Julia Kijowska and Marcin Dorociński in Sławomir Fabicki's "Loving", photo: Warsaw Film Festival
The one is an intimate drama between a husband and wife, the other a documentary about a man who tires to make something of himself, Sławomir Fabicki's Loving and Grzegorz Zariczny's The Whistle receive awards at the 18th International Kino Pavasaris Film Festival in Vilnius.
Loving, Sławomir Fabicki's second feature, is a strikingly intimate portrait of a couple undergoing a crisis. Capturing the dynamic between the husband (Marcin Dorocinski) and wife (Julia Kijowska), the film unveils the incredible strength of women, premised on the director’s conviction that "women are stronger than men and braver in the face of adversity, " as he said in an interview for culture.pl. The film is also a story about love faced with life-altering shifts, and requiring refinement and redefinition.
Loving has previously won the main prize at the 13th Tbilisi International Film Festival in December 2012- the Golden Prometheus, and earned Julia Kijowska Best Actress for her role as Marysia at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece in November 2012. At the 18th International Kino Pavasaris Film Festival, the film wins the main competition - the New Europe - New Names section devoted to films from Baltic and Balkan countries. Katarzyna Rosłaniec's portrait of teenage pregnancy in the 21st century Baby Blues was another Polish runner up in the section.
"A very honest story about a young man who tries to make something of his life", as the film's director Grzegorz Zariczny puts it, The Whistle, Poland's winner of the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival 2013 receives the main prize of the Kino Pavaris Short Film competition. Thirtysomething Marcin from a small town near Kraków. He is in no hurry to enter adult life. His 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. Zariczny tells Lech Moliński in an interview for the Portal Filmowy website,
I wanted to talk about someone normal. It seems to be the norm that there are movies about doctors, lawyers, very educated people, and so few about normal people. […] I also want to give something to the protagonists, similarly to [the work of director] Jacek Bławut. […]. I didn’t want the director or the film crew to be the most important figures of the film, because that leaves the protagonist at the far end.
On top of the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival 2013, The Whistle was awarded at the T-Mobile New Horizons Festival and the Best Short Film Award at the Slovak Febio Fest Festival in March 2013.
The 18th edition of the International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris took place between the 14th and the 28th of March 2013.
Sources: article by BS for culture.pl, culture.pl
Editor: MJ, 02.04.2013