Kasia Taras
Alchemy. About the Art of Cinematography
The Best of It
Establishing a schedule of a film festival is like creating narration. From the collage of presented films always emerges one element integrating everything, a basic theme. Last year we aimed at presenting a man who can be (and is) both sinful and saint. An anti-hero appeared - Brandon (Michael Fassbender) from Shame by Steve McQueen, cinematography by Sean Bobbitt; a slyboots who discovered a hero inside himself - Socha from In Darkness by Agnieszka Holland, cinematography by Jolanta Dylewska; a hero played by Marcin Dorociński without even one note out of tune in Rose by Wojciech Smarzowski, cinematography by Piotr Sobociński Jr; craving for love and acceptance, battered and stripped of dignity but still human and stirring characters from Nothing's All Bad; a Shakespearian chief moved to Balkans - Coriolanus by Ralph Fiennes, cinematography by Barry Ackroyd. We met sons who summoned up a trans-generation gesture of reconciliation towards their fathers, a gesture which could be interpreted as a new reading of the past, its acceptance, still not equal to reconciling oneself to what had happened - The Mole and The Fear of Falling.


This year we will tell about things that bother and hurt, deprive of good mood, although we start from a substantial lesson of the cinema and a proof of faith in it, that is from Side by Side by Christopher Kenneally. We will also show The Wild Ones (directed by Alejandro Fadel, cinematography by Julian Apezteguia and Manuel Rebella) and Hatred (directed by Reza Dormishian, cinematography by Turaj Aslani), because evil, violence and crime are all reserved for the adults' world although children most often fall prey to them, as it is in War Witch (directed by Kim Nguyen, cinematography by Nicolas Bolduc), a film in which everything happens out of vision as imagination is a viewer's most important “organ"; or in Broken (directed by Rufus Norris, cinematography by Rob Hardy). We will offer you a discussion about what identity is, possibly incited by Holy Motors (directed by Leos Carax, cinematography by Yves Cape and Caroline Champetier) and Laurence Anyways (directed by Xavier Dolan-Tadros, cinematography by Yves Belanger). We will take a closer look at the limits of manipulation, as this is one of the themes in The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson, an excellent example of cooperation between a cinematographer, Mihai Malaimare Jr, and an art director whom is nobody else but Jack Fisk, last year's guest at Plus Camerimage festival. Italian neorealists discovered that true story is the best inspiration; such genesis applies to: Argo by Ben Affleck with, as usual, extremely intensive cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto; Rhino Season (directed by Bahman Ghobadi, cinematography by Turaj Aslani) with spectacular Monica Bellucci.

Golden Frog
Poland will be represented in the Main Competition by a film emerging from very personal experiences of the director and his father - Manhunt by Marcin Krzyształowicz with cinematography by Arkadiusz Tomiak, a story about a betrayal, but also about forgiveness. It is difficult "to read" Manhunt without having Rose in mind. And it is not about Marcin Dorociński in the leading role in both films, it is about Smarzowski and Krzyształowicz offering us a deconstruction of some myths. And about the hope they both give that the immersion in death can be overcome. Nevertheless, the Main Competition will not be that doleful, as we believe in the power of imagination and that is why we will present Cloud Atlas by the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer, with cinematography by Frank Griebe and John Toll, the co-creator of unforgettable The Thin Red Line. We will also screen Beasts of the Southern Wild (directed by Benh Zeitlin, cinematography by Ben Richardson), and reveal how men perceive adultery, love and being a father - My Father's Bike by Piotr Trzaskalski and Piotr Śliskowski. In the Polish Films Competition there will be a clash of films about the past - 80 Millions by Waldemar Krzystek with energetic, lively cinematography by Piotr Śliskowski - I don't recollect any other film image of the 80s comparable to this one; intriguing Secret by Przemysław Wojcieszek with extremely mature cinematography by Kuba Kijowski; perfectly summed up Yuma by Piotr Mularuk (cinematography by Tomasz Dobrowolski), finally You Are God (directed by Leszek Dawid, cinematography by Radosław Ładczuk); with well-made thrillers (a good thriller is a rarity in the Polish cinema) - To Kill the Beaver (directed by Jan Jakub Kolski, cinematography by Michał Pakulski) and “Supermarket" by Maciej Żak, in which film Jan Holoubek, the cinematographer, had to deal with an extremely difficult location. A very special proposition, and also a very suitable one in the competition in which cinematography is assessed, is Imagine by Andrzej Jakimowski with cinematography by Adam Bajerski - they managed to show how a blind person perceives the world.

Opera Nova
Among the debutants presented in the competitions, it is worth taking a closer look at Chaika (directed by Miguel Angel Jimenez, cinematography by Gorka Gomez Andreu), a story about a woman “as if from Chekhov", living in the space and time after perestroika - it is a beautiful, complete, sensual and intelligent piece of cinema. In the Music Videos Competition it is worth to track how animations come off in comparison with videos with actors. Apart from the competitions, you cannot miss Vadim Yusov's retrospective - the sole mentioning of Andrei Rublev is sufficient recommendation - and of course the screenings of David Lynch's films as well as the meeting with Gus Van Sant's cinema. The Aftermath by Pasikowski and Edelman, Love by Haneke and Khondji, Days of Heaven by Malick and Almendros, The Story of Sin by Borowczyk and Samosiuk, Caesar Must Die by the Taviani brothers with Simone Zampagni making his debut as a cinematographer, Beyond the Hills by Cristian Mungiu and Oleg Mutu, Just the Wind by Benedek Fliegauf and Zoltan Lovasi, and Children of Sarajevo by Aida Begic and Erol Zubcevic - this is the obligatory set for anybody who loves the cinema and, most importantly, who wants to see the best of it.