts programme):
Izabela Plucińska – Afternoon
Karolina Specht – Love Story
Paulina Ziółkowska - Flip Flat
Alicja Błaszczyńska – Splat!
Tuesday, June 4th, 10 pm, (Documentaries programme):
Grzegorz Zariczny – The Whistle
Thursday, June 6th, 10 pm, (Animations programme):
Tymon Albrzykowski – Monstrosity
Jakub Wroński – The Mystery of the Malakka Mountain
Saturday, June 8th, 10 pm, (Festival of Festivals programme):
Przemysław Adamski, Katarzyna Adamek – Noise
The River Film Festival, now in its seventh edition, is marked by its turn toward international filmmakers. In view of encouraging and supporting new talent, the festival has added a new section: Extreme Short Films that last from one and a half to five minutes, and can be shot with mobile-phone cameras. They will be shown throughout the city on metro trams, buses and bus stops.
For more information see: River Film Festival
Sources:culture.pl, Polish Shorts, vimeo, Warsaw Film Festival, Polish Shorts, Portal Filmowy, Filmpolski, Warsaw Film Festival
Editor: MJ, 23.05.2013