Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Feb 7, 2015 20:09:26 GMT -6
variety.com/2015/film/news/berlin-polish-pics-find-success-with-wide-range-of-voices-1201425682/
The recent oscar nominations underscored the role that Polish movie talent plays on the world stage, with “Ida” nabbing nods for foreign-language film and cinematography, and Polish costume designer Anna Biedrzycka-Sheppard recognized for “Maleficent.” Two Polish shorts were also nominated: “Our Curse” and “Joanna.”
Polish films have consistently featured in the lineups of the major festivals over the past few years, and this year’s Berlinale includes two Polish films in the main sections: Malgorzata Szumowska’s “Body” plays in competition, and Marcin Malaszczak’s “The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills” is in Forum. Szumowska’s last film, “In the Name Of,” played in Berlin competition in 2013, and won two prizes.
According to Nikolaj Nikitin, who is in charge of the selection of films from Eastern Europe for the Berlinale, the strength of Polish cinema lies in its variety.
“Whenever we talk about a country’s cinematography, what makes a national cinema work is the fact that you don’t have one or two filmmakers that everything centers on, but there are a bunch of filmmakers with different styles and from different generations,” he says. “It is nice to see that the young generation of Polish filmmakers are really developing their own kind of style and vision and are going in different directions.”
That diversity has interested international sales agents. Films Boutique, for example, has repped pics both by an old master, Andrzej Wajda’s “Walesa, Man of Hope,” and a young gun, Tomasz Wasilewski’s “Floating Skyscrapers”; and New Europe Film Sales reps black comedy “Kebab & Horoscope” from up-and-coming filmmaker Grzegorz Jaroszuk and the elegantly shot drama about a gypsy poet, “Papusza,” directed by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze, who died last year.
As young Polish filmmakers travel abroad, some have developed a preference for the gritty and fresh approach of the American indie scene.
“I have the feeling that the new filmmakers coming out of Poland are looking in the direction of the American indies, rather than the pure European arthouse films,” says Films Boutique CEO Jean-Christophe Simon.
Poland has a large domestic market, with a population of 38 million, and local cinema is popular. Five Polish films were among the 10 biggest grossers last year, led by “Gods,” which is about a pioneering Polish heart surgeon, and “Warsaw 44,” about the city’s anti-Nazi uprising in 1944.
But despite success at home, most local pics don’t play outside the home market.
“If you are at film school, you want to do really deep arthouse films,” says Jan Naszewski, head of New Europe Film Sales. But what international audiences want is not just the beautiful cinematography but also a good story. “Making classy arthouse films is the way forward.”
Karel Och, artistic director for the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, says the creative strength of Polish cinema today is its “gripping stories.” He adds: “The way Polish filmmakers tell them translates internationally without losing certain aspects Poland and Poles are known for.”
For Och, Wasilewski is Poland’s strongest young filmmaker, but he also has respect for Jan Komasa and Leszek Dawid, the helmer of “You Are God,” the 2012 hit about Polish hip-hop band Paktofonika. “They are passionate, smart and bold,” he says.
“The success of ‘Ida’ proves that there is interest in serious arthouse films with a story to tell,” Nikitin says. “Whenever we are afraid that the Americans are taking over, we can look at this movie and see that there is still an interest in something different in cinema.”
The recent oscar nominations underscored the role that Polish movie talent plays on the world stage, with “Ida” nabbing nods for foreign-language film and cinematography, and Polish costume designer Anna Biedrzycka-Sheppard recognized for “Maleficent.” Two Polish shorts were also nominated: “Our Curse” and “Joanna.”
Polish films have consistently featured in the lineups of the major festivals over the past few years, and this year’s Berlinale includes two Polish films in the main sections: Malgorzata Szumowska’s “Body” plays in competition, and Marcin Malaszczak’s “The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills” is in Forum. Szumowska’s last film, “In the Name Of,” played in Berlin competition in 2013, and won two prizes.
According to Nikolaj Nikitin, who is in charge of the selection of films from Eastern Europe for the Berlinale, the strength of Polish cinema lies in its variety.
“Whenever we talk about a country’s cinematography, what makes a national cinema work is the fact that you don’t have one or two filmmakers that everything centers on, but there are a bunch of filmmakers with different styles and from different generations,” he says. “It is nice to see that the young generation of Polish filmmakers are really developing their own kind of style and vision and are going in different directions.”
That diversity has interested international sales agents. Films Boutique, for example, has repped pics both by an old master, Andrzej Wajda’s “Walesa, Man of Hope,” and a young gun, Tomasz Wasilewski’s “Floating Skyscrapers”; and New Europe Film Sales reps black comedy “Kebab & Horoscope” from up-and-coming filmmaker Grzegorz Jaroszuk and the elegantly shot drama about a gypsy poet, “Papusza,” directed by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze, who died last year.
As young Polish filmmakers travel abroad, some have developed a preference for the gritty and fresh approach of the American indie scene.
“I have the feeling that the new filmmakers coming out of Poland are looking in the direction of the American indies, rather than the pure European arthouse films,” says Films Boutique CEO Jean-Christophe Simon.
Poland has a large domestic market, with a population of 38 million, and local cinema is popular. Five Polish films were among the 10 biggest grossers last year, led by “Gods,” which is about a pioneering Polish heart surgeon, and “Warsaw 44,” about the city’s anti-Nazi uprising in 1944.
But despite success at home, most local pics don’t play outside the home market.
“If you are at film school, you want to do really deep arthouse films,” says Jan Naszewski, head of New Europe Film Sales. But what international audiences want is not just the beautiful cinematography but also a good story. “Making classy arthouse films is the way forward.”
Karel Och, artistic director for the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, says the creative strength of Polish cinema today is its “gripping stories.” He adds: “The way Polish filmmakers tell them translates internationally without losing certain aspects Poland and Poles are known for.”
For Och, Wasilewski is Poland’s strongest young filmmaker, but he also has respect for Jan Komasa and Leszek Dawid, the helmer of “You Are God,” the 2012 hit about Polish hip-hop band Paktofonika. “They are passionate, smart and bold,” he says.
“The success of ‘Ida’ proves that there is interest in serious arthouse films with a story to tell,” Nikitin says. “Whenever we are afraid that the Americans are taking over, we can look at this movie and see that there is still an interest in something different in cinema.”