Off Plus Camera 2011

8-17 April 2011

Throughout the 10 days there will be almost 100 films (premieres) screened from all over the world. Among them you will have the chance of watching the awarded and widely discussed films from such major film festivals as Cannes, Venice, Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary, London, Berlin or Sundance Film Festival, the official partner of Off Plus Camera.

OFF PLUS CAMERA Film Festival will be held for the 4th time this year on April 8-17th. The novelties in this year's program are: “Filming Women”, and a special section presenting new Irish, German and Asian cinema. Other sections include as usual the main competition “Making Way” (with $100k award), “Discoveries”, “From the Gut” and “Catching Up”.

This year's festival will be inaugurated with the screening of the newest film by a prolific Australian film director Peter Weir, “The Way Back”. Weir is an artist with numerous awards (Cesar, BAFTA, 6 times nominated for the Oscar), who directed such famous films as “Gallipoli”, “Dead Poets Society”, “Fearless”. “The Way Back” was inspired by a book written by Slawomir Rawicz "The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom"  - a tale of a heroic escape from a soviet gulag in 1940. Again, this time using Polish history as an excuse, Weir talks about the limits of human endurance and the importance of the spirit. He also debates upon crucial issues such as conformity and human identity which are the topics characteristic for his productions. The leading roles are played by famous Hollywood actors such as Colin Farrel, Ed Harris and new rising stars such as Jim Sturgess and  Saoirse Ronan.

In the section “FILMING WOMEN”, we will present a very sought after by both the audiences and the critics during last year's Cannes festival “On Tour” (“Tournée”) directed by a popular French actor Mathieu Amalric (“Kings and Queen”, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, “Munich”). The film was awarded with Palme d'Or for directing, and received 7 Cesar nominations. It is a bitter sweet tale of the bright and dark sides of an onstage career exemplified on a burlesque. This is a combination of music, singing, theatre, strip show with the inevitable drop of kitsch. Also, in the same section, we will present the feature debut of the famous American actress Drew Barrymore “Whip It”. Barrymore is known for her memorable roles in “E.T.”, “Batman Forever”, “Scream”, “Donnie Darko”. To participate in her project she invited such celebrities as Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis and Eve.

In the section promoting new Asian cinema, we will present a South Korean film “Poetry” by a well known director and writer Chang-dong Lee who received an award for scriptwriting last year in Cannes. The film tells a story of an elderly woman who brings up a teenage grandson on her own. She finds an escape from her daily duties in amateurish poetry writing.  The film was shown in Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Melbourne, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro, New York City, Vancouver, London, Denver and many other film festivals. Another film in this section is a thriller “Hanyo” by Sang-soo Im, which is a remake of the famous 1960 Korean film by Ki-young Kim “The Housemaid”. Both films competed last year for Palme d'Or in Cannes.

In the “DISCOVERIES” section we will present the most successful films from the greatest film festivals all over the world. They include the newest film by Julie Taymor based on William Shakespeare's “The Tempest” (she also made “Titus”, “Frida”, “Across the Universe”). The film had its premiere during last year's festival in Venice. One of the strong points of the film is its cast including Helen Mirren (nominated for Satellite Awards for this role), Alfred Molina, David Strathairn and Ben Whishaw. “The Tempest” was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Achievement in Costume Design. Another film in this section will be a feature debut by Christopher Morris “Four Lions” which was a hit during last year's Sundance. It is a controversial and distinct yet very up to date tragicomedy telling a story of a few young Muslims in Sheffield, who, disappointed with their lives and the surrounding reality decide to become suicide bombers. Their big goal is to kill the largest numbers of infidels possible. Morris was awarded with BAFTA for the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for this film. He was also nominated for the British Independent Film Awards.

The latino films will not be omitted in the “DISCOVERIES” section. The presented projects have travelled to festivals all over the world. These are: “Undertow” by Javier Fuentes-Leon (Audience Awards at Sundance, Miami and the Sebastian award in San Sebastian), “Carrancho” by the Argentinian Pablo Trapero (presented in Cannes, Toronto, San Sebastian, Rio de Janeiro, London, Palm Springs, Thessaloniki, Denver).

“CATCHING UP” presents major films which for some reasons were not distributed in Poland. The titles include “Me and Orson Welles”  the newest film by the widely known American indie film director Richard Linklater (“Dazed and Confused”, “Tape”, “Before Sunrise”, “Before Sunset”) who was awarded in Berlin, Venice, Denver. This time, he invited to the crew the teen idol Zac Efron, which was a very controversial decision as commented by the film industry. This turned out to be a successful decision however (it has to be noted that Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Matthew McConaghey also debuted with Linklater). The film was well received by the critics and awarded by critics societies in Austin and San Francisco. Christian McKay was nominated to BAFTA award for his  supporting role. Another title in this section is Charles Burnett's “Killer of Sheep” in a remastered version of the film originally made in 1981. He received the FIPRESCI award for this film in Berlin. The original film was shot on 16mm and until recently was unavailable due to its physical state. However, in 2007 thanks to Steven Soderbergh's initiative, it was transferred to 35mm and re-released in the cinemas in US.

“FROM THE GUT” is a section co-authored by the Sundance programmers. This year's screenings include “Cold Weather” by Aaron Katz who in 2007 was nominated for the John Cassavetes award at the Independent Spirit Awards for his earlier film “Quiet City”.

OFF PLUS CAMERA is a film festival focused on films with one common denominator: independent. This is a place of meetings with renowned, but also controversial and difficult cinema. It is a place to meet the filmmakers, place for debates and dialogue. One of the main goals of the Krakow festival is the support for the young, talented film directors from all over the world at the beginning of their careers. It is with them in mind that we have created the Main Competition “Making Way” (with the $100k award) – the most important section of the festival. Every year new artists are born, ready to transform the cinema, to inspire, to argue. Their cradle is the famous American Sundance Film Festival and OFF PLUS CAMERA carries its idea in Poland.
 
More at: www.offpluscamera.com