INTERNATIONAL PREMIERES OF POLISH DOCUMENTARIES IN SWITZERLAND
The 17th edition of the festival that that is one of the leading European documen¬tary film events film events—Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland–will be held in the first part of April. There will be three Polish titles screened in the competition. One of them will celebrate its world premiere, the other one–international premiere.
At the Edge of Russia by Michał Marczak, Slowly by Tomasz Wolski and Phnom Penh Lullaby by Paweł Kloc were selected to the competition of this year’s Visions du Réel. For two last of them it will be the first chance to be presented at the international level of documentary cinema.
Slowly by Tomasz Wolski is a story in which–as Lech Moliński wrote in his article for Polish film portal Stopklatka–the language is pushed aside to the background, however, the image plays an important role, creating in every detail a perfectly thought structure and harmonious rhythm. The film depicts a peaceful, modest lives of three men–Michał, Jan and Mateusz–representing three generations. Almost without a word, with humility, they do their everyday, routine chores. How different is it from the scenes taking place several metres away from their farm, where a busy street, constantly passing cars and noise embody a totally different world.
Phnom Penh Lullaby by Paweł Kloc is an intimate story of a man searching for love and acceptance. Ilan Schickman left Israel dreaming of a new life. He now lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with his Khmer girlfriend Saran and two daughters Marie, 2 years old, and Jasmine, 6 months, trying to make ends meet as a street fortune-teller. Paweł Kloc’s feature-length documentary debut will be also screened at Hot Docs in Toronto and Doc/Fest Sheffield, UK. His Polish premiere will take place at this year’s 51st Krakow Film Festival.
At the Edge of Russia by Michał Marczak is a story about Alexei, a nineteen year old recruit, performing his military service on the frontier of northern Russia. The base is one of a few of such outposts remaining at the Arctic Ocean guarding this vast border on the remote fringes of the great Russian state. There are five other seasoned and long serving soldiers stationed here, each with their own personal story or a secret that has caused them to retreat from the real world. Their training and breaking in the newcomer is sometimes humorous and at times harsh. Gradually, each of them reveals something about themselves in their daily interactions and private moments as they continue their absurd duty in this snow covered no man’s land, hundreds of miles from the nearest human settlement.
Polish accents will mark their presence not only on the festival screen, but also in the Doc Outlook-International Market (DOCM) as the part of Polish Docs project which is organized by the Krakow Film Foundation with the support of the Polish Film Institute.
11 Polish titles will be presented in the Doc Outlook Market:
* A Piece of Summer, dir. Marta Minorowicz
* A Screening at the Tatry Cinema, dir. Igor Chojna
* At the Edge of Russia, dir. Michał Marczak
* Beats of Freedom, dir. Wojciech Słota, Leszek Gnoiński
* Inventory, dir. Paweł Łoziński
* Let’s Run Away From Her, dir. Marcin Koszałka
* On the Road, dir. Leszek Dawid
* Out of Reach, dir. Jakub Stożek
* Phnom Penh Lullaby, dir. Paweł Kloc
* Scrap Oddyssey, dir. Paweł Ferdek, Łukasz Gutt
* Slowly, dir. Tomasz Wolski
In previous editions of the festival Polish documentary was present in Nyon many times, and what is more, it has also appeared among the winners. In 2003 Marcin Koszałka received the Prix Etat de Vaud for his film Such A Nice Son I Gave Birth To and in 2008 the same filmmaker won the Prix du jury interreligieux for his feature-length documentary The Existence. It is worth adding that last year The Dog Hill by Grzegorz Zariczny had its international premiere at the Visions du Réel, and just like–Rabbit à la Berlin by Bartek Konopka in 2009.
Visions du Réel–as one of the most important European events dedicated to documentary ciemna–each year welcomes hundreds of international filmmakers and industry delegates from all around the world to Nyon. There were the most excellent and famous names among them: Johan van der Keuken, Robert Kramer, Alexandr Sokourov, Robert Frank, Raymond Depardon or Frederick Wiseman. Moreover, Visions du Réel offers the wide range of industry events such as International Co-production Market, pitching forums (Pitching du Réel and Pitching RTS Perspectives d’un Doc), series of distribution and international production meetings (Docs in Progress programme) and digital videolibrary.
This year’s edition of Visions du Réel will be held from 7th to 13th April.
More information can be found at www.visionsdureel.ch.