Swiss music documentary about legendary American actor will open 53rd KFF.
“Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction”, a Swiss biographical music documentary about a veteran of the American cinema, will open the 53rd Krakow Film Festival. The film will participate in the new feature music documentary competition: DocFilmMusic.
–You certainly recognize his face but don’t remember his name,’ says Anna E. Dziedzic, Krakow Film Festival’s spokeswoman. ‘Although Harry Dean Stanton acted in over 250 films, he never played the leading role. Until now…’
This biographical documentary made by a Swiss director, Sophie Huber, is a mesmerizing portrayal of a legendary actor. The film includes fragments coming from Stanton’s ample filmography, recorded statements of his friends and colleagues, very economical statements made by the actor himself as well as Stanton’s…songs.
Music turns out to be the key to understanding the taciturn and reserved actor. We can learn much more about his attitude towards life and acting from his interpretation of American folk songs, performed with a discreet accompaniment of guitar directly to the camera. Also the statements of his friends and co-workers, who evidently respect and admire Stanton, bring much into the documentary. David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Sam Shepard, Kris Kristofferson and Debbie Harry, they all appear in front of Seamus McGarvey’s camera. This Irish cameraman, who has under his belt cinematography of “Atonement” (2007), “We Need to Talk about Kevin” (2011), “The Avengers” (2012), or „Anna Karenina” (2012).
Harry Dean Stanton is an enigmatic character. He was friends with Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. For the last 40 years, he has been a patron of the same bar in Manhattan. He acted in over 250 films, in which he co-starred with, among others, Al Pacino, Paul Newman, Marlon Brando and Kurt Russell. On the set, he met on the set David Lynch seven times (among others: “Wild at Heart”, 1990 “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me”, 1992, “The Straight Story”, 1999); starred in the films of Arthur Penn (“The Missouri Breaks”, 1976); Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather Part II”, 1974); Ridley Scott (“Alien”, 1979), Wim Wenders (“Paris, Texas”, 1984), Martin Scorsese (”The Last Temptation of Christ”, 1988).
‘We have chosen Sophie Huber’s documentary for the opening not only because it is excellent, but because it combines two aspects that will be the pillars of this year’s Festival,’ says Krzysztof Gierat, Festival Director. ‘The film became a part of the music documentary current, to which we will dedicate a separate competition from this year onwards, and it was produced in Switzerland, which is the subject of this year’s ‘Focus on…’ cycle.
"Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction” was presented at festivals in Venice and Zagreb, at IDFA in Amsterdam and SXSW in Texas, where it won acclaim. In Krakow, the film will participate in the newly-created feature music documentary competition: DocFilmMusic. The Polish premiere with the participation of the director will take place on the 26th of May during 53rd Krakow Film Festival Opening Gala.