Warsaw Film Festival celebrates new Polish film from director Jerzy Skolimowski

The Warsaw Film Festival featured a number of local new releases, from Anxiety by Sławomir Fabicki, who was nominated for an Oscar for his short film A Man Thing, to this year’s opening film, Andrzej Jakimowski’s The Goat Song. I’m planning to put a spotlight on it.

The latter, starring “EO” star Mateusz Kosiłkiewicz, is set in Greece and follows a group of characters who live near an active volcano, and explores the question that “each one of us has a responsibility to preserve our fragile heritage.” The director says that he will explore this.

“We are witnessing war in neighboring countries. [Ukraine], threats from barbarian empires, and a rapidly growing populism destroying politics. It’s a scary and worrying mixture.”

Emotions are running high as Poland prepares for parliamentary elections on October 15 and the controversy over Agnieszka Holland’s “green border” continues to linger.

“What happened went beyond the accepted framework. There were many absurdities, such as attempts to force theater managers to screen propaganda material before film screenings,” said festival director Stefan. Rodin says.

“I don’t know what can or should be done, but I called Agnieszka Holland to express my support. I also added that I was not a member of this year’s Oscar committee. I’ll keep it.”

The animation “The Peasants” has been selected as Poland’s Oscar nominee, despite the Netherlands’ recent win in Venice.

“The sheer hatred unleashed by this government on individuals is reminiscent of the bully tactics of communist thugs who did the same in the pre-Solidarity era,” he said. Mike Downey, one of the producers of “Green Borders,” added: goat song. ”

“It goes a little too far for a president, prime minister, or justice minister to feel the need to speak out against freedom of expression, and to try to intimidate artists, civil servants, and civil servants into promoting only their partisans in government.”

Downey says it’s important to make films about “Polish themes and Polish issues” without government intervention, but says local filmmakers are daring to cross borders.

In Fabicki’s Anxiety, two sisters who couldn’t be more different head to a clinic in Switzerland.

“This film talks about a subject that is taboo in our country: assisted suicide,” Rodin says.

Screenwriter Monika Sobien-Gorska added: “In 2013, I met a woman with terminal cancer who had asked her best friend to arrange a trip to her end-of-life clinic. Not. It’s about reinventing ourselves and finding the strength to live our lives ignoring the expectations of others – even if they are our loved ones. ”

“In film, I’m interested in people, their relationships with loved ones and the world. I know there are a lot of people who like this work, and it’s for those viewers that I make the film. “, Fabicki says.

Taking the journey further, Vita Maria Drygas presents a vacation in a conflict-affected region in the documentary “Danger Zone”.

“This is not just about adrenaline seekers. The business of ‘war tourism’ serves as an excuse to hold up a mirror to our times,” she says.

“When I started working on this film, the situation in Ukraine was different. Then we saw the Taliban take over Afghanistan and the plight of the Kurds in Syria changed dramatically. People People tend to be interested in conflicts that get a lot of media coverage, but all wars are brutal and terrifying.”

“The One I Love” by Paweł Hajbutski, “Radical Move” by Aniela Gabriel and “Pray for Peace, Train for War” by Agnieszka Erbanowska, which is about a local militia, will also be screened. Gabriela Mouskawa’s directorial debut, The Clowns, is a similar story about a group of young actors competing for the lead role in their graduation film.

“First and foremost, it’s about acting. It’s about the thin line between reality and fiction that we actors struggle with every day,” said Muskawa, who was previously seen in Cannes’ entry “Fuga.”

“If this subject matter had been so foreign to me, I’m not sure I would have had the courage to make a feature film right away. Acting becomes material for novels, television series, and another film. By the way, I’m already thinking about that.”

Muskawa praises the cast and is cautiously optimistic about the future.

“The younger generation has always had stories to tell and a lot of emotion to offer, and they do it with passion and integrity. But it’s up to us, as adults, to give them the chance to spread their wings. That’s a different issue,” she says.

Still, in her view, “Polish cinema is getting better and better.”

“But what worries me is the increasing politicization of the Gdynia Film Festival’s selection of films. [dedicated to Polish films]. This does not benefit the art. ”

The festival will also honor “EO” director Jerzy Skolimowski with a retrospective of his early work, including “Hands Up!,” which was banned for years by censors. Skolimowski recently reunited with Roman Polanski on the screenplay for The Palace.

“He is a great master of the film world. He turns 85 this year and is in great spirits. I had the honor of meeting him in 1991 when he performed “30 Door Key” at the end of the festival. “I did,” Rodin recalled.