FOUR POLISH FILMS AT VISIONS DU REEL

On 7 April, the organisers of the Swiss festival Visions du Reel announced the full programme of the event. There are four Polish films on the list: "Small Instruments" by Edyta Wróblewska, "Maximum Pleasure" by Katarzyna Trzaska, "Domino Effect" by Piotr Rosołowski and Elwira Niewiera and "Where I can't be found?" by Arjun Talwar.

The audience of this year's edition of the Visions du Reel festival, which takes place from 25 April to 3 May, will have the opportunity to watch four Polish documentary films. Three of them will compete for awards in the competition sections. "Small Instruments" by Edyta Wróblewska will be shown in the International Short Film Competition, "Maximum Pleasure" by Katarzyna Trzaska - in the International Mid-Length Film Competition, and the Polish-German co-production "Domino Effect" by Piotr Rosołowski and Elwira Niewiera - in the International Feature-Length Film Competition. The film "Where I can't be found?" by Arjun Talwar, a Polish-Indian co-production, was invited by the selectors to participate in the non-competing section Premiers Pas.

"Small Instruments" is a documentary about a music group of the same name and at the same time a story about great passion and love to the world of sounds. We witness the production of the latest, unusual music album, located in a metal, children's barrel organ. We get acquainted with the magical world of the group's leader, Paweł Romańczuk, full of colourful sounds issuing from the instruments, made from the strangest objects: screws, screw tops, children's toys. The screening in Nyon will be the international premiere of the film.

The protagonists of "Maximum Pleasure" by Katarzyna Trzaska are four friends - pensioners from Toruń. The energetic friends often meet at presentations of "medical" devices, which are often very expensive and which fascinate them. According to the producers of the film, "Maximum Pleasure” is "a documentary comedy, in which poverty is mixed with wealth, kitsch with false luxury, laughter with tears." [source: the fan page of "Maximum Pleasure" on Facebook]

"Domino Effect" by Piotr Rosołowski and Elwira Niewiera is a story about true love in a non-existent country. Rafael - the Minister of Sport and Education and Natasha - a Russian opera singer try to live together in Abkhazi, destroyed by war. Observing their difficult relationship, we watch life in a place marked by war and nationalism. The film depicts trapped people, who dream about peace, normality and happiness. The film shows the protagonists facing a difficult decision - whether to stay in the past, or take a risk and together enter an uncertain future in spite of everything.

"Where I can't be found?" by Arjun Talwar presents a day from the life of a hermit, who crosses a valley in Southern India. The protagonist meets other inhabitants of the valley along the way, and finally reaches his shelter, where he contemplates life.

The Visions du Reel festival is accompanied by Doc Outlook film market. Krakow Film Foundation is one of the partners of Doc Outlook. Because of this, it annually presents a set of ten films, selected by the Foundation, during the market. In the industry part of the festival there are also the Rough Cut Lab workshops, dedicated to filmmakers working on editing of their films. This year, the project by Rafał Skalski, "Monk of the Sea" will take part in this workshop.

The Visions du Reel festival has been organised in the Swiss city of Nyon since 1969. At the beginning of its existence, the festival in Nyon used to show mainly Swiss films and productions from the Easter bloc countries, which were very difficult to see for the audience from the Western Europe. Currently it is one of largest documentary film festivals in Europe.

The full programme of Visions du Reel can be found on the festival's website.