PRIX ITALIA FOR "CABARET OF DEATH"
"Cabaret of Death" by Andrzej Celiński was honoured with the Prix Italia award in the artistic film category. Prix Italia is held in Turin from 19 to 24 September.
"Cabaret of death" is a co-production of TVP2 Documentary Film and Reportage Section and the Group of Dr. A. R. Kwieciński. It is a story about artists of Jewish descent, who struggle for survival using the only weapon available to them - music, theatre and film creative work. They defend themselves against the Nazi apparatus of repression by jokes, cabaret performances, skits, performances, songs, concerts. They organise them in concentration camps and ghettos. They fight for their lives, but first and foremost - as they themselves emphasise - for their souls and dignity. A symbolic guide to the world full of paradoxes, incredible events and dramatic clashes, the world of concentration camp cabaret artists, stars of Warsaw and Vilnius, actors, musicians and pre-war popular film-makers is the legendary character from Warsaw ghetto: the street jester Rubinstein.
The camera reaches Warsaw ghetto, camps in Kurowice, Jaktorów, Buchenwald, Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, Ravensbruck…As commentators, there are contemporary artists and writers, who explored the subject of art behind barbed wire in their creative work, and the last living participants and witnesses of these events. The documentary film "Cabaret of death" was appreciated at the 58th New York Festivals World’s Best TV & Films 2015, where it won the Gold Medal in the documentary film category.
Two other co-productions of TVP were also nominated for the Prix Italia award.
In the feature film category, the co-production of the TVP2 Artistic Section and National Audiovisual Institute and The Chimney Pot, the performance "Karski" dir. by Magdalena Łazarkiewicz. In the documentary film category - "A Promise of Childhood" dir. by Piotr Kaczyński and Ryszard Morawski, co-production of TVP1 Documentary Film Section and Kalejdoskop Film.
source: TVP