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ARGENTINIAN LESSON

POLISH TITLE: ARGENTYŃSKA LEKCJA

REPRESENTED BY KFF

Argentinean Lesson with its visual aesthetics, its rhythm and composition parallels a narration of a fiction film. This is a intimate story of friendship between two kids from completely different worlds. 8 years old Janek comes to an abandoned village in north Argentina where his mother supposed to be a teacher. Janek is following his new friend, Marcia who fights alone through the family crisis, mother’s mental disease and father’s absence. Working on yerba plantations and brick factory, he enters the fascinating world of child fantasy, and is introduced to the bitterness of the childhood prematurely contaminated with the problems of the grown-ups.  This is a film with a social content, but after all a love story with many levels where much emotion is to be read in the faces of the characters. Dialogue is sparse, images and sounds give the information needed, to be step by step involved in a drama of “adulthood”.

FILM REPRESENTED BY KRAKOW FILM FOUNDATION

TRAILER
GENRE:
documentary
COUNTRY:
Polska
RUNNING TIME:
56'
YEAR:
DIRECTING:
Wojciech Staroń
SCRIPT:
Wojciech Staroń
DOP:
Wojciech Staroń
EDITOR:
Wojciech Staroń, Zbigniew Osiński
PRODUCTION:
TVP S.A., Staroń Film

Wojciech Staroń »

Cinematographer and director. Winner of the Silver Bear at the 61st Berlinale for cinematography of the film "El Premio" directed by P. Markovitch. His directorial debut "Siberian Lesson" (1998) was awarded at festivals in Krakow FF, IDFA and Cinema du Reel. "Argentine Lesson" (2011) won awards including at Cinema Eye Honor, Krakow FF, DokLeipzig and Camerimage. The film "Brothers" (2015) won Semaine de la Critique in Locarno. “Passion According To Agnieszka”(2025) won Golden Hobbyhorse on Krakow FF. As a cinematographer, he collaborated with Krzysztof Krauze and Joanna Kos-Krauze on "Plac Zbawiciela" (Golden Frog Polish Competition Camerimage 2006), "Papusza" (Manaki Brothers Bronze Camera 2013), with Laila Pakalnina on “Dawn” (PSC Award 2018) with Lidia Duda on "Entangled" (Cinematography Award Krakow), “Fledglings”(PSC Award 2023), with Jerzy Sadkowski “Don Juan”(2015 IDFA GrandPrix), “Bitter Love”(2020 CPH Dox), with Diego Lerman on "Refugiado" (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, Cannes 2014), M. Mubarak on "Autobiography" (Venice Orizzonti 2022), with V. Kairis on "January" (Tribeca 2022 Best feature) and with L. Achour on "Red Path" (Locarno, Camerimage 2024). Professor of Polish National Film School in Lodz.
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