Selection of films from the 70th Cannes Film Festival made by the festival’s frequent participant – Adam Pazera, the manager of “Światowid” film theatre.
„Światowid” Film Theatre, 04.10 – 08.10.2017
(Quinzaine Réalisateurs)
04.10 (Wednesday), 6PM – “Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc” (Jeannette l'enfance de Jeanne d'Arc), dir. Bruno Dumont, 105’ France, 2017
Master filmmaker Bruno Dumont never fails to surprise. This time he takes on the story of Joan of Arc. Instead of focusing on the most important events in the life of France's national heroine, however, the director focuses on her childhood. As if that were not enough, in Jeanette..., Dumont continues his experiments with film genres and tells Joan's story in the form of a musical. The eclectic soundtrack includes techno, rock, and rap; the absurd dance numbers accompanying the songs result in a kind of humor reminiscent of Dead Waters. Dumont would not be himself, however, if he were limited to casual mockery. Combining a fervent faith with indomitable anger, Joan, like many of the French director's protagonists, finds herself balanced between sin and sainthood. Despite its historical setting, the film offers a pointed commentary on an era when religious fanaticism is increasingly becoming a source of violence.
(written by Piotr Czerkawski for T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival)
(Nominated for Palme d’Or)
Winner Grand Prize of the Jury/ FIPRESCI Prize / Queer Palm
04.10 (Wednesday), 8PM - “120 Beats Per Minute” (120 battements par minute), dir. Robin Campillo, 140’ France, 2017
Euphoria meets despair whilst the racing heartbeat resembles a ticking time-bomb. It’s the 1990s, the AIDS epidemic is raging and so is the silence about it. Parisian ACT UP activists try to break through that silence with marches and vigils. Winner of the Cannes Grand Prix, this film is a passionate portrait of youth that meets death, and a truly political movie filled with a love story.
(written by Gutek Film)
(Quinzaine Réalisateurs)
05.10 (Thursday) 6:30PM – “I Am Not a Witch” (I Am Not a Witch), dir. Rungano Nyoni, 95’ France/UK, 2017
A dark fairy tale set in Zambia. Denounced as a witch and defenceless against the charges, a nine-year-old orphan girl named Shula is sent to a camp for witches. Banished from the community, segregated women are forced to do hard labor, used for local entertainment. Every witch has a white ribbon attached to her back to keep her from flying away. In the film, this ribbon is the realism through which the magical, fairytale world never loses contact with reality. Ideal doses of the exotic and familiar, symbolism and real-life customs, and a hefty handful of poetry, a touch of humor, and the alluring little Maggie Mulubwa in the lead role conjure up a magic spell that continues to work long after leaving the cinema.
(written by Małgorzata Sadowska for T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival)
(Quinzaine Réalisateurs)
Winner of SACD Prize
05.10 (Thursday), 8:30PM – “Lover for a Day” (L'amant d'un jour), dir. Philippe Garrel, 76’ France, 2017
An intriguing story of a girl who befriends her father’s mistress. The most recent film from the French master Philippe Garrel was screened as a part of this year’s Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight and won SACD Prize. Jeanne is 23 years old and she recently had a painful breakup with her boyfriend. She decides to return to her childhood home and live with her father for a while. The girl quickly discovers that her father, a philosophy professor, has an affair with one of his students, Ariane, who is the same age as Jeanne.
Excerpts from the international reviews:
An alluring and very elegantly crafted romantic dramedy from the French auteur. Pamela Pianezza, Variety
The veteran French director Philippe Garrel is on a major roll at the moment. David Jenkins, Little White Lies
Garrel offers a film that is like a Polaroid, joyfully impure and with fuzzy outlines. Juanma Ruiz, Caimán Cuadernos de Cine
A lot happens in just 75 minutes of screen time, offering viewers emotional fallout that lingers much longer. Lisa Nesselson, Screen International
Garrel has the touch of a wiser man not taking judgment on his characters' youthful foibles. Ed Frankl, The Film Stage
(Nominated for Palme d’Or)
Winner of Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
06.10 (Friday), 6:30PM – “Radiance” (Hikari), dir. Naomi Kawase, 101’ Japan, 2017
The latest cinematic journey from the director of the wonderful Sweet Bean is a romance made by a true artist, as well as a ‘film about filmmaking.’ This Japanese melodrama is set within the world of filmmakers. Misako provides audio-description for films. She infuses her work with passion for describing objects, feelings, and the surrounding world, while making the films more accessible to blind people. During a screening she meets a distinguished photographer, Masaya, who experiences problems with his sight. The man who loses the light. The woman who pursues it for the sake of others. This is the beginning of a passionate affair…
(Un Certain Regard)
Winner of Camera d'Or
06.10 (Friday), 8.30PM - “Montparnasse Bienvenue” (Jeune femme), dir. Léonor Serraille, 97’ Belgium/France, 2017
Screened as a part of Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the film was awarded with Camera d’Or for best debut.
Paula has recently broken up with her boyfriend after ten years spent together, she is on the verge of mental breakdown. Desperately short on money, having a cat as her only companion, the woman returns to Paris after many years of absence. While meeting new people, she becomes determined to start her life anew – but this time, on her own terms. This brilliant debut from Léonor Serraille also stands out in another aspect – it was made entirely by women, from the director/screenwriter and main actress to composer, costume designer and editor!
Excerpts from the international reviews:
Serraille is less interested in neatly resolving plot strands than she is in depicting the furious moment with all its colour and confusion - a state cinema rarely captures. Sophie Monks Kaufman, Sight and Sound
Serraille’s debut film is an eccentric work. Ángel Quintana, CaimánCuadernos de Cine
Intelligent, sensitive and empathetic film. Diego Battle, Otroscines
Paula may be just a character, but in her frustrations many will see reflected much of their daily contradictions. Víctor Blanes Picó, El antepenúltimo mohicano
It is clear that Serraille has made a portrait of a very specific individual but that she’s also saying something more general about her own generation. Boyd van Hoeij, Hollywood Reporter
(Quinzaine Réalisateurs)
07.10 (Saturday), 6PM - “Frost”. (Šerkšnas), dir. Šarūnas Bartas, 132’ Lithuania/France/Ukraine/Poland, 2017
The most recent film from European master filmmaker Šarūnas Bartas, with music composed by Paweł Mykietyn and distinguished cast including Vanessa Paradis and Andrzej Chyra, had its international premiere at this year’s Cannes Festival where it was met with applause. This is a road movie, full of melancholy, suspense, and political undertones, as the story follows two young Lithuanian volunteers who travel to Ukraine with a convoy delivering humanitarian aid. Their plans begin to change as they pass through Poland and Western Ukraine and enter the Donbass region. Curiosity leads them near the front line where they experience the real dangers of the conflict. Brutal, topical, poignant film about the senselessness of all wars, about the modern suffering fuelled by the subsequent conflicts, about the involuntary desire to peek behind the curtain of the war spectacle which in reality is far from the way it is being depicted by the media and the Hollywood machine.
(Nominated for Palme d’Or)
Winner of Jury Prize
08.10 (Sunday), 6PM – “Loveless”, (Nelyubov), dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev, 127’, Russia/Belgium/France/Germany, 2017
In an era of overproduction, it is rare to find a movie that we cannot stop thinking about. Loveless is just such a film, and faint-hearted viewers should be warned about what they can expect. At first glance, there does not seem to be anything threatening about it – there have been plenty of films dissecting broken marriages in the past. But few of them have been so precise in their dramatic structure, so carefully thought out and so emotionally charged as Zvyagintsev's Jury Award-winning film at Cannes. The film deals with a couple of thirtysomethings from Russia's new middle class. They share a beautiful, spacious apartment with their son, whose life becomes a living hell. The Russian director could have taken the easy way out by blaming the failure of their marriage on some sort of pathology. But the fact is that their transgressions are not related to alcohol, drugs, or gambling; rather, they simply do not love each other. And that is enough to create a moving drama with the bitter message that people do not change.
(written by Artur Zaborski for T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival)
