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 and Ekran Co-Present Polish Films at Hot Docs 2011

As many of you can attest – seeing a great documentary film can leave you inspired, speechless and amazed.

From April 28 to May 8 the world’s best documentary filmmakers will be in Toronto for Hot Docs – North America’s largest documentary film festival.

This year, Hot Docs will present an outstanding selection of over 190 docs from around the world.

As last year, YouNxt and Ekran (the Toronto Polish Film Festival) are delighted to be official co-presenters of the Polish films at Hot Docs.

On May 4^th we will also be hosting a special reception in honour of the Polish films at Hot Docs as well as local filmmaking talent.

Kultura Restaurant

The event will take place at the decadently delicious Kultura restaurant. Save the date and help us raise a toast to the creative, and often difficult, efforts of those that bring breathtaking stories to our eyes.

There will be two Polish features and two shorts at Hot Docs 2011. The features include:

At the Edge of Russia (Dir. Michal Marczak)

Sat, April 30 – 6:30pm, Cumberland 2

Tue, May 3  – 1:15 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2

Fri, May 6 – 7pm, Cumberland 2

Hundreds of miles from the nearest human settlement, a young recruit arrives at his Arctic post, charged with an absurd task: patrolling the nothingness. A riveting portrait of silence, broken at times by vodka and sad song.

Phnom Penh Lullaby (Dir. Pawel Kloc)

Mon, May 2 – 9:45pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 3

Wed, May 4 – 4pm, Cumberland 2

Sun, May 8 – 5:45pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 4

Pushing the boundaries of documentary, this disturbing, highly compelling drama follows an Israeli man now living in Cambodia with his Khmer girlfriend and their two young daughters. A story from the fringes conveyed with an edge.

The two shorts films have both won numerous international awards. They are:

That’s Life (Dir. Daniel Zielinski)

Fri, April 29 – 9pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 4

Sun, May 1 – 1pm, Cumberland 3

A middle-aged Polish man—the filmmaker’s retired father—selflessly and tenderly cares for his elderly mother. They live a quiet life in the solitude of the countryside. The son films his father and grandmother with a sensitive, impressionistic eye, but in conversation the father expresses frustration and loneliness. A family visit shows us why.

Out of Reach (Dir. Jakub Stozek)

Sun, May 1 – 11:30am, ROM Theatre

Tue, May 3 – 9:45 – The Royal Cinema

Young and headstrong, sisters Karolina and Natalia are realistic about their home life. Their domineering father may not take the best care of them, but they know any life with their mysteriously absent mother would surely be worse.

For ticket information please visit the Hot Docs website.

Over the next few days we will be showcasing these films in more detail so make sure to check out our blog regularly for updates.

We are very excited to be involved with Hot Docs once again and we are especially proud to collaborate with our good friends at Ekran in bringing these docs to you. We’re looking forward to some memorable cinematic stories and look forward to seeing you at the movies.

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San Sebastian bound…

Dir. Marcin Wrona at the San Sebastian Film Festival

Having hosted Polish Director Marcin Wrona during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) he now feels like a member of the YouNxt family. Plus in a recent interview with the Polish Film Institute he had some great things to say about Toronto film audiences.

…They say that Canadian film audiences are the best in the world. That’s probably true. Toronto is home to the most film festivals in the world. The audiences are experts. They ask extremely specific questions about the intelectual depth of a film.  Marcin Wrona

So, we’re keenly keeping an eye on what this super talented young filmmaker is up to.

Recently, he just completed a tour of duty at the 58th Edition of the San Sebastian film festival where much like at TIFF, his film The Christening (Chrzest) played to a packed audience.

He was joined by cast members Natalia Rybicka and Tomasz Schchardt. Here are some of their pictures…

Marcin Wrona with cast members Natalia Rybicka and Tomasz Schchardt

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A Few Drinks and a Few Movies

 

CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto's Yorkville

If you’re into the post-apocalypse then last night was the night for you. As part of its first spotlight on Polish films the folks at the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival (WSFF) featured the work of Warsaw based Platige Image.

Visually splendid, technically superb, these Oscar nominated shorts, were also pretty dark. Focusing on themes around end-of-the-world scenarios it was a mashup of robots on mysterious planets, virus outbreaks, menacing factories, desolate gothic cathedrals and psychotic military generals – fun times.

"The Great Escape"

A few colourfull films stood out that provided some cute humour and touching emotions. Tomek Baginski’s The Kinematograph told the tale of an inventor who slaves away in his laboratory night and day to marry sound and colour images, leaving no time for his beautiful and devoted wife. Chick, directed by Michal Socha was a funny take on the wining, dining and romancing escapades of a cosmopolitan couple. And Damian Nenow ‘s The Great Escape told a cute story about the escape of an animated sunshine used in television weather reports.

Thanks to everyone for coming out and for joining us for drinks beforehand.

WSFF continues its spotlight on Poland for the next two days:

SPOTLIGHT ON POLAND: Spotlight 1
Cumberland Cinema, Friday, June 4, 2:00 p.m.

SPOTLIGHT ON POLAND: Spotlight 2
Cumberland Cinema, Saturday, June 5, 3:00 p.m

For more information visit the WSFF website.

Pre-fest drinks at Hemingways

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WSFF spotlights Poland’s Pixar

"Fallen Art" Directed by Tomek Baginski

Tomorrow night those in Toronto will get to experience the first of three Worldwide Short Film Festival nights spotlighting Poland. Specifically, the evening will focus on animation from Warsaw based post-production company Platige Image.

Platige Image is an award winning film studio specializing in making commercials, advanced animations and special effects. Their list of clients is impressive and includes companies like LEGO, Duracell and Żubr beer. They have also worked on films like Lars Von Trier’s uber-controversial Antichrist and Polish epics Popiełuszko and Katyń. WSFF Festival Director Eileen Arandiga describes Platige Image as “…one of Poland’s most awarded and innovative animation houses, creating stunningly distinctive worlds that will amaze and inspire.”

"The Kinematograph " Directed by Tomek Baginski

The company has a roster of extremely talented and ambitious young directors and visual effects artists that have also created a vast number of critically acclaimed short films. Director Tomek Bagiński has already received two Oscar nominations for his shorts The Cathedral and Fallen Art. In this respect, one could almost consider Platige Image the young Polish equivalent of Hollywood’s Pixar (creators of the hugely popular Toy Story and WALL-E.)

Recently they contributed visual effects for this clever spot promoting the Polish Film Institute.

Specific film information for tomorrow night is included below. We hope to see you there. And if you are planning on attending join us for some pre-fest drinks starting at 7pm at Hemingways restaurant in Yorkville.

TOONING IN TO AN ANIMATED POLAND

WSFF spotlight on Poland: Platige Image

Cumberland Cinema, Thursday, June 3, 9:15 p.m.

THE CATHEDRAL (KATEDRA)

D: Tomek Baginski, Poland, 2002, 6 minutes, Animation

As a pilgrim wanders through the cavernous halls of an unfinished gothic cathedral, it simultaneously comes to life and decays, suggesting the marks we leave on the world are both ephemeral and permanent. Nominated for an Oscar.

THE GREAT ESCAPE

D: Damian Nenow, Poland, 2006, 6 minutes, Animation

Did you know that inside your TV, there’s a little speck of sunshine just bursting to get out?

FALLEN ART (SZTUKA SPADANIA)

D: Tomek Baginski, Poland, 2004, 6 minutes, Animation

On an anonymous military base, an army of expendable minions are pushed to their deaths so a psychotic general can get his rocks off when he reanimates their demise through photographs. Nominated for an Oscar.

TEACHING INFINITY (LEKCJA NIESKONCZONOSCI)

D: Jakub Jablonski, Bartlomiej Kik, Poland, 2008, 15 minutes, Animation

In this sumptuous animation, a woman and her robot companion land on a mysterious planet where they’re given a glimpse of infinity’s enveloping vastness by a pixie-like alien.

THE KINEMATOGRAPH (KINEMATOGRAF)

D: Tomek Baginski, Poland, 2009, 12 minutes, Animation

Based on a graphic novel by Mateusz Skutnik, this tenderly-rendered animation tells the tale of an inventor who toils in his laboratory night and day to marry sound and colour images, leaving no time for his beautiful and devoted wife. Screened at Venice 2009.

ARK (ARKA)

D: Grzegorz Jonkajtys, Poland, 2007, 8 minutes, Animation

After a virus has decimated the human race, the remaining survivors set sail in colossal tankers to uncharted waters and – hopefully – new beginnings. All is not as it seems in this reworking of the Noah’s Ark parable. Screened at Cannes Film Festival. Nominated for Palme d’Or.

MOLOCH

D: Marcin Pazera, Poland, 2006, 7 minutes, Animation

In this ambient nightmare-scape, a desolate and dark industrial plant is home to a raging machine that occasionally creaks to life and goes on nihilistic rampages.

CHICK (LASKA)

D: Michal Socha, Poland, 2008, 5 minutes, Animation

In this highly-stylized animation, a woman races home to primp and preen for the arrival of a beau. They wine, dine and get a little raunchy – but then what?

MANTIS

D: Grzegorz Jonkajtys, Poland, 2000, 6 minutes, Animation

After being salvaged from the scrap-heap, a female robot’s circuitry is fixed and she comes to life. Like a preying mantis, this robot has an interesting way of returning the favour.

"Teaching Infinity" Directed by Jakub Jablonski

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