PARIS HAS FALLEN SEASON 1 EP. 1

Watchable. Gerard Butler is one of the producers of the series. The initial attack on the British embassy is tedious, with some excessive brutality, but run-of-the-mill on the whole. When you hear an ex Taliban prisoner is waging a private vendetta, it's still standard. But when he coerces the Defense Minister into a suicide threatening to shoot his daughter instead, you become intrigued.

Seen courtesy of Canal +.

노량: 죽음의 바다 (NORYANG: DEADLY SEA)

Switched off. Sadly all the lavish historical costumes and ships and edifices were wasted on me. With no background knowledge of the history of Japan, Korea, their armaments, historical figures, customs I couldn't work out who was who and who fought for what hence I couldn't grasp the scheme.

Reviewed from the distributor's screener, cinematic reception might differ.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM

Walked out. Ballistic animation set in realities of the Middle Ages. Wooden lines and stereotypical characters. Fantastical creatures are used in battles and heartbreakingly slaughtered by enemies. No magic.

DIAMANT BRUT

Watchable. Malou Khebizi as Liane is beautiful, sensual, not too smart, immature, callow. She treats her body as gods.

ANORA

Recommended. An original story of a stripper. A beautiful, smart go-go dancer becomes Russian billionaire's son's girlfriend. The first half of the movie is her fairy tale affair, it is and it feels like a constant party, with surrounding music and feeling of frivolousness. The second part dismantles the dream. Perfectly acted, especially by as Ani and   as Ivan, it's all plausible. A romantic tale turns into a crime comedy, finally drama where the rich always get their way.

PARIS HAS FALLEN SEASON 1 EP. 2

Watchable. Lots of chases you don't care about, special agents' private relationships which don't bring anything to the action either, but Pearce's back story is getting stronger and the only thing that keeps you watching is another cliff hanger after he mercilessly and cruelly kills another man, in shocking circumstances again.

EP. 3

Recommended. The plot finally makes full sense and the suspense keeps growing. A true espionage thriller.

EP. 4

Recommended. The action diverts a bit from the previous route, setting ground for the next murderous plan. The two agents' relationship stories become more sensible too. And they eventually meet Pearce face to face. It's impossible not to binge the serial now.

EP. 5

Recommended. New characters, connected to Pearce, are introduced. We know who the rat in intelligence is, the agents don't know it yet. The ending leaves you with the question of whether the bomb is going to go off or not. The whole episode makes you poinder whether it is possible to switch off planes transporders remotely in a hackers' attack. 

EP. 6

Recommended. A few twists of action, a new character in action and one more mention Just for the agent duo - love them. ned by Pearce. The finale leaves the president with an impossible choice. 

EP. 7

Recommended. The clock is ticking as the bomb is going to explode. The finale offers a solution. A subversive one.

EP. 8

Recommended. Pearce is over, others make it alive. One of the agents is quitting but... "bakers die of boredom and obesity". I'll be looking forward to season 2.

Big Polish subtitles in all episodes facilitate watching. 

Seen courtesy of Canal +.

WATCH DOCS 2023

PRAY FOR OUR SINNERS AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR

Watchable. 91% of primary schools in Ireland are still controlled by the Catholic Church. The people who were struggling to be saved became the worst oppressors of each other. You learn of families with even 15 children, kids at school beaten daily, even on a broken hand, plenty of single mothers made to give up their babies for adoption. But the narrative statements by director Sinead O'Shea are repetitive. Not many facts are given but you do get how powerful the Church has been in Ireland and that this oppression was so internalised few questioned it, e.g. a nun: "It has all been arranged. There's nothing I can do about it." "Then you will have to unarrange it, won't you." It also shows how tight-knit and hierarchical Irish towns are which results in such reciprocal oppression. Money is power too - it's the well-off who had the guts to oppose the Church, if they cared. Archive footage mixes with current shots of the locations and interviews. Very Irish: the accent, mentality and the final credits song.

Up to 20 000 babies are unaccounted for, about 9 000 died in mother and baby homes, as was found in the report covering only some institutions. Many people about 30 years old have no records of themselves. More than 100 000 babies were born there. No one is excavating baby bodies while thousands may be there. It's no longer cool to go to church. But they still have church weddings or communions. The Irish Church has lots of assets and good lawyers. 

ЧОРНОБИЛЬ 22 (CHORNOBYL 22)

Watchable. This short film explains why Russians came to the abandoned town en route to invade Kyiv: it was to be their retreat. They left a few days later, vomiting from the radiation, having sacrificed lots of their tank fuel to save the power of the nuclear plant they were told could explode. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into. They hadn't even been aware of the contamination. The film's chaotic but you learn that. I was also surprised by how fast modern tanks could go.

THE NEW AMERICANS: GAMING A REVOLUTION

Watchable. Game-speed dynamic animation, hip-hop, lots of obscure financial terminology. The real 'Wolf of Wall Street' and plenty of unknown individual investors or big traders comment on modern finance, gullible youngsters, the post truth. While details weren't comprehensible to me, the picture is we live in a world of blurred lines between the truth and fake news, legality and crime. 

PERIODICAL

Recommended. A multi-faceted look at menstruation: biology, history, but most of all human rights around it: toxicity of many tampons, menstruation product taxation whereas Viagra, condoms or participation in gun clubs are often exempt. While the documentary is American, it's relatable to women worldwide. Visually attractive: beautiful young activists, Naomi Watts (perimenopausal at 35) with her dog in her lap, colourful animations, film and commercial insertions. Dynamic and thorough. Being on your period is also looked at from the most obvious pain perspective: the machine simulator makes men writhe in agony while women comment a period is 10 times stronger.

PATRICK AND THE WHALE

Recommended. Shot in and on the waters around Dominica, It's not just about the beauty of these amazing animals. You learn about them, e.g. sperm whales turn white and wrinkly at the age of 70-80, a mother leaves her calf with another female when she takes a foraging dive. But most disturbingly, they have such close bonds they never leave theirs in need. That's how they end up stranded on a beach in group or how whalers used to be able to harpoon so many, because when one was dying, others would come for rescue. The film is comforting in how gently and respectfully Patrick Dykstra treats the whales.

DEEP RISING

Recommended. Produced and narrated by 'Aquaman' Jason Momoa, with stunning deep sea photography, it's a bleak picture of humanity. Gerard Barron's lies and callousness are shocking. His "clean and green" metal extraction means killing rare animals which, apart from their beauty, capture carbon dioxide. Oceans provide oxygen for our every second breath. The extraction has already started. In spite of other solutions, e.g. hydrogen.  

USMIECH LOSU (SONG OF GOATS)

Watchable. The sun and Greek music here don't mean holidays but hard labour. The protagonists' and others' behaviours aren't always justifiable in the plot but in the end make sense. While based on elements of a fine art photographer's life, the structure is like in traditional fairy tales, where a young man has to learn a few life lessons to come into the possession of a house and and marry the woman of his dreams. This appears to be the most sensible interpretation of those inexplicable actions and reactions. Not that there is much action. No, it's a slow movie. 

Reviewed from the distributor's screener, cinematic reception might differ.

HER DOCS FORUM 2023

ПРОКИДАЮЧИСЬ У ТИШІ (WAKING UP IN SILENCE) 

Switched off. A short film where Ukrainian refugee children play with their German friends. Boring, just like watching any other kids. 

Reviewed from the organizers' screener, cinematic reception might differ.

REMEMBER THE SMELL OF MARIUPOL

Recommended. A poetic short film about death and forced migration. Still photos and lines of text are surprisingly powerful.

Reviewed from the organizers' screener, cinematic reception might differ.

DOBRA WIADOMOSC (GOOD NEWS)

Watchable. A 10-minute short film whose first part drags but which shows the absurdity of the current situatuion on the Polish-Belarusian border where Poles are afraid of the Polish Border Guards and migrants browse the Internet while hiding in the woods. 

Reviewed from the organizers' screener, cinematic reception might differ.

EL SOSTRE GROC (THE YELLOW CEILING)

Recommended. This Catalan film about a theatre which was a paedophile's playground for 20 years is a thorough depiction of manipulative tactics towards 13-14 year old girls and the scale of his outrageous activity. The girls were all superb actors but paid far too high a price for acquiring such skills. He was incredibly powerful in the city, successful... and promiscuous with adults and minors alike. 

Reviewed from the organizers' screener, cinematic reception might differ.

 کیک محبوب من (MY FAVOURITE CAKE)

Recommended. A heart-warming story about coping both with one's old age and solitude and with the oppressive post-revolution policies in Iran. لیلی فرهادپور (Lily Farhadpour) and سماعیل محرابی (Esmail Mehrabi) excel in the leading roles. They're both so lovable. A simple but deeply humane story understandable across cultures.

FESTIWAL FILMOW CHINSKICH (CHINESE FILM FESTIVAL) 2024

Poland's largest Asian movies distributor for cinemas, VOD, TV - 9th Plan - opened the festival with an equally grandiose production: a blockbuster which cost 150 million dollars to produce:

封神第一部：朝歌风云 (CREATION OF THE GODS I: KINGDOM OF STORMS)

Watchable. Visually attractive, with plenty of CGIs and lavish set decor as well as costumes, with eye-catching camerawork, it's form over substance. On the one hand, the plot is shallow and aimed at fascinating or shocking the audience with brutality. On the other, the Chinese mythology it's based on and other traditions of the country, aren't quite comprehensible to a Westerner. One smart thing in the story is how it tells you that good intentions attract good spirits and bad intentions attract demons. That's completely the other way round than in Christian cultures which tell you you're attacked by external forces, especially if you're pious yourself. There are two mid-credits.

SOUDAIN, SEULS (SUDDENLY)

Based on a book by a woman who sailed round the world and who works for WWF.

Watchable. Shot in Iceland and Bretagne, I don't know where the penguins, which represent an island somewhere on the Southern Ocean, came from. The survival drama is far more engaging than the overlong relationship conversation or the cliche of the woman finding out she's pregnant. The movie doesn't explain why the rescue didn't come, instead it's a polar romance and a relationship drama. While the woman is impressively strong physically, mentally she's weak, as exemplified by her coming to terms with her partner's betrayal - the plot perpetuates the stereotype where a man's unfaithfulness is always forgiven. Some shots are breathtaking, especially in the last 40 minutes, when the landscapes are in the fog or of icebergs.

HET SMELT (WHEN IT MELTS)

Recommended. Based on a bestselling Belgian book. It's disturbing most of all. Repeatedly. It feels a bit pointless until the most horrible thing happens. And that, as well as the aftermath, hits you hard. It's a scorching look at how rape culture starts in childhood. Really smart, incisive, requiring psychological thinking all the time, especially child psychology, but rewarding. The title can be interpreted in quite a few ways. 

I'm happy I watched the movie at a Filmoterapia event. Both the shrinks on stage and the audience provided profound insights into each character's feelings and motivations. The psychologists also offered some clear solutions. 

OBLICZE JEZUSA

Watchable. Scientific parts, mostly the shocking opening one - about how badly battered Jezus was, especially his face, are intertwined with religious ones - typical for religious documentaries and so spiritual you yawn, though one bit was truly touching and some other thought-provoking. Wonderful cinematography lets you travel round Poland and the Mediterranean Sea basin as well as see rare historical artefacts up close. It's a good one, of decent length too, though too spiritual for my taste. 

WATCH DOCS 2023

It took place at Muranów and Kinoteka cinemas and on mojeekino.pl. From March 2024 it had screenings in 30 towns across Poland. 20 films were presented online, 56 in cinemas. All but 2 Polish ones which had been finished just before the festival had English subtitles. Player.pl from 11th to 31st December, showed films from previous editions. With 23 editions so far it's the oldest documentary film festival. And the 2023 edition had a beautiful poster. 

MUR (WALLS)

Watchable. Shown in Poland nearly 3 months after the release of "Zielona granica" ("Green Border"), it looks like a documentary copy of that feature: the same plot, with the addition of  Kasia Smutniak's family and their conversations about walls of Jewish ghettos in WW2. It shows two sides of the problem: volunteers rescuing illegal migrants and Border Guards. Little archive footage is presented, most are conversations and pictures of the same roads, woods and fields, as well as similar houses to those known from "Zielona granica" ("Green Border"). Sadly, the whole thing is awfully protracted, meandering. In spite of the agitating topic, the film appears lacklustre, it lacks dynamics. There's a post-credit which could just as well be in the picture or removed entirely.

The film was completed a year before Agnieszka Holland's feature and never consulted with Agnieszka Holland or that crew. It was made for Italian audience in order to tour the country and discuss with the public. "Zielona granica" ("Green Border") was released in Italy in 2024. Kasia Smutniak, who had been living in Italy for 25 years already, and Marella went without a plan, having learnt how to record. The Border Guards had no idea this documentary would be shot. The shooting took 2 weeks, editing 9 months.

SAD DZIADKA/САД ДІДУСЯ AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR, PROTAGONIST, CINEMATOGRAPHER/PROTAGONIST, PRODUCER AND HISTORIAN

Recommended. While this documentary tackles the Volhynian massacre, it's gentle. No archives, just Volhynia nowadays and a young woman from Poland looking for the traces of her grandfather's early childhood experience. It's verdant, quiet, people friendly. On the way, apart from occasional stories about the massacre retold as hearsays, she discovers that many Ukrainians warned Poles or even hosted runaways from the massacre - the first time I've heard of the good ones. Comforting. It also proves it's hostilities that lead to such events. As the Ukrainian cinematographer concludes: "There are many bad people in the world. There are also many good ones."

It's a Polish-Ukrainian co-production. There were initially 24 versions of the film, edited just before the full-scale war. The documentary was consulted by 6 historians, mostly Prof. Motyka. There was a cold-blooded political plan to eradicate Poles, by decision by Banderite OUN: if there are no Poles, there's no conflict. Bones coming onto the surface of the ground are common, that's why the protagonist came across some.

 What's coming up?

ZOOM TV

Their autumn schedule is based on 3 pillars: humour, scandal, mystery. 

Humour can be found in comedy shows starting on Sunday 13 October. Their recording is regularly prolonged by a few hours because the team make each other laugh. Raunchy jokes on breakfast TV are to be expected. To me, they're too vulgar to amuse. Elderly people are said to laugh most - maybe I'm just too young for that. 

A new season of "To leci w sieci" presenting click baits is already on - no Polish is needed to understand those videos of blunders.

"Alf" has come back, yes, the 80s show is already on.

Season 3 of "Dom w cenie mieszkania" starts on 6 October. The show tells you how to build a 200K-300K oasis of luxury within 2 weeks. Is it worth to move out of the city flat? "You can have 20 houses with no fence and tranquility or a noisy neighbour behind the fence - there's no rule." as presenter Kuba Midel says.

Season 2 of "Zabójcze potrawy" starts on 9 November. Whereas season 1 covered Asia, season 2 will be devoted to South America. Now the Amazon water levels are very low due to the climate disaster. Still, Jarek Nowak ate lizards or fish from the depths of the sea. Bolivia has 40% of oxygen - "football teams playing there try to draw." When Bolivians get down from 4 thousand metres above sea level they swell, which passes after a week. Now eating monkeys and frogs is forbidden by Peru. Jarek Nowak is only afraid of brains and eyes because of prion diseases. He met very friendly people in South America, especially in the Amazon. 

A new season, from early 2025, of the Polish version of British "Naked Attraction" - "Magia nagości. Polska", in order to reach a young audience, will be presented by influencer Julia Oleś who's a big fan of the original version. It's a dating show with all body shapes and sizes and an uncertainty of who will be chosen by the participant. One episode in spring is going to be in Julia's native Silesian.

From Monday to Friday documentaries are on offer. Those on Hitler are extremely popular. But you can also learn of tech novelties, e.g. drones which already transport people in Dubai or realise hens make friends with each other.

WARSAW KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL

Starting this Friday, the festival brings several promising titles I'm dying to see and one picture I had a chance to see already, at Warsaw Film Festival,  "뉴 노멀" ("New Normal"). I'm in for a lot of fun.

MASCHILE PLURALE (MASCARPONE: THE RAINBOW CAKE) AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR AND TWO ACTORS

The director likes villainous characters who are a bit fragile so that you can understand them. The new protagonist is inspired by his friend who's a volunteer doctor daytime and a drag queen at night.

Recommended. The sequel to cracking "Maschile singolare" ("Mascarpone") hears: "It's enough to stick to the recipe" - true, it emulates part one. It's less crazy and flippant, the sidekick girlfriend accountant is a major character now and is superb and a true supporting role. She stands out even among the fine performances all around, no matter how big or how small the role. The story's sometimes funny, e.g. when a protagonist hears of a husband who used to love pastries and thinks he's dead - the guy turns out to be live and kicking, he's just developed diabetes. It's touching again. I think I cried even more than at the first movie, so palpable Antonio's despair was, but at least this time no one dies. The very final scene is heartening and grabs you in suspense. 

They've already got the screenplay of part 3 but the production relies on the little money they receive from Amazon Prime. The actors in real life weren't as dashing as in the movie which only proves the cinematography, make-up etc. were superb in the film. In the English version the patisserie is called "Denis" and the movie was translated from Italian to Polish via English which explains why "Da Denis" ("At Denis's") has become "Dla Denisa" ("For Denis") in the Polish one. I personally think "U Denisa" ("At Denis's") would be not only closer to the original but it would also reflect they were happy there. 

KOCHAM POLSKIE KINO (I LOVE POLISH CINEMA) DEBATE

It was an industry debate. Lots of support for arthouse or documentaries was expressed. Studio Munka was praised as producers and Cannes Festival as apolitical. A report on the condition of the audiovisual industry for the banking sector is vital so that they can credit-check the producers. KIPA (Polish Producers Alliance) is teaching producers how to test the audience at the development stage. "Delegacja" ("Delegation") or "Ultima Thule" were distributed by producers. Mostly niche arthouse has distribution issues. There's no stability, financing rules by public institutions change too often to adjust the production, especially documentaries need 3 years to collect funding. Microbudget programs are often used by production debutants. One of female producers was carried out by the PISF (Polish Film Institute) security guards. There's a problem with microbudget programs, because in result the film has no distribution or the scriptwriter gets no money. Netflix signs contracts in such a way they can exchange creators. There are no youth serials any more - the lead must be above 30 to attract bigger audience - the algorithms determine that. Film schools don't support enough, they tend to be hostile to students even more than the world afterwards. Most of the debate was grumbling by people destroyed by the system. No one from the film industry was at the Filmoteka Narodowa council. Rich Polish Television hired people on junk contracts even 8 years ago. Archives lost their competent employees. "Hunger Games" had 20 shooting days in Wrocław but Poland was unseen in promotion, no return on the investment. 

Following the SAG-AFTRA strike last year, now a density of new releases is to be expected in the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2025. Budzyń, Pyrzowice etc. small town cinemas sell more than 45% tickets for Polish movies. There are 20 Polish cinema distributors in Poland, on paper anyway. Polish cinemas represent high standard. Cinema has survived video, DVD, Blu Ray - some of the technologies even aren't there any more. The promotion campaign of Święto Kina (Cinema Celebration Day - my own translation) which takes place twice a year costs Cinema City 300 million zlotys. All cinema groups were indebted after the pandemic. 2023 was 20% up in comparison with 2022, but still 20% lower than 2019. In 2019 more than 26% of tickets sold were Polish movies, though yearly it's less than 20%. 2022 saw 347 films, including 112 full-length films produced in Poland. 1.5 films a week premiere at the cinema. 

MEDUSA DELUXE

Switched off. They just drone on and on about someone killed, walk down long corridors in betweeen and waffle again.

Reviewed from the distributor's screener, cinematic reception might differ.

CINEMAFORUM 2023

As usual with this festival, I only attended some screenings, time allowing.

JAN MACHULSKI AWARDS - NOMINEES:

PIESN HUMBAKOW (THE WHALE SONG)

Watchable. Nothing to do with whales, well, there is some humpback sound kind of mixed with the background music, but the tale is about a man. It's a bit crazy and chaotic but very stylish - Polish early 90s and a set of peculiar characters. 

SZEREG SYCZACY (THE CLENCH)

Watchable. A cathartic drama about a relationship between a speech therapist and her patient. Totally engaging. Perfectly acted. Still, while it looks as if there was some secret behind them two, nothing else happens. Simple yet effective.

AKWIZYTORZY

Watchable. A day in the life of a salesman. Crazy incidents abound, each driven by the bizarre characters he encounters.I loved a hilarious bit: "Obrus prababci sprzed wojny! Nic tego nie spierze." "Ależ spierze! Najlepsza chemia z Niemiec" ("Great grandma's tablecloth from before the war! Nothing will wash it off." "But it will! The best chemicals from Germany"). No conclusion, just a story of the evening.

FUNERALIA

Watchable. A crazy story with bizarre yet stylish characters. Not everyone's motivations are clear. 

THE EDITOR READS THE SCRIPT.

In the Q&A about her profession, editor Magdalena Chowańska mentioned the Netflix algorithm: If it drags, the algorithm asks to cut but in reality movies often drag because they were shortened, because the viewer feels bored if they don't understand the film. Never is the initial script unaltered in the outcome movie. The least editing in her career has been "Supernova" because it couldn't be cut differently without damaging the movie. Scriptwriters lack visual imagination, overuse dialogue, sometimes an actor has a worse day or something else is unfeasible on set. Technology-wise, you only need a full HD screen, no bigger computer is necessary. Taking breaks is important. She once went for 2 months with nearly no sleep.

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION SCREENINGS:

48 HOURS

Watchable. It's a boring family drama but the girl's reactions are just like a dog's so it's all easy to understand even for the childless.

THE STORM

Watchable. Another family drama but this one speaks volumes about Chinese culture: one forcing to study hard and enforcing obedience to elders. 

CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO DIE

Watchable. Poorly acted and directed which detracts from an awesome twist in the story.

ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES

Watchable. A boring, slow-paced depiction of a very mundane life.

THE FLYING SAILOR

Watchable again. An incredible story inspired by a real life incident appears in a differently animated form: from the splendid outer space, through the evocative sea, to an ugly naked fellow.

ICE MERCHANTS

Watchable. A climate change, or maybe just a season change, drama. Poor animation, a simple story, yet with an incomprehensible ending.

BOLERO

Watchable. Very gay and obscene - an all-gender crowd gets aroused by a drag queen's dance... in a toilet. Only music saves the film.

FAIRPLAY

Watchable. People engage in ludicrous record-beating games. No reason for that or for this film is provided.

AN AVOCADO PIT

Recommended. The lead actors are amazing in this sensual trans flick. The two actors fascinate and they manage to take you from A, through B, C, to Z with the immigrant (probably from Brazil) issue. 

NA ZYWO (LIVE) AND Q&A

Watchable. Not a genuine reconstruction of an event in Belarus, you don't know who the people are and what is happening - comprehensible only for people in the know.

The Belarussian director was a Belsat journalist 10 years earlier. Those knockings, dragging people out, took place because OMON was looking for the 2 journalists but couldn't find them. Now you can go to jail for a like under a Facebook post. 1 of the 2 journalists was let out after the 2-year sentence, the other got accused of spying and is serving an 8-year sentence now. Belsat was created as a TV broadcasting from Poland, kind-of free Europe. Now political prisoners get not 2, but 6 years in prison. The film stands no chance to be shown in Belarus, that could be risky for the audience too. In real life the girls were taken out by force, in the film they finish it on their own terms. The director has finished a full-length film about it too but with a different plot.

AMERICAN SHORTS:

TAKE ME HOME

Watchable. Some moral preaching about how hard it is to cope with a disabled family member and institutions.

IN THE FLESH

Watchable. Weird and incomprehensible, both her sexual fantasies and her fears.

ENDLESS SEE

Recommended. Powerful condemnation of the US healthcare system where medication prices are life threatening. Told through one person's struggle it puts you in her shoes.

THE VACATION 

Recommended. Simple, tricky, with smart dialogue.

CLOSING DYNASTY

Watchable. What an annoying kid! How are we to feel sorry for her? Well, smartly titled and scripted. The child actress ruins the message.

THE BREAKTHROUGH

Watchable. Dark, tongue-in-cheek but over-the-top, implausible, contrived. The breakthrough is too physical.

SPECIAL SCREENING:

RANDKA  AND Q&A

Watchable. I was a bit late to the screening. To me the woman acts normal. So it's hard to see why it's a film about female autism.

Explanations came only in the Q&A. The female protagonist of this Polish film is autistic just like the male director. Her autism appears mostly under the table, in her nervous stimming, touching her face, tendency to lecture. The director's friend has a friend whose son is autistic: "a nie widać" "Doner, pokaż panu autyzm" ("but it doesn't show" "Doner, show autism to the gentleman"). Female autism is more subtle. 

BAFTA SHORTS:

THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE

Recommended. Looks beautiful, the animation sees shimmering snow and sky at times, on the big screen.

BAZIGAGA

Watchable. Hard to work out the plot, who is who and what and why. But it shows the woman's strength as she opposes the military.

BUS GIRL

Recommended. Wonderfully shot with Xiaomi, visually its the company commercial.

But it has a story too, one of a career and the upper class.

AN IRISH GOODBYE

Watchable. British sarcasm at its best Irish way. The set-up and the plot are a bit far-fetched, one is quite dumb so it turns vulgar. Interesting anyway.

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION SCREENING:

THE BEADS

Watchable. You don't know what it's about. Bright colours.

BASRI & SALMA IN A NEVER-ENDING COMEDY

Recommended. A wonderful anti-natalist flick Bollywood style.

THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT THE FIGHT

Watchable just as a short in a set. A pile of nonsense, no idea what it was meant to be about.

FILE

Watchable. An intense sociological thriller with a bit disappointing ending which doesn't conclude the story.

POLISH DREAM AND Q&A

Watchable. A perfect depiction of Poland in the 80s: the issues, the aspirations and absurdities of the reality. The tale is served with a pinch of salt, it's comical but it leans towards a psychological family drama which ruins the film.

Most of the scriptwriting work was the protagonists' backstory.

MASTERS, MASTERS:

ROZDZIOBIA NAS KRUKI, WRONY AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR JAN HOLOUBEK

Watchable. Old, black and white.

The film was developed from Jan Holoubek's 3rd year of Cinematography school etude. He was trying but failing in directing for many years. He's never been into cinematography though - others try to play with light and colour. But a director also works with how to frame images. He learnt most from elder schoolmates and his own mistakes. Over years he was taking small steps towards directing. His first big production was "Rojst" ("The Mire"). He had been writing for 9 years but no one had wanted those scripts. The "Rojst" ("The Mire") series is still on platforms. Now he's preproducing a miniserial about the sinking of ferry Heweliusz. 8 people survived it. He's met one of them still sailing on a ferry. They've got the script, but details, objects require rewriting. The first movie is always the worst paid, you pay to make etudes. "Wielka woda" ("High Water") is also his series. But directors don't get royalties from sold tickets. Confidentiality clauses in his contracts preclude him from revealing how much he earns. One of the Cossacks in the short caused a problem: the actor lied he could horseride so the director had to decide how to shoot on set. He chose this story because he wanted to show how unceremoniously people kill, just like that. He's actors' son but he's always been excited by the camera. He shoots in panoramic CinemaScope. He always focuses on his next project. 

SPECIAL SCREENINGS:

POLACY DONBASU (THE POLES OF DONBAS)

Watchable. Not a particularly revelatory documentary. The only shocking bit is that evacuation of Donetsk wouldn't start until the first Pole was killed. 

WIARA. NADZIEJA. MILOSC (FAITH. HOPE. LOVE)

Recommended. More emotional. Also, it discusses the Mariupol syndrome.

Q&A WITH DIRECTOR MAGDALENA JUSZCZYK

About 30 people refused interviews out of fear. When Russia encroached on Donbass, evacuation plans started on the Polish side. Lots of young people: 20-30-year-old who are in Lviv are without limbs. The first film was finished long before 24th Feb. 2024, in December 2021, the second film was being made over the whole 2022. Only two countries evacuated their citizens form Donbass in 2014/15: Poland and Israel. But in 2022 the Kharkiv consulate for all of Ukraine packed up hastily leaving Polish people behind, many died. They have nowhere to go back to, i.e. no homes.

No paper catalogue at the festival, even the voting cards had the white circles so small it was hard to write in your note. The bag I won in a draw bled black in contact with water - it had been promoted as more environmentally friendly than paper catalogues. Instead it bleeds some toxic dye, is useful if it rains - awful greenwashing. I still keep past years catalogues since they're more useful and durable.