Polish films at the Slamdance festival





Films co-financed by the Polish Film Institute: „The Wind. A Documentary Thriller”, “The Little Soul” and “In a Lion” will be shown at the Slamdance festival.

“The Wind. A Documentary Thriller” in the Breakout Feature section

Michał Bielawski’s film will be shown in the “Breakout Features” section. This section presents films of more experienced artists who have already made their debut.

“The Wind. A Documentary Thriller”

The hero of the document “The Wind. A Documentary Thriller” is a mountain wind – one of the most unpredictable forces in the Polish mountains. It appears cyclically every spring and autumn. You never know if and when it turns into a destructive gale. ‘Halny’ particularly affects the inhabitants of Zakopane and the surrounding area, changing picturesque mountain trails into a space of unbridled action of nature. The producer of Michał Bielawski’s film is Maciej Kubicki representing Telemark.

“The Little Soul” and “In a Lion”

The short film program included Barbara Rupik’s “The Little Soul” animation produced by the Łódź Film School and the documentary film by Karol Lindholm “In a Lion” produced by Munk Studio.

“The Little Soul”

A dead body became stuck by a river bank. Its decaying insides still hide a human soul – a miniature of the deceased. Rotting organs part and a tiny creature gets out. Standing on the river bank, it says goodbye to the corpse and sets off on a journey through the post-mortem land.

“In a Lion”

You can spend a wintery Sunday afternoon with your child at a Danish zoo. On this particular day, a unique attraction awaits you. The staff at the zoo have set up a remarkable, mystic event involving the body of a young lion. Animals are also beautiful on the inside. But not all the spectators succumb to the magic of the show…

All three films are co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

The international festival promotion and distribution of films is supported by the KFF Sales & Promotion agency operating at the Krakow Film Foundation.

“Shooting stars” in the experimental section

The section dedicated to experimental films includes the production of “Shooting stars” by Magda Jaroszewicz.

The viewer is an observer of one night at one street. He sees only what he can imagine, and he hears what he wants to hear. The distant eye is getting closer and makes the images sharper but the interpretation stays inside the observer’s head. What one makes out of that night is his own story. One can discuss the content accordingly to his own experience, conscious how his point of view shifts due to media manipulation and external factors. The starting point is an image provided by the observing eye. The eye is a guide. The viewer gives the night a meaning.

Slamdance

The Slamdance Film Festival was founded in 1995 as an alternative to the Sundance Festival. The first edition was organized by a group of filmmakers whose films did not enter the Sundance festival program. Both events take place in the same place – Park City, Utah in the United States. Slamdance promotes low-budget films of debuting artists. The next edition will take place from 24 to 30 January 2020.

Polish accents in previous editions

Last year, two films were presented at the festival: “The Beksińskis. The Sound and Picture Album” by Marcin Borchardt (the film qualified as the only European production to the documentary film competition) and the short film “Users” by Jakub Piątek.

In 2017, the documentary film by Wojciech Kasperski “Icon” was presented in the competition section of the festival. Two years earlier, the documentary film “Super Unit” by Teresa Czepiec and the animation “The Wayward Carnality” by Joanna Maria Wójcik got on Slamdance. In 2014, the cinematography for the film “Sometimes I Dream I’m Flying” directed by Aneta Popiel-Machnicka were honored with the Blackmagic Design Cinematography Award. In 2011, Kuba Czekaj’s short film “Twist & Blood” was shown at the festival.

Official festival website: www.slamdance.com.

Film descriptions come from the PolishShorts.pl website.


19.12.2019