Still from Filip Marczewski's "Shameless", photo: Kino Świat
A car ride that turns into a therapy session for men who fear female domination, an aging illusionist trying to keep his show the centerpiece of the town’s cultural program and a post-communist garden-variety gangster, the Czech Film Festival screens Polish productions and coproductions in a variety of competitions
On top of the two films competing in the main competition at the 47th edition of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival – To Kill a Beaver and Polski Film, seven Polish films make their way to the festival’s competitions and sections.
Upon discovering an incestuous sexual fascination developing between each other, Tadek and his sister Anka face the difficulties of growing up and searching for love. In Filip Marczewski’s Bez Wstydu/ Shameless coming back to his home town, Tadek discovers that his beloved sister is involved with a married man. His jealously towards the well-respected businessman and aspiring politician turns into an obsession breaking all social conventions. The film competes In the East of the West competition at Karlovy Vary. Another competitor in the East of the West section, Piotr Mularuk’s Yuma traces the evolution of twenty year old Zyga who after the fall of communism accidentally evolves into a garden-variety gangster.
A Polish, German, Danish and French 2012 coproduction, the feature-length documentary Polish Illusions was directed by Jacob Dammas and Helge Renner and takes part in the competition for best documentary. The action takes place in the Polish seaside resort Darłowo. Right at the start of the tourist season a new cultural director attempts to bring the programme into the 21st century. The town’s aging illusionist Jan Konstantynow is trying to keep his show the centerpiece of the town’s cultural program. The other atypical inhabitant of Darłowo is Mark Buller and retired pilot from Colorado with sexist views who moves to Poland to find a new home for his growing collection of military vehicles and a wife. Another Polish runner up in the Documentary Competition is Jagoda Szelc’s Kichot.
In Tomasz Wasilewski’s W Sypialni/ In a Bedroom featured in the Festival’s Forum of Independents, a 40 year old woman runs away from her home village, penniless, she decides to spend the night in the flats of men met over the internet by sedating them. The film is about attempting to build a new life in a big city while the protagonist’s decisions turn out to be entirely based on her past life.
The minimalistic plot of two men travelling by car at night through Poland and kill time by talking about women – from how they can’t drive, how much stuff they have in their purses to how to be a womanizer. Although the destination of the car journey is unknown nor is it clear where the ride started, as the humidity grows and the conversation develops, the men seem to perceive the world as dominated by women. Entirely shot in the studio, only to be turned into a car ride in post production, Marek Koterski’s Man, Chicks Are Just Different is shown in the Another View section. Finally, the Slovak-Czech-Polish coproduction The Confidant features in the New Czech Films Section.
Thumbnail: Still from Piotr Mularuk's "Yuma", photo: Bartosz Mrozowski / Kino Świat
Sources: Polish Film Institute, Film New Europe, culture.pl
Author: Marta Jazowska