OFF PLUS CAMERA'09 program
This year’s OFF PLUS CAMERA program will include:
Dramatic Competition „Making Way”
The International Dramatic Competition for the Cracow Film Award is the main section of OFF PLUS CAMERA and consists of 12 international features made in 2009 or 2010. Our audiences will have a wealth of opportunities to see the latest films taled about worldwide and that have wowed audiences at such great festivals as Sundance, Berlinale, and Rotterdam. At OFF PLUS CAMERA, these works will compete for the main prize of $ 100,000, which will be given by an International Jury presided over by Zbigniew Preisner.
Discoveries
This section will feature the latest productions from well-acclaimed directors as well as those from fresh young filmmakers gaining publicity at international festivals. Our international programmers appreciate these films for both their commercial appeal and their independent ambition. On the one hand, audiences will have the chance to watch some well-known actors on the big screen (such as Julianne Moore, Colin Firth, and Paul Giamatti), and on the other, some startingly original directorial visions. This section will also present a great opportunity to compare stars’ Hollywood-established images with their more independent faces.
Discoveries: From the Gut
Devoted to the most original and experimental of contemporary American films, features in this section have been carefully selected by Trevor Groth, Sundance Programming Director, and Mike Plant, who knows everything there is to know about American indie movies. Often harsh and even irritating, these are socially provocative film works that aim for serious responses from audiences as they reevaluate the thematic and aesthetic parameters of modern cinema.
Discoveries: Latino
This section presents the freshest and most intoxicating Latino films to be acclaimed by both critics and international audiences due to their uncompromising perspectives and expressive visions. Selected by Rosa Martinze Rivero, one of the BAFICI programmers, these films portray Latino culture from different complicated angles, but none of them provide ready-made answers to the ethnic, religious, and cultural issues they address. Quite the opposite, as these films depict the diversity of a Latino world that the West still often looks down upon.
Catching Up
This section will present internationally acclaimed films which have not yet seen distribution in Poland. Noting not only the artistic value of these works but their significance in international cinema, we have programmed this section with films that working with formal orignality and courageous subject matter. These films have been appreciated by festival audiences and many have won presitigious awards (even some Oscar nominations), but this will be the first chance for Polish audiences to see them on the big screen. It’s high time we “caught up”.
Sundance Institute Series
This section is the product of OFF PLUS CAMERA’s collaboration with the biggest independent film festival in the world, the well-known and well-respected Sundance. Together with his team, Sundance Programming Director Trevor Groth has selected five films exclusively for us that premiered at Sundance in January of this year. Another five films to be presented in this section were made during the Sundance Labs, annual workshops for young filmmakers. The audiences of OFF PLUS CAMERA will thus have the unique opportunity to compare celebrated productions straight off the big screens of Park City with these Lab productions by directors just about to start their careers. The “Sundance Film Festival Series” is a great chance to take a closer look at the future of American indie cinema.
Nordic Horizons
This unique section will familiarize OFF PLUS CAMERA audiences with Norwegian and Icelandic cinema, which up to this point has remained somewhat unknown in Poland. Selected by Hrönn Marindsdóttir, Director of the Reykjavik International Film Festival, and Ásgrimura Sverrinssona, an expert on Nordic films, these works represent all that’s most interesting and widely discussed in cinema from this region. Usually associated in Central-Eastern Europe with only a few directors who have gained international renown (such as Dagur Kári), these latest productions will expose Polish audiences to the dramatic and ambitious scope of Nordic cinema.
Focus on: 15 years of Pusan IFF
We are excited about the potential of this section, which OFF PLUS CAMERA has organized in cooperation with the programmers of the largest and most influential festival of Asian cinema, the Pusan Film Festival, headed by Kim Dong Ho. The most fascinating and widely acclaimed films in contemporary Asia cinema will be presented here, the goal of which is to portray the diversity of Asian culture and how directors from this part of the world still surprise with their extraordinary sensibilities.
New Indian Cinema
Dubai Film Festival programmer Hannah Fisher has prepared this special section exclusively for OFF PLUS CAMERA in order to present the independent face of Indian cinema to Europe. These films chosen by Fisher undermine the cultural stereotypes established by Bollywood pictures and, at the same time, portray the incredible diversity of cinema from this part of the world, which is still mostly associated in Europe with huge, kitschy productions. It’s about time to screen some Indian films presenting fresh alternatives to the Bollywood image.
Don’t Knock the Rock
Prepared for OFF PLUS CAMERA by American cult director Allison Anders (“Grace of My Heart”, “4 Rooms”), the “Don’t Knock the Rock” section is named after the Los Angeles music and film festival she organizes to promote indie films about rock music. Our festival section will screen some wild and dirty films that show all the glamor and trash, rebellion and noise, sex and drugs that have become part of rock’n’roll. But the bottom line of all these films is “the rock”, the music, energy, and passion.
Tribute to: Jane Campion
Jane Campion is an icon and needs little introduction. As the only female director to be awarded the Cannes Golden Palm, the New Zealander director has made such outstanding films as The Piano, An Angel at My Table, and The Portrait of a Lady. Campion will honor this year’s OFF PLUS CAMERA with her presence and will receive a prize for her distinguished contribution to the development of independent cinema called the “AGAINST THE CURRENT AWARD”. She will also be participating in the festival at the gala premiere of her latest film, Bright Star. OFF PLUS CAMERA also will have the privilege of screening some of Campion’s remarkable films within its special section entitled, “Tribute to Jane Campion”.
Dramatic Competition „Making Way”
The International Dramatic Competition for the Cracow Film Award is the main section of OFF PLUS CAMERA and consists of 12 international features made in 2009 or 2010. Our audiences will have a wealth of opportunities to see the latest films taled about worldwide and that have wowed audiences at such great festivals as Sundance, Berlinale, and Rotterdam. At OFF PLUS CAMERA, these works will compete for the main prize of $ 100,000, which will be given by an International Jury presided over by Zbigniew Preisner.
Discoveries
This section will feature the latest productions from well-acclaimed directors as well as those from fresh young filmmakers gaining publicity at international festivals. Our international programmers appreciate these films for both their commercial appeal and their independent ambition. On the one hand, audiences will have the chance to watch some well-known actors on the big screen (such as Julianne Moore, Colin Firth, and Paul Giamatti), and on the other, some startingly original directorial visions. This section will also present a great opportunity to compare stars’ Hollywood-established images with their more independent faces.
Discoveries: From the Gut
Devoted to the most original and experimental of contemporary American films, features in this section have been carefully selected by Trevor Groth, Sundance Programming Director, and Mike Plant, who knows everything there is to know about American indie movies. Often harsh and even irritating, these are socially provocative film works that aim for serious responses from audiences as they reevaluate the thematic and aesthetic parameters of modern cinema.
Discoveries: Latino
This section presents the freshest and most intoxicating Latino films to be acclaimed by both critics and international audiences due to their uncompromising perspectives and expressive visions. Selected by Rosa Martinze Rivero, one of the BAFICI programmers, these films portray Latino culture from different complicated angles, but none of them provide ready-made answers to the ethnic, religious, and cultural issues they address. Quite the opposite, as these films depict the diversity of a Latino world that the West still often looks down upon.
Catching Up
This section will present internationally acclaimed films which have not yet seen distribution in Poland. Noting not only the artistic value of these works but their significance in international cinema, we have programmed this section with films that working with formal orignality and courageous subject matter. These films have been appreciated by festival audiences and many have won presitigious awards (even some Oscar nominations), but this will be the first chance for Polish audiences to see them on the big screen. It’s high time we “caught up”.
Sundance Institute Series
This section is the product of OFF PLUS CAMERA’s collaboration with the biggest independent film festival in the world, the well-known and well-respected Sundance. Together with his team, Sundance Programming Director Trevor Groth has selected five films exclusively for us that premiered at Sundance in January of this year. Another five films to be presented in this section were made during the Sundance Labs, annual workshops for young filmmakers. The audiences of OFF PLUS CAMERA will thus have the unique opportunity to compare celebrated productions straight off the big screens of Park City with these Lab productions by directors just about to start their careers. The “Sundance Film Festival Series” is a great chance to take a closer look at the future of American indie cinema.
Nordic Horizons
This unique section will familiarize OFF PLUS CAMERA audiences with Norwegian and Icelandic cinema, which up to this point has remained somewhat unknown in Poland. Selected by Hrönn Marindsdóttir, Director of the Reykjavik International Film Festival, and Ásgrimura Sverrinssona, an expert on Nordic films, these works represent all that’s most interesting and widely discussed in cinema from this region. Usually associated in Central-Eastern Europe with only a few directors who have gained international renown (such as Dagur Kári), these latest productions will expose Polish audiences to the dramatic and ambitious scope of Nordic cinema.
Focus on: 15 years of Pusan IFF
We are excited about the potential of this section, which OFF PLUS CAMERA has organized in cooperation with the programmers of the largest and most influential festival of Asian cinema, the Pusan Film Festival, headed by Kim Dong Ho. The most fascinating and widely acclaimed films in contemporary Asia cinema will be presented here, the goal of which is to portray the diversity of Asian culture and how directors from this part of the world still surprise with their extraordinary sensibilities.
New Indian Cinema
Dubai Film Festival programmer Hannah Fisher has prepared this special section exclusively for OFF PLUS CAMERA in order to present the independent face of Indian cinema to Europe. These films chosen by Fisher undermine the cultural stereotypes established by Bollywood pictures and, at the same time, portray the incredible diversity of cinema from this part of the world, which is still mostly associated in Europe with huge, kitschy productions. It’s about time to screen some Indian films presenting fresh alternatives to the Bollywood image.
Don’t Knock the Rock
Prepared for OFF PLUS CAMERA by American cult director Allison Anders (“Grace of My Heart”, “4 Rooms”), the “Don’t Knock the Rock” section is named after the Los Angeles music and film festival she organizes to promote indie films about rock music. Our festival section will screen some wild and dirty films that show all the glamor and trash, rebellion and noise, sex and drugs that have become part of rock’n’roll. But the bottom line of all these films is “the rock”, the music, energy, and passion.
Tribute to: Jane Campion
Jane Campion is an icon and needs little introduction. As the only female director to be awarded the Cannes Golden Palm, the New Zealander director has made such outstanding films as The Piano, An Angel at My Table, and The Portrait of a Lady. Campion will honor this year’s OFF PLUS CAMERA with her presence and will receive a prize for her distinguished contribution to the development of independent cinema called the “AGAINST THE CURRENT AWARD”. She will also be participating in the festival at the gala premiere of her latest film, Bright Star. OFF PLUS CAMERA also will have the privilege of screening some of Campion’s remarkable films within its special section entitled, “Tribute to Jane Campion”.
