POLISH FILMS AWARDED IN BRAZIL
Jakub Piątek's Pianoforte captivated the jury at the Brazilian É Tudo Verdade / It's All True Film Festival, earning a special mention. Meanwhile, the Polish-Ukrainian Ptitsa by Alina Maksimenko was named the festival's best short documentary.
The It's All True International Documentary Film Festival, also known as É Tudo Verdade, is an annual event held in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro since 1996. Festival founder Amir Labaki aimed to create a modern event showcasing the most interesting documentaries from around the world. In addition to new films, the festival program also features classics of the genre.
Pianoforte is an intimate portrait of young musicians participating in the legendary Chopin Piano Competition. The production has been very well received by festival decision-makers and has been successfully pitched multiple times. The documentary was produced by Telemark.
The winning Ptitsa is set during the pandemic and takes place in a shared apartment inhabited by a mother and her adult daughter. The mother's online music school operates in one part of the house – the piano teacher only communicates with her students. The other part is occupied by the painting studio belonging to her daughter Alina. Despite sharing the same space, their worlds hardly connect. One day, Alina learns about an accident in which Katia, her friend's daughter, dies. From that moment, we witness phone conversations between Alina and her friend that bring no consolation. It is Katia's tragic story that will ultimately bring the main characters together.
The list of all the winners of this year's festival edition can be found here.