British actor Tim Roth and Indian film star Amitabh Bachchan are guests of this year's OFF Plus Camera festival in Krakow, an event entirely dedicated to independent cinema around the world
Peter Weir's The Way Back, starring Ed Harris and Colin Farrell is among the highlights of the festival. The film is inspired by The Long Walk, a book by Sławomir Rawicz in which he tells the story of Polish soldiers who escaped a Soviet Gulag in 1940. Janusz (played by Jim Sturgess) is exiled for twenty years to Siberia, where the endless wilderness proves more terrifying than the guards, their dogs or the fences. Janusz leads six other prisoners of various nationalities on an escape through Siberia, through Mongolia, the Gobi desert, Himalayas and finally, to India - and freedom. On one hand it recounts a struggle for survival and on the other, true friendship and solidarity.
The festival presents the most interesting films from the world's top festivals: Sundance, Berlin, Rotterdam. The programme features Polish films, such as Marek Lechki's Erratum and Jana Komasa's Suicide Room, alongside international pictures Gun Hill Road, a feature-length debut by writer and director Rashaad Ernest Green, Lou, a film by Australian director and screenwriter Belinda Chayko in which she presents a complex relationship emerging between an ailing man and his granddaughter Lou, Musan il-gy, a feature-length debut by South Korean director Park Jung-Bum, Notre Jour Viendra, Romain Gavras's feature debut, Pure by Swedish director Lisa Langseth, Sensation by Irish director Tom Hall, Nick Whitfield's Skeletons, Small Town Murder Songs - Canadian director's Ed Gass-Donnelly's second full-length movie, Smukke Mennesker by young Danish filmmaker Mikkel Munch-Fals and The Off Hours by Megan Griffiths.
The international Jury has $100,000 at its disposal to award to its picks for the best independent films of 2010/2011. Jerzy Skolimowski, director of the award-winning film Essential Killing is the jury chairman. A series of films by Skolimowski will also be presented at the festival as a special tribute series.
A novelty at this year's festival is the Polish Feature Film Competition, which aims to promote the most original Polish pieces and a review of the most interesting trends that have emerged in the Polish film industry over the last year. The competition includes 10 full-length feature films, produced in 2010 and 2011: The Christening (directed by Marcin Wrona), Wires (directed by Ireneusz Grzyb and Aleksandra Gowin), Dodgeball (directed by Agnieszka Łukasiak), Heniek (directed by Eliza Kowalewska),Lincz (directed by Krzysztof Łukaszewicz),Made in Poland (directed by Przemysław Wojcieszek),Mother Teresa of cats (directed by Paweł Sala),My Australia (directed by Ami Drozd), A Simple Story about Love (directed by Arkadiusz Jakubik), With Love (directed by Anna Jadowska).Outside the competition, the OFF Plus Camera presents the latest award-winning productions for the world's great festivals. It holds premieres, national film reviews, screenings of latest productions in the thematic sections: From the Gut shows the most original films of the American Independents and retrospectives of original cinema icons, Discoveries presents the latest productions of both established artists and young filmmakers that have already been successfully received at other international film festivals, Sundance Institute Series presents selected features from the cult festival's previous two editions. New Asian Cinema, New Irish Cinema and New German Cinema comprise a review of national cinematography, while Confrontations shows off the most interesting films made by young, talented artists from Poland and film students from all around the world.
Tim Roth is a special guest of this year's edition. He is to be honoured with the Upstream prize and a retrospective of his films, including The Legend of 1900, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and Roth's directorial debut The War Zone. Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins will also be honoured, with showings of Let me in, directed by Matt Reeves and The Meeting, directed by Thomas McCarthy.
The festival also hosts a wide programme of workshops on the craft of filmmaking for young professionals and amateurs. Topics include shooting with a mobile phone, alternative distribution channels and casting techniques with Ellen Chenoweth. Concerts and a ceremonial gala on April 12 round out the programme.
The festival also hosts a special screening on April 15 of Mala Matura 1947, inspired in part by the biography of director Janusz Majewski. The action begins in 1945, shortly after World War II. The protagonist, Ludwik is a 14-year-old, who moves with his parents from Lviv to Kraków and starts one of the most prestigious schools in the city, the Sobieski Gymnasium. The cast and crew will be present at the screening at the Kijów Cinema in Kraków.
"Off Camera" Society for Independent and Alternative Arts
Festival director: Szymon Miszczak
ul. Bonifraterska 3/1, 31-061 Kraków
tel./fax (+48 12) 421 52 57
link*www.offpluscamera.com*http://www.offpluscamera.com****