A HIDDEN FESTIVAL STRATEGY
A holiday double issue of “Kino” magazine (7-8/2006) as usual visits all befriended summer film festivals in Poland: chronologically, it was worth to start with Łagowo where the Koterskis, a father and son, strolled, then move to Toruń (for a retrospective of Stanisław Różewicz, the master) and during the second half of July pop off to Wrocław (apart from films similar in style to Roman Gutek’s team, recollection of a classic Stanisław Lenartowicz who is rarely present in film discussions), to Ińsk (for a film biography seminar) and to Zwierzyniec (expressive cinema of Grzegorz Królikiewicz).
Personally, I would not dare to recommend only Ińsk – the West Pomeranian direction reminds me only of children camps that long ago became a private myth that requires to be recorded without the necessity of re-experiencing it – I can recommend the rest as proven. Every year those festival peregrinations have been accompanied by nice and unpleasant surprises. This summer is for me a time of journey rest and reflection on the state of native film festivals, most likely to end with my participation in Summer Film Academy. I started to read “Kino” magazine with even more interest.
I have to admit that I know the real story behind the interview with Stanisław Lenartowicz conducted by Adam Wyżyński (<i>Zawsze trzeba być sobą</i> – <i>You Should Always be Yourself</i>). The film director is reluctant to give interviews that are to be published in the press – he expresses his mistrust towards journalists through the act of refusal. Despite his rich work consisting of 22 feature films, especially <i>Zimowy zmierzch</i> (<i>Winter Twilight</i>, 1957), which was avant-garde compared to socialist realist poetics of the time, Lenartowicz does not exist in theoretical and critical film discussions – a price for his circumspection. An elderly gentleman (he belongs to the generation of the young Polish intelligentsia at the time of the Nazi occupation) retired from his profession after the announcement of martial law.
From the interview emerges a filmmaker who his life experience turned into film works: <i>Pigułki dla Aurelii</i> (<i>Pills for Aurelia</i>) is his antiheroic outlook of the Home Army soldier on World War II, openly contradictory to mythologizing vision of Wajda; <i>Spotkania</i> (<i>Encounters</i>) was based on his reflection on the fate of Polish pilots in England and partially reflecting the life of his late brother, a RAF pilot; and
<i>Zobaczymy się w niedzielę</i> (<i>See You on Sunday</i>) is a tribute paid to Wrocław – the director’s place of living, by choice and wholeheartedly.
But why the title reminding that “you should always be yourself”? As Lenartowicz declares his understanding of a director’s task has always been that a director should aim at capturing people’s attention and imagination because “a film is made for the public not for personal pleasure. I also believe that a film can evoke some deeper response in a viewer mainly through the picture. And you should always be yourself: this gives you the right power of impact on the viewer.” Did the author’s convictions withstand the confrontation with the Wrocław Era Nowe Horyzonty festival audience? During a private conversation the director said that he was afraid of a wave of media interest, so hopefully the crowd of cinema-goers came to love, not trample him.
Putting aside the holiday festival fervour, I recommend reading a text by Jan Olszewski <i>Zrozumieć sąsiadów</i> (<i>Understanding the Neighbours</i>) which is a summary of the touring European Film Festival 2006. The humble author did not say that he had belonged to the festival jury. In his article though, he shares his observations from the behind-the-scenes conversations of the jury and suggests – for the future – that the jury should broaden their reflections on the plots. Quotations from their disputes, praise of the virtues and criticism of the vices of the competition film pre-selection are layered with lengthy write-ups of leading films, namely <i>Omagh</i> directed by Pete Travis, award winning <i>Ultranova</i> by Bouli Lanners and <i>Dalecarlians</i> (<i>Masjavlar</i>) by Maria Blom.
For me, a reader and viewer, it luckily turned out that my own quick selection considerably narrowing the list of titles to Italian and British-Irish productions had a lot in common with the author of the text. In the almost empty auditorium of the Warsaw Silver Screen cinema I have watched the aforementioned <i>Omagh</i>, an evocative picture of the consequences of a bomb attack that was brought about by the separatist <i>real</i> IRA during the last stages of the civil war in The Northern Ireland in 1996, shown as a havoc wreaked in the lives of victims’ families. Real, good cinema in the <i>political fiction</i> genre.
The next film discussed in the article, <i>Saimir</i> directed by Francesco Munzie, which brings closer an Albanian father-and-son tandem that smuggles their compatriots to Italy, is an evidence (for Jan Olszewski) of making reflection on the problems of ethnic minorities more prominent – in the desired realistic way. “<i>Saimir</i> deserved to be awarded, but was not”, says the critic. “A festival during which films get awarded imposes a particular way of watching and judging: a masterwork perspective. A good or very good film should be saying the truth. Obviously, in the first instance a truth about Europe. However, in case of a masterwork this European truth can become a universal one. And it is the truth that we ask about.” A clear cut declaration to be used by the jury. Will the above mentioned titles get to the public? In practice, it will be difficult for the viewers to verify the rightness of Olszewski’s saying about the reviving – because it makes European problems more prominent, and therapeutic – because it shows that the problems do not concentrate only on our beloved country – function of the festival.
How not to get lost in the numerous festival events that have already taken place and those that will, which repeat a pattern commented on by the head of this year Cannes Film Festival jury – Wong Kar-wai, who said that “there was more candidates than awards?” Speaking from my experience, I recommend moderation and a critical approach towards programme offers of individual summer film centres. Although I know I will not stop these cinema-goers who started their journey around the country almost a month ago, I can recommend a different, tested strategy for the next film summer: start a bit earlier, in April, from a “Cinema at the Border” festival in Cieszyn, then change for a train heading towards Małopolska for Cracow Film Festival, and in May watch Planet Doc Review in the capital city – their programme will relieve the later holiday film tension. Festival organizers have their programme strategy too…
And we, who love – or who are condemned – to spend our summer in the city, are left with watching next episodes of the long-standing “series” featuring Johnny Depp (<i>The Libertine</i> was replaced now by <i>Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest</i> directed by Gore Verbinski, a film that allegedly beats other Hollywood super-productions.) For us, “Kino” magazine prepared an introductory text <i>Odwaga w zabawie</i> (<i>Courage in the Fun</i>) written by Darek Arest who gracefully sails from one role of the actor to another. It will do – as a substitute for the unplanned events in the film calendar.
Beata Pieńkowska
Translated by Kinga Witowska
Discussed journals: Kino