Ars Independent International Film Festival in Katowice
From June 14th till June 19th, Katowice will reign as the European Capital of Independent Cinema. The films brought straight from the most important European film festivals, plenty of premieres, concerts and meetings with the filmmakers from all over the world.
Polish audience will get a unique opportunity to take a closer look at the best films regularly omitted in cinematic distribution. Artistic independence is what gives those films their unforgettable trademark.
In the Main Competition, debutants and second film authors will compete for Silesian Film Award. The director of one the 6 contesting movies manifesting various outlooks and different approach to film will receive 20,000 PLN. They all nonetheless share a dose of freshness, originality and artistic courage. The winner will take part in a completely innovative project named BigCin.
The second section of the competition is the “killOFF” Amateur Film Competition, comprising the most interesting short films made by amateur filmmakers. The true heroes of the two retrospectives are: Jafar Panahi, an Iranian director sentenced by the authorities for anti-government activities (his film “Offside” will open the festival), and Lech Majewski, an artist having a particular bond with Silesia. The Middle East Spectrum section will present the latest movies of the region. Panorama will provide a range of debuts and second films made by young, promising directors, whose works have already been screened at the most important film festivals in the world. Within the “Focus on:” section we will introduce the most compelling short Spanish films from the Castille – La Mancha region along with the
winning films from the 12th Amateur and Independent Film Festival KAN. Francesca and Stefan Themerson will help to reiterate the avant-guard and bring us closer to the lesser known works of Pawel Wojtasik, who will personally introduce the audience to the realm of his experiments with film. The most radical pictures, from the formal point of view, are to be found in the Transgressions section. During the festival, the guests of the international conference will ponder the issue of distributing the independent cinema.
An outcry for freedom of artists and their right to unrestricted speech will be personified in Béla Tarr who will take part in a panel discussion on the censorship in contemporary cinema.
The musical stage of the festival will be set in motion by Grabek. The rampant Indian artists from The Gandu Cirrcus will perform the soundtrack from their film and charismatic Barbara Morgenstern will present her “Only my pen tolerates my choices” project. Arkadiusz Jakubik and his Dr Misio are also going to express the musical side of their personality.
“The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” by Nan Goldin, a living legend of modern photography will wrap up the festival.
Ahead of us there are 6 days of intransigent, unruly, innovative cinema. We are pleased and excited to welcome you to the cinematic feast in the City of Gardens.
