Festival organizers focused on Poland. Presenting “Poland Magnified”

The programme section Magnified has become a traditional part of Cinematik, bringing a varied cross-section every year with the current production of selected national film production.

This time, our organizers searched into near Poland with an abundance of strong and unusual film experiences – the film Kill It and Leave the Town (2020) by the internationally renowned animator Mariusz Wilczynski will also provide us with one. A 60-year-old filmmaker worked for 11 years on his feature debut about a man who, after the death of his loved ones, dives into the dream world of memories. The film premiered at this year’s Berlinale.

The Poland Magnified section will also present two remarkable films made in a Slovak co-production. In the psychological historical drama Pardon (2018), Jan Jakub Kolski tells the story of the parents of the “cursed soldier” of the anti-communist resistance. When the Secret Police kicks the son’s corpse out of the grave for the fourth time, parents of the dead set out with him on a painful journey for lost dignity and peace.

In a thriller documentary The Wind (2019), Michał Bielawski in collaboration with Peter Kerekes present a poetic and thrilling portrait of the Podhalie in the High Tatra region, where harsh and fascinating elements set the tone for a hard life.

A Cat with a Dog (2018) is a family drama by Janusz Kondratikuk, in which two estranged brothers look for a way to each other when one of them becomes ill.

In Marek Koterský’s authentic film 7 Emotions (2018), the protagonist returns to childhood to finally go through the repressed traumas and emotions to the full. In Fugue (2018) Agnieszka Smoczyńska tells us about a woman who does not remember her past but does not even want to. However, fragments of memories begin to surface and start to reveal an unexpected secret.

The programme of Poland Magnified section will be complemented by Adrian Panek’s psychological horror film Werewolf ( 2018), a disturbing drama set in contemporary Warsaw residents Bird Talk (2019) by Xawer Żuławski, Bartosz Konopka’s narrative historical film Mute (2018) or Polish-Czech-Macedonian road movie Via Carpatia (2018).

The fifteenth Cinematik International Film Festival will take place in Piešťany from 10 to 15 September 2020. Accreditations are available on the website www.cinematik.sk until 31 August for a discounted pre-sale price.