Is Shorter Really Better?

In Toronto, it seems that when one film festival ends another one begins. Then again, it is the city with the most film festivals in the world, so it’s natural.

Hard on the heels of the world-renowned Hot Docs documentary festival (in which Polish film At the Edge of Russia managed to snag the coveted HBO Documentary Films Emerging Artist Award for its director Michal Marczak) comes the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival (WSFF).

With the motto “shorter is better” this festival showcases the greatest short films from around the globe.

Image from Robert Proch's short film The Gallery (Galeria)

Last year, the festival spotlighted Poland and had a special presentation of films from Warsaw animation powerhouse Platige Image.

This time around, there are four Polish films. They include:

Invisible Border (Niewidzialna Granica)

A Plain Landscape with a Cradle (Krajobraz Nizinny z Kolyska)

The Gallery (Galeria)

Three Mothers

Three Mothers directed by local filmmaker Rafal Sokolowski stars Canada’s rising star Kristin Booth (The Kennedys, Young People Fucking).

Rafal Sokolowski on the set of "Three Mothers"

The film, which plays at the Varsity Cinema on Wednesday June 1 at 1pm and Friday June 3 at 6:15 pm, has been programmed alongside Spike Jonze’s highly anticipated Scenes From the Suburbs.

Spike Jonze is the cinematic genius behind films such as Being John Malkovich and Where the Wild Things Are and has created some of the best music videos of all time – including the Beastie Boys Sabotage video and Fat Boy Slim’s Praise You.

Director Spike Jonze

In Scenes From the Suburbs, Spike collaborates with Canada’s Grammy Award winners Arcade Fire on a story about a slice of suburban life in wartime. Check out the trailer below.

Playing with Spike Jonze is a big score for Rafal as both screenings are sure to be well attended.

We’ll be running a contest for passes to each of the films so make sure to visit our Facebook page for more details.

Hope to see you at the movies!

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YouNxt’s Latest “Na Luzie” Segment Airs This Saturday

A few days ago we descended on Toronto’s decadent Kultura restaurant to tape the latest edition of YouNxt’s Na Luzie segment.

Na Luzie (meaning Laid Back in Polish) is the Polish-Canadian television program airing on OMNI TV.

As per usual we chatted with host Anna Piszczkiewicz about cultural happenings in the city as well as about the cool achievements of up and comers.

You can check out the segment this Saturday on OMNI 1 starting at 7pm (with a repeat next Friday at 2pm)

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Time to Get Social!!!

It’s almost that time of the month again…Forever Fridays at Fregata!

Join YouNxt and the Canada-Poland Chamber of Commerce as we host our monthly social/networking event at Fregata Nightclub in Mississauga (this is a monthly event happening on every last Friday of the month).

It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet ambitious people, make some valuable connections and just have a grand ol’ time.

Arrive for 7pm so as not to pay a cover and receive one drink ticket as well as hors d’œuvres.

Here  are some photos from last month’s event.

Hope to see you there tomorrow evening.

When: Friday, May 27th at 7pm

Where: Fregata Nightclub in Mississauga, 1900 Dundas St. East

Dress Code: Casual Chic

Price: FREE (if arrive by 7pm)

Visit our Facebook page for additional information.

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Back From the Land of “La Dolce Vita”

May is the perfect time for a European vacation.

The sun is out. There is a refreshing breeze blowing in the air. And best of all, you avoid the tourist swarms so common in July or August.

As you might have guessed from the lack of posts over the last few weeks, we’ve been away – in Italy to be exact.

There are too many photos too share so we’ll leave you with one image that might sum it all up.

Life is indeed sweet when you’re on vacation. And it is even sweeter when you’re basking in the sun of Italy’s Amalfi Coast.

It’s a breathtaking place. And the people are amazing.

If you ever get a chance to visit make sure to check out the town of Positano.

It is out of this world.

So, now that we are back, we look forward to resuming regular posts and hope to see you at a future YouNxt event.

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From the Vault: ‘Na Luzie’ Archive 2 Justyna Baraniecki

By Anna Piszczkiewicz

Justyna Baraniecki is the owner of the online clothing store chicshop.ca and the style blogger at chichichic!, the shop’s blog. Justyna is also a young professional who has been featured on this blog and has even written a post or two. She is also incredibly charming.

I interviewed Justyna this winter via Skype. Since then, I visit her blog for daily fashion inspiration and to secretly feed my desire for a personal shopping outing with the gifted stylist.

As you will see from the segment below, Justyna’s a style trooper. She decked herself out in fancy and lightweight pieces in the dead of winter. In Ottawa. Talk about chutzpah!

But that was then. Justyna just released her latest lookbook, Carnivale (violet wig and ridiculously awesome platforms included), which makes me feel like summer isn’t that far away. Finally!

I invite you to take a tour of Justyna’s closet…

Na Luzie airs Saturdays on OMNI1 at 7pm and repeats Fridays at 2pm.

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A Little Polish Film Culture @ Kultura

Last night YouNxt along with Ekran hosted a reception in honour of the Polish films at this year’s Hot Docs (the Canadian International Documentary Festival)

The event took place at the posh Kultura restaurant in downtown Toronto.

On hand was Warsaw based Director Pawel Kloc of the much talked about Phnom Penh Lullaby as well as Toronto based filmmakers Natalia Kantor and Rafal Sokolowski.

A big thank you goes out to our sponsors:

Canada-Poland Chamber of Commerce

Fregata Restaurant

Ekran Toronto Polish Film Festival

And to Kultura for hosting us.

Here is a sneak peak at some of the photos. Thanks to Peter Calak from GravityBureau.com and Martin Terlecki for snapping these.

(FYI – both Polish feature docs still have showings so if you haven’t already make sure to check them out. Screening info is available here.)

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