27-05-2010

Krakow 50th Anniversary Special: Krakow documentary premieres

By FNE Staff

    The 50th Krakow Film Festival (May 31-June 6) is going to present the next part of the cycle ‘Krakow Documentary Premieres', consisting of films chosen from foreign film festivals which have not been screened in Krakow cinemas.

    This year, there are four feature-length documentaries produced in the last two years. Historical and autothematic subjects make up the majority of the cycle. A lot of space has been given to the film as a medium and to the experiences of the very authors.

    The cycle includes:

    Driving Men, dir. Susan Mogul

    What should one ask their other half, their ex-partner about? About the reasons for the split-up? About past fascinations? About common history? About later experiences? Susan Mogul, the director, performance artist, feminist, with humour and distance carries out a vivisection of her relationships with men important in her life - lovers, brothers, father (among them, there is one man from Krakow). She invites them to drive her car and, while driving, to spin their stories.

    PilgrIMAGE, dir. Peter Wintonick, Mira Burt-Wintonick

    Personal history of cinema and media presented from the point of view of father and daughter. In this film journal, the documentarians from Canada travel across European cities which are of great importance in the history of the cinema and the contemporary media either thanks to being the hometown of great directors or the place of inventing new media. This unique videoblog presents the look of two generations at the film universe.

    In The Shadows of Casablanca, dir. Malgosha Gago, Bolesław Sulik

    Few people know that if it wasn't for porridge, the fate of the Second World War could have developed in a completely different way. Few people know that the Operation Torch - the landing of the Allies in the North Africa - succeeded thanks to one man. Few people know that if Rick, the American really had had his bar in Casablanca, that man could have been his neighbour. A spy. A Pole. Mieczysław Słowikowski. History forgot about him and his considerable achievements...

    The City of the Dead, dir. Sérgio Tréfaut

    Cairo, a metropolis of several million inhabitants, of which the seventh part lives in the biggest necropolis in the world. Ironically enough, the City of the Dead is full of life - families dwelling in the tombs, children going to school, wives and mothers doing the shopping, opened bars, bakeries, garages, people leading busy social life... Everything on a graveyard...