World Stories and Somewhere in Europe

Though it is the four main competitions which often awake the strongest emotions, non-competing sections of Krakow Film Festival offer equally rich and exciting programme. 

Traditionally, in "World Stories" we will travel to various parts of our globe, following interesting stories, clear-cut characters and constantly current topics, told by great directors.

We will see "Iris" by the recently deceased Dragon of Dragons winner, the eminent documentary film-maker Albert Maysels.  Iris Apfel is an American style icon, one of the best dressed people in the world according to The Guardian, known also for designing the interior of the White House for 9 presidents of the United States in a row. At the age of ninety, she became the brand ambassador of the popular cosmetics MAC.
The partner of the screening is MAC Cosmetics

Iris, dir. Albert Maysles

 

Last year, Julien Temple took us on a monumental, historical journey through London. This time we go to another metropolis, namely, to Rio de Janeiro, red-hot and bursting with life. "Rio 50 Degrees" gives a tour of exclusive resorts and popular tourist attractions, but also of the alleys of favelas, revealing the dark side of this colourful city.

Unconventional view on Judaism is presented by a religious Jew and director Ori Gruder, who in the film "Sacred sperm" faces a difficult task of explaining to his ten-year-old son the rules concerning sexuality, which is still a taboo subject for orthodox Jews.

The authors of the film "Watching the Moon at Night" – Joanna Helander and Bo Persson – travel through six different countries in search of the sources of contemporary terrorism and anti-Semitism, and use the excerpt from a poem by Wisława Szymborska in the title.

Thanks to the film "The Book" by the Russian classic Vitaliy Manski, we will deal with the issue of human sin and evil, which does not lose its importance in spite of the passage of time, and this also includes the Armenian diaspora, strewn around the world.  

 

The section "Somewhere in Europe" includes films produced on our continent and dealing with problems of our neighbours, but at the same time very universal.

In Russia, Ola loves Galia and wants to be with her until the end of the world, planning to start a family, but Galia does not share Ola’s dedication to the fight for the rights of the homosexuals ("Olya’s love," dir. Kirill Sakhnarov).

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, adolescent children of war experience a painful trauma of loneliness and rejection, spending all their youth in shelters and orphanages, because the mother has another idea how to live, because the father is brutal or does his time in prison for committing the crime of genocide ("In the Shadow of War," dir. Sophia and Georgia Scott)

In Slovakia, recidivists attempt to return to normal lives, struggling with addictions and heartless law ("Comeback," dir. Miro Remo). Which of these barriers will turn out to be more difficult to overcome in order to make the great comeback a fact? 

In Germany, the residents of the contemporary tower of Babel, marginalised by their fate, dream about better tomorrow, looking for encouragement among their neighbours or surrounding themselves with numerous dogs and cats ("Am Kölnberg," dir. Robin Humboldt, Laurentia Genske ).

The inhabitants of seven coastal countries on the Black See do not foresee yet that a storm is coming to this region of the world, as it is picturesquely shown in the camera of Polish-German film crew, witnessing how thin is the boundary between heaven and hell ("Tristia: A Black Sea Odyssey," dir.  Stanisław Mucha).  

Tristia, A Black Sea Odyssey dir. Stanislaw Mucha