POLISH REPRESENTATION IN TEXAS
For over a dozen years in the first part of March Austin has transformed into the biggest multimedia centre in the USA thanks to South by Southwest Week (SXSW) – that is the event which combines several fields of contemporary culture and explores its latest objects, innovative ideas, fresh sounds and modern pictures from all over the world. The elements of Polish culture will be present during SXSW as well – as a “representative sample” of the Polish cinema: two documentaries and one animation.
This year’s edition of South by Southwest Week (SXSW) in Austin will start 11th of March. SXSW consists of several multifarious elements: concerts taking place on 18 stages (as the part of SXSW Music and Media Conference), presentations of the latest technology in multimedia production, e.g. video games, digital works, graphics (as the part of SXSW Interactive), as well as film screenings (SXSW Film Conference and Festival) that show the newest currents in present-day cinema and create various programme of documentaries, fiction or animation from all over the world. These constitutive elements are accompanied by different kind of events such as: conferences devoted to diverse aspects of contemporary and multimedia culture, meetings with experts, panels, discussions or debates.
SXSW Film as a part of this Austin’s event is the excellent chance of watching the latest films from different corners of the world. Most of them has its international premiere. Moreover, it seems that this year a documentary programme will be diversified and interesting – what is proved by such titles as Where Soldiers Come From (dir. Heather Courtney), Kumaré (dir. Vikram Gandhi), Heaven Hell (dir. David Calek) as well as „New Documentary Narratives” programme that is prepared by IDFA. Apart from films from India, Chile, Argentina, Canada, France or Germany two documentaries from Poland will appear on festival’s screens: Beats of Freedom by Leszek Gnoiński and Wojciech Słota (SX GLOBAL section) and A Screening at the Tatry Cinema by Igor Chojna (SX GLOBAL SHORTS section). It is worth to add that at the Austin’s festival the Wojciech Wawszczyk’s animation George the Hedgehog will have its international premiere (SX FANTASTIC section).
Beats of Freedom is a captivating film about the birth of rock music in Poland. In the times when life was controlled by the communist regime, music became an extremely powerful phenomenon. The Iron Curtain could not stop rock music, thanks to which young people could find their space of freedom. From the very beginning, Polish rock stood in opposition to the reality it met with. The songs broke stereotypes and formed bonds among people. One particular freedom enclave was the festival in Jarocin, colourfully shown in the film thanks to previously unpublished archival materials. The film stars: Marek Niedźwiecki, Krzysztof Skiba, Jurek Owsiak, Kazik Staszewski (Kult), Muniek Staszczyk (T.Love), Kora Jackowska (Maanam), Tomek Lipiński (Tilt and Brygada Kryzys), Krzysztof Grabowski (Dezerter) and many more.
A Screening at the Tatry Cinema also depicts the fragment of Polish reality, however it is completely different and contrasting to the story telling by Leszek Gnoiński and Wojciech Słota. The film by Igor Chojna is a story about Dariusz Ambroszczyk who runs one of the oldest cinemas in Łódź – Tatry. He is boss of the cinema and its only employee at the same time so among his duties are selling tickets, admitting to the cinema, and screening films. Although Dariusz is waiting for viewers every day, they seem to have totally forgotten about his cinema, visiting it only occasionally. The man is beginning to understand that the cinema, the sense of his life, is slowly declining.
More about SXSW can be found here.