AMERICAN “VARIETY” ABOUT POLISH DOCUMENTARIES
Beyond the borders of Poland writing about Polish films, especially about documentaries, is not a common practice. Therefore, what a great honour is the publication of two Polish documentary films reviews in one of the most popular magazine in the USA, ‘Variety’.
Since 1905, ‘Variety’ has been claimed as the most recognized and respected source of information from the world of art, entertainment and show business. ‘Variety’ publishes not only film reviews and analysis, but also the most recent reports from the biggest film event from all around the world.
At the end of March two Polish documentary’s review appeared in the pages of ‘Variety’ magazine. North From Calabria by Marcin Sauter and At the Edge of Russia by Michał Marczak were described and reviewed by Robert Koehler.
There are some extracts from Koehler’s texts:
North From Calabria by Marcin Sauter
Like a chameleon, Marcin Sauter's "North From Calabria" cleverly slips between narrative whimsy and documentary reality as a kind-of portrait of the Polish town of Chelmsko Slaskie, in which the citizens are prepping for their annual festival. Suffused with a utopian vision of a community whose members always get along, yet accented by a bittersweet tone that anchors it to a genuine view of humanity, this is a fine, fresh example of the hybrid film that will seduce fest programmers beyond Europe as well as adventurous distribs.
Sauter's blend of fiction and nonfiction intermingles pro actors with locals, erasing any detectable boundary between the two. While the helmer said he has never seen the work of Catalan filmmaker Jose Luis Guerin, "Calabria" vividly recalls Guerin's masterful balance of visually keen observation with amusing, distinctive characters and a charged sense of place.
More can be found here.
At the Edge of Russia by Michał Marczak
Imbuing the harsh realities of the northern arctic frontier with a warm, human touch, "At the Edge of Russia" artfully slips from nonfiction parameters into a near-narrative mode as it portrays a raw recruit's first months at a Russian army border post. An impressive debut from Polish helmer Michal Marczak, this immensely likable doc will be hard for fests to resist, and could lure some comers on the distrib front for upscale, art-oriented vid play.
Arriving at night in what looks like an impossibly cold environment, young Alexei Zarubin is assigned to clean floors, wash dishes, take water waste outside and dig pathways through eight-foot snowdrifts in front of the aging military station. He's surrounded by vets, some old enough to be his father, and though Zarubin is chided from time to time for rookie mistakes, Marczak goes to great pains to underline that he's not being verbally or psychologically abused in any way.
More can be found here.