The 19th International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography PLUS CAMERIMAGE in Bydgoszcz has ended. Once again, Polish documentarians turned out to be unrivalled. Grand Prix was awarded to “Doctors” by Tomasz Wolski and “Paparazzi” by Piotr Bernaś.
PLUS CAMERIMAGE is one of the biggest and most famous festivals dedicated to the art of film. Apart from the Main Competition, in which the achievements of directors of feature film photography are evaluated and rewarded, or the Student Etudes Competition,
PLUS CAMERIMAGE programme also includes the Documentary Film Competition. Films in this international section compete in two categories: short and feature film.
The Golden Frog Award – the festival’s Grand Prix – in the Feature Documentary Film Competition went to
Tomasz Wolski for his “
Doctors”. “
Paparazzi” directed by
Piotr Bernaś was awarded the Grand Prix in the Short Documentary Film Competition. Wojciech Staroń’s “Argentinian Lesson” received the Special Mention in the same category.
‘Tomasz Wolski,’ as we read at the festival site, ‘received a permission to shoot his film in the part of a hospital which is usually inaccessible to outsiders – cardiac surgeons’ offices, operating theatres, rooms where surgeons make decisions concerning the lives of their patients. In this way, a documentary film which doesn’t need any additional commentary was created – it suffice to watch how people, who work everyday at the meeting of life and death, cope with their responsibilities and with impersonal economic statistics which invade their work. “Doctors” doesn’t lack happier moments, after all everyone needs to release stress somehow; above all however, it is a documentary that opens our eyes to that which always seemed abstract and underestimated.
Tomasz Wolski rarely tries to further deepen the atmosphere of discovering the unknown. One example is the scene in which with his camera he paces along sterile and empty hospital corridors, that each day become a theatre of pain and suffering. However, the director/cinematographer doesn’t go to extremes even for a moment. The most important characters in the film are the doctors from Kraków, whom he observes and presents their diverse faces: cracking jokes or cautioning their younger colleagues; getting irritated by the lack of self-awareness in their patients and reflecting on their job; the moments of hope and the moments of final doubts whether anything can yet be done. Wolski’s camera isn’t at all invasive. Although sometimes it catches ‘bloody’ details of a surgery, it’s usually stays on sidelines, allowing the images to speak for themselves.’
To read an interview with Tomasz Wolski go
here.
„Paparazzi” by Piotr Bernaś presents the life of a Polish paparazzo, Przemysław Stoppa, who just like his Western colleagues tracks down the rich and the famous, hunting for sensations. But Polish celebrities, in contrast to those from Los Angeles, lead a rather boring life. That’s why, tempted by big money, our paparazzo let’s the potty of a Polish
TV series actress go to hell, and decides to gamble for really high stakes.
Bernaś wants for his aesthetics to correspond that of a paparazzi’s work; hence the dynamic editing resembling a music video, energetic music and distinct emphasis of visual and sound details, such as a shutter release, the change of focus or programme, and looking through a viewfinder. On the one hand we watch a confession of a conscious protagonist, who describes his job as ‘poking into other people’s slaughter’ and ‘taking care of bullshit from the beginning till the end’. On the other, Stoppa’s profession is presented in an attractive way, like a thriller – car chases after famous people, popular actors, and celebrities. The life of paparazzi is a constant piling up of action, new places, challenges, and considerable money to gain. But losing one’s moral fibre and the honesty of a documentarian is the price to pay.
To read an interview with Piotr Bernaś go
here.
More about the festival at:
www.pluscamerimage.pl
(05.12.2011)
