07-09-2008

Gdynia festival opens September 15

By FNE Staff
    The 33rd Polish Film Festival opens September 15 in Gdynia, with Robert Glinski chairing the main competition jury. Film New Europe will be profiling each of the competition films in the coming week.

    Glinski, who directed 2004's acclaimed film Hi Tereska, will be the subject of a retrospective.

    In addition to the 16 films competing for the main prize, 17 film will compete in the Independent Cincma Competition, and 28 films will compete in the Young Cinema Competition. A further 8 film will screen in the Panorama section. The complete list of competition films and the jury members follows. For more information on the Gdynia film festival, go to the FNE Festival section.

    Main Competition Films

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    The action of the film takes place within 24 hours in a city somewhere at the seaside.
    It starts in the morning and ends at the dawn of the next day.

    33 Scenes From Life

    Joan Didion the author of a book "The Year of Magical Thinking" once said: "You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends". This short sentence is a quintessence of the film "33 Scenes From Life"

    The Offsiders

    The film, based on true events, presents a contemporary story of a football team composed of the homeless. The main character, Jacek Mróz (40), is a former player of the Polish national team who became a loser.

    The Karamazovs

    The story of Petr Zelenka's movie "The Karamazovs" takes place in contemporary Poland. A group of actors from Prague, led by a director of the play (Roman Luknár) arrive in Krakow to present a theatrical adaptation of Dostoyevski's novel "The Brothers Karamazov" at an alternative festival organized in the unconventional environment of a steel mill.

    Four Nights with Anna

    Leon, who works in a medical waste roasting room in a province, falls in love with a nurse and obsessively tries to get closer to her.

    Earthly Paradise

    The main character of the movie is a 39-year-old Ela who lives in a scenic town surrounded by the mountains.

    Splinters

    "Splinters" is a contemporary comedy-drama. The main plot shows several days from lives of young people in one of Silesia cities.

    Before Twilight

    "Before Twilight is a story about love, vanishing and actors - their eccentricities and dreams of playing one more, perhaps the last great role.

    Lejdis

    "LEJDIS" is a comedy presenting the vicissitudes of four girls trying to cope with the mad life that never looks as they have planned it for themselves.

    Mr. Kuka's Advice

    One day Waldemar decides to go abroad - to the West. To achieve his aim, he turns his steps to a man called Kuka who gives him asome advice on how to behave in the West.

    Little Moscow

    Jura, once a pilot in Soviet army, comes back to Legnica after 30 years to visit the grave of his wife, Wiera. He is accompanied by his wife's adult daughter. They go to visit sights where years ago the biggest drama of their life took place.

    The Reliable System

    Maria, aged over 80, comes from an aristocratic family that lost everything during the war. She lives alone in a studio flat, has no relatives and subsists on a meagre pension. It appears even that she has a secret admirer - Leon - the caretaker, whom she teaches French, so that he can communicate with his grandchildren when he comes to France.

    Howling Wolf Ranch

    The love of Lucy and Kusy is interrupted by an unexpected arrival of Lucy's husband from America, Louis. It turns out that their divorce hasn't been conducted properly.

    Scratch

    A married couple that has lived in harmony for many years becomes caught up in their past: a supposed collaboration of one of them with secret police. Unconfirmed suspicion casts a shadow on Jan and Joanna's relationship.

    Drowsiness

    The story of people who stay in a state of emotional drowsiness. A talented actress Róża suffers from narcolepsy and closes herself in her luxurious house, cuts off from a real life and suspects that her husband cheats on her.

    A Warm Heart

    A young man, Stefan, thinks he failed his life and tries to kill himself. Konstanty, a mulitimillionaire, looks for a heart for transplantation.

    Jury of the Main Competition:

    Robert Gliński
    Chairman of the Jury, director and screenwriter, educator

    Janusz Anderman
    Novelist, screenwriter, translator

    Rudolf Biermann
    Producer

    Ryszard Horowitz
    Photographer

    Sławomir Idziak
    Cinematographer, director

    Edward Pałłasz
    Composer, educator

    Ewa Różewicz
    Editor

    Dorota Segda
    Actress

    Jerzy Zieliński
    Cinematographer