Warsaw Film festival- once again.

After writing the previous piece on this film festival, I felt like I needed to see more. Luckily the festival is still going on, so I attended another segment of it. I’m going to share my fresh perspectives and experiences with you, my fellow readers.

After watching two sets of the best Polish short films the previous time, I chose to watch one set of the best foreign short films this time to see how they would differ from the Polish ones. There were five films, and I was impressed with each one. Personally, I believe that this pick was excellent because each screening was followed by thunderous acclaim from the audience, often punctuated by synchronized laughter. Additionally, compared to my first day at the festival, the room was full this time. Perhaps it was because the name itself implies that those are the best movies available anywhere in the globe, not only in Poland, and that’s why they are especially worth watching.
The program began with Emi Buchwald’s „A Beautiful Wildflower Meadow.” This film established the theme for the subsequent films, which were all centred on the nature of humans, their real lives and problems, real personalities and needs. The entire lineup made me feel like I was watching real stories, with characters who are easily relatable not just to me, but to someone in the audience as well.

Returning to the first film. In this case, the story was about a man who wanted to get his daughter to the airport but everything was getting in his way, leaving him irritated and overstimulated by the world around him. „We wanted to create a short story showing a real situation, solely from the perspective of the overwhelmed main character,” the director said during the Q&A after the screening. And it worked flawlessly in my opinion. This film also taught me that in order to make a good film, I don’t have to tell the most bizarre, out-of-this-world story with complex characters. In contrast, the more real the character is, the more emotions it evokes in the audience.

The team also explained how they wanted to skip all of the steps involved in creating a complex character with a backstory and instead focus on him at the moment. This film served as a springboard for the creators as they worked on their full-length script. When they felt their work was becoming monotonous, they needed a new project to reignite their creativity. Another reason I believe this film works is that everyone can relate to it. Even if you are not a father, and the characters in the film may not fully resemble you, I am sure everyone has had a day where one mistake led to a chain reaction of events, causing more and more problems and leaving us frustrated.

Sanjna Bharadwaj’s „Local Middle Schooler” animation came in second. The movie’s plot went as follows: A high school student, as the title suggests, is told by her mother that she can make a wish and have it come true whenever she sees an eyelash on her cheek. She wishes for clear skin, and mysteriously, a few seconds later, her skin is flawless.

Her peers question her how that is possible, so she shares her secret with a friend and is accused of being selfish for choosing something so petty as clear skin out of all the awful things going on in the world. As soon as individuals start asking her for an eyelash so they can fulfill their own goals, even the government takes one until she is left with no eyelashes and she is forced to see the changes they bring about in the world. In essence, the film thoughtfully illustrates how selfish our society is.

Even though everyone criticized her for being self-centered and said that she was careless about larger matters like world peace or the misery of hungry children in Africa, they quickly imitated her actions and pursued their own goals without giving the „serious issues” a second thought. The government’s battle with aliens towards the film’s ending emphasizes the point that this film is about all of human society. By using aliens, it is generalizing it.

Third film shown was „The Trip” directed by Rimantas Oičenka. This movie had a different structure than the others as it was mostly a montage of found footage displaying life of fisherman in 1975 Lithuania. Over the footage, we could hear 2 people reading out their letters. It was a conversation between one of the fisherman and his wife was waiting for him at home. In their letters to one another, they would share information about crucial events in each other’s lives, such as the birth of their son. The story itself was incredibly moving and, as the director noted in the Q&A, related to his own life. When he was going through comparable circumstances in his life as the characters, he made the decision to make this movie.

Fourth in the row was ” About Me „ directed by Ali Asgari. This movie was definitely the most serious out of all of the movies shown. It was portraying a story of a 17-year-old girl, who is pushed to take a virginity test, because of demands of the family from the man that she will be marrying. This movie is showing a story that is very frequent in the culture and definitely relates to many young girls. At the same time, it showed awareness of the topic for people who might have not been aware of it, because of the cultural differences that we have. I am glad that it has also been chosen to screen at the festival. 

And lastly, a movie that has made the whole room laugh, precisely „Everything’s Fine, Potatoes in Line” directed by Piotr Jasiński. The inspiration for the movie was the conflict between Poland and Czech Republic concerning the coal mine, having a bad influence on the environment. However the movie does not focus on the problem, rather on the cooperation of both polish ans Czech people, who are aware of the problem, but it doesn’t make them against each other. They are connected in a quite unusual situation, which is a competition for the best potato salad. The movie is kept in a very humorous manner, and shows real people, being happy to spend time with each other.

In conclusion, I am very glad that I had an opportunity to watch these movies, many of them having a world premiere, as well as too share my thoughts on it. For more of my thoughts, you can check out the other posts I published on my blog by clicking here. Thank you for reading and I will see you soon 🙂