Jakub Gierszał and Magdalena Berus in Jacek Borcuch's "Lasting", photo: Kraków Festival Office
Arriving with prestigious awards from Sundance to the Berlinale, the Polish film selection for the 15th Taipei International Film Festival sheds new light on couples in crisis, teenagers imitating stars and the durability of love at first sight
Lasting
They went on holiday together. Michał (Jakub Gierszał) is visiting his family in Spain, Karina (Magdalena Berus) is going grape-picking to earn extra money during the summer. The twentysomething youngsters are curious and open minded. Michał plays volleyball for the university team, Karina is considering staying in academia. They discover a deep passion for each other that develops into a bond of love. Yet before their feeling finds its place a tragic accident comes between them and forces them to face difficult choices.
The film from the creator of the well-known All That I Love, Lasting is Jacek Borcuch's intimate melodrama set against orange Spanish sun and grey Kraków nights. For its video-clip-like images, the film's cinematographer Michał Englert won the Best Cinematography Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. At the Taipei Film Festival, Lasting screens in the Auteur section.
Loving
While the protagonists of Sławomir Fabicki's film are significantly older than the couple from Lasting, their story is another intimate drama, this time between a husband and wife. She works for the city council, he is an architect. Marysia (Julia Kijowska) and Tomek (Marcin Dorociński) live in a provincial city, they have a new house, financial stability and clear plans for the future. They are expecting a child - Marysia is due in a month. Things get complicated when Marysia's boss, the city's mayor (Adam Woronowicz), falls in love with her. He starts pestering and stalking her, he forces her to meet with him. He rapes her and Marysia, in shock and fear, doesn't tell Tomek about it. The secret becomes the beginning of the end of their relationship. Loving, which won main prizes at festival in Tbilisi, Vilnius and Lecce and Best Actress for Julia Kijowska in Thessaloniki. Fabicki's second feature qualifies for Taipei's New Talent Competition.
Szumowska & Rosłaniec
Other films featured at the Taipei Film Festival include Małgorzata Szumowska's In the Name of..., winner of the Teddy Award at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival, in the festival's Auteur Selection, and Katarzyna Rosłaniec's Baby Blues, winner of the Crystal Bear Award at the 63rd Berlin IFF, in the New Talent Competition. For a brief overview of the two films, which are currently also being shown at the East End Film Festival in London, see: Audacious and Provacative - Polish Films in London.
The Taipei Panorama section also showcases a 1975 television feature by one of the most influential Polish film directors of the last twenty years, Krzysztof Kieślowski, that references his life. Like Kieślowski had once been, the protagonist of Personnel is a theatre dressing-room attendant. The film explores the insurmountable barrier between stage artists and support staff, and deals with the loss of youthful illusions and difficult choices in life.
For more information see: Taipei Film Festival
Editor: mj 26.06.2013
Sources: culture.pl, PISF