The evening of September 11 marked the end of the 6th edition of the Hommage à Kieslowski Film Festival in Sokolowsk, Lower Silesia. The Festival dedicated to Kieslowski’s work was attended by film people, artists, collaborators and friends of the director, including Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Jacek Petrycki, Piotr Jaxa, Pascal Verdosci, Andreas Voigt, Ewa Wycichowska, Alain Martin, Beata Dzianowicz, Kamila Józefowicz, Krzysztof Kopczynski, Jacek Lusiński, Michal Sobociński, Vojtěch Frič and Tomáš Weinreb. The festival’s motto was the peculiar advice Kieslowski gave to his students around the world: “Look carefully.” I am very impressed by this unique festival created very close to the idea so important to Kieslowski: pure, sincere and at the same time important cinema. – said during a meeting with the audience Krzysztof Piesiewicz, a friend and co-author of many of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s films, who came to Sokolowsk for the first time – When I was walking through Sokolowsk, I saw a piece of paper on a pole with the inscription: “Whoever you are I wish you well”. I felt it was unreal and magical, because Kieslowski would have said the same thing! Then I saw two boys on bicycles, as if I were looking at Christopher’s childhood photos. I realized that Sokolowsko was his place.
At the “Hidden Meanings of Red” meeting, Krzysztof Piesiewicz talked about his work on the film script and his interpretations. He also took part in the debate “The profession of a lawyer, or the contradiction of obligations – cinema and reality”, where the choices, ethical and moral dilemmas of lawyers and the ways of their representation in cinema were discussed. The debate, also hosted by German attorney Nicolas Becker, followed the screening of Birgit Schulz’s documentary “Lawyers – A German Story,” shown in Poland for the first time.
The festival opened with the Golden Bear award at the 2016 Berlinale, a documentary by Italian director, producer and cameraman Gianfranco Rosi, titled “The Lawyers. “Fuocoammare. Fire at Sea,” shown at the Festival as part of the “Non-Fiction” block. Special guest at the screening was Jacopo Quadri, the film’s editor, who flew to Sokolovsk straight from the Venice Film Festival.
In the “Hommage à Kieslowski” section, which is a retrospective of the director’s films, the screenings included: “Three Colors: Red,” “No End,” “Seven Women of Different Ages,” as well as the documentary “Meeting with Krzysztof Kieslowski” by German director Andreas Voigt.
Beata Dzianowicz (“Kites”), Kamila Jozefowicz (“Galumphing”) and Krzysztof Kopczynski (“Dybbuk. The thing about the wandering of souls”) presented their documentaries at the Festival.
“Re: Interpretations” – a block of feature cinema – brought together feature films that refer in the layer of narrative, aesthetic and thematic search to the cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski or remain in social and cultural discourse with him. Guests of this section were director Jacek Lusiński and cinematographer Michal Sobocinski (“Carte Blanche”), director Kinga Debska (“My Daughters of the Cow”), directors Vojtěch Frič and Tomáš Weinreb (“I, Olga Hepnarová”). Meetings with artists were led by Mikolaj Jazdon, Rafal Koschany, Lukasz Maciejewski Dorota Paciarelli and Petr Vlček.
The second day of the Festival saw the opening of Piotr Jaxa’s photography exhibition “Kieslowski’s Colors / Remembering Krzysztof,” which is the result of the photographer’s collaboration with the director on “Three Colors.” The Festival also featured an exhibition of photographs from the Archive of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Works, created in Sokolowsk by the “In Situ” Foundation for Contemporary Art, the organizer of the Festival.
Screenings and panel discussions were held in the “HEALTH” cinema theater, the “LABORATORIUM” open-air cinema and in the multimedia room located in the renovated part of Dr. Brehmer’s historic sanatorium.
Dorota Paciarelli, artistic director of the Festival, sums up this year’s edition as follows:
We managed in three days to create an atmosphere in which the films shown were a pretext for something more important. To share experiences, questions and thoughts. To create bonds and community, to ask important questions about the time and place in which we live. What we are particularly pleased about is the presence of Krzysztof Piesiewicz at our festival. What he has given our audience and ourselves, I find it hard to put into words. We have a unique place, a great team, young and open-minded, and I think after this organizational marathon we went through together, that we can now rejoice that our circle of friends is growing. In any part of the world, and in Sokolowsk especially, you can do extraordinary things.
The honorary patronage of the Festival was assumed by the director’s wife, Mrs. Maria Kieslowska
