Still from Katarzyna Roslaniec's "Baby Blues"
A teenager trying to make up for the love she never received by giving birth, a blind man able to see more with his imagination than most people with their eyes and a young boy struggling with the separation from his father, Polish films and coproductions make their appearance at the Toronto Film Festival
Virtually picking up where she left off with her debut film Mall Girls, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2009, Katarzyna Rosłaniec’s Baby Blues follows 17 year old protagonist Natalia, played by amateur actress Magdalena Berus, roller-skating along the sidewalks of Warsaw pushing a pram in front of her. The very picture of teenage rebellion, Natalia finds herself juggling youthful desires with adult responsibilities. Touted by TIFFprogrammers as an "edgy and disarmingly frank look at teen pregnancy" which is "far more than just another in the long line of films about teen pregnancy", Rosłaniec portrays the challenges faced by teenagers in a world driven by imitation and illusion. The screenplay was inspired by an article by Magdalena Gignal Europe’s youngest mothers / Najmłodsze matki Europy which appeared in Gazeta Wyborcza in 2009. "These girls have to give birth to love in order to feel security and closeness" Rosłaniec comments on the website filmweb.p. At TIFF Baby Blues screens in the Contemporary World Cinema section.
An unusual young blind man who wishes to share his ability to walk unassisted poses a great challenge to both the patients and the staff of a prestigious institute in Lisbon. Self confident and charismatic, Ian has mastered the skill of envisioning the landscape through which he walks and takes on the task of transferring his skill to another patient - Eva. Away from the cloistered institute, they venture into the streets of Lisbon without canes. A Polish, English, French and Portuguese coproduction, Andrzej Jakimowski’s Imagine is defined by the Festival programmers as "sharply rendered, imaginatively conceived and exquisite", "a film about blindness that does not observe from without, but tries to communicate from within" and "a work of penetrating acuity — by turns exhilarating, frightening, moving and magical". Andrzej Jakimowski, whose previous film Tricks was screened at TIFF in 2010, presents Imagine in 2012 in the Contemporary World Cinema section.
Eleven-year-old Igor, the protagonist of Igor and the Cranes Journey, much like the film's director Evgeny Ruman, emigrates from Russia to Israel. Upset that he cannot stay with his father back in Russia for whose closeness he yearns, the boy struggles with the adjustement to the new school and language. Drawing pictures of cranes which remind him of his father the ornithologist, Igor makes a friend, and thanks to a tracking devise finds out that a little crane whose birth he witnessed with his father is separated from the flock. Shot on location in Poland and Israel, the film shows the growing strength of father and son when they join forces to find the little crane. A Polish, Israeli, German coproduction, the film is an adaptation of a novel by Aki Shavit. According to TIFF's Elizabeth Muskala an "engaging and heartwarming family film", that "highlights the delicate, invaluable relationships that exist between family, friends and the environment", Evgeny Ruman's first-time feature is screened in the TIFF Kids section.
The Toronto International Film Festival is considered the leading public film festival in the world, screening more than 300 films from 60+ countries. Organised since 1976, now in its 37th edition, the event is a review of the most important trends in world cinematography with its prizes awarded by the public.
Sources: Toronto International Film Festival, PISF, Yeti Films
Author: Marta Jazowska