TWO POLISH SHORT FILMS AT THE SUNDANCE FESTIVAL
"The Tough" by Marcin Polar and "Acid Rain" by Tomasz Popakul will be shown at one of the most important international film events, the famous Sundance Film Festival, founded by Robert Redford.
The Sundance Film Festival – is the largest annual independent film festival in the USA, it is held in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and in the ski resort Sundance in Utah since 1978. The upcoming edition is held from the 24th of January to the 3rd of February, 2019, and there are two Polish productions in the short film section.
The first of the invited films is the animated film "Acid Rain" by Tomasz Popakul. "Acid Rain" is set somewhere in Eastern Europe. Młoda runs away from home, as far away from the grey reality as possible. This is how she meets Chudy – a little-unbalanced freak who lives in a camper and spends all days on his not necessarily legal errands. Their road together leads them into increasingly weird areas. It is worth adding that this is the second animated film by Tomasz Popakul that was invited to the Sundance. Last year, the viewers could watch the film "Black" there. The film is produced by Animoon and the National Film Archive - Audiovisual Institute. International promotion and festival distribution is supported by KFF Sales & Promotion.
The second Polish film shown in the short film section is "The Tough" by Marcin Polar. The eponymous "Tough" carries a lot of meanings: defiant, vicious, resistive, relentless, strong, resilient, cold, hard. There was a reason why the film's protagonist called his discovery just like this - it is a place which he has to face and whose every feature he can feel quite tangibly and literally on his own skin. It arouses his imagination and in this way pushes him forward in an uncouth and obsessive way. Step by step, the camera participates, together with him, in the exploration of the places hitherto unknown to humankind, which offer increasingly stronger resistance against the delicate human substance. The film is produced by Munk Studio - Polish Filmmakers Association with the co-production with LeLe Crossmedia Production. International promotion and festival distribution is supported by KFF Sales & Promotion.
For both films, the screenings at the Sundance will be the world premiere.
Polish short films have already featured at the Sundance festival many times. During the last edition of the festival, in addition to the aforementioned animated film "Black" by Tomasz Popakul, the audience could watch "Volte" by Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzała and "Deer Boy" by Katarzyna Gondek, in 2017, "Close Ties" by Zofia Kowalewska, "Pussy" by Renata Gąsiorowska and "Heat" by Agata Trzebuchowska and Mateusz Pacewicz, and two years before, "Starting Point" by Michał Szcześniak and "Object" by Paulina Skibińska. Polish films were also appreciated at the festival: in 2015, "Object" won the Short Film Special Jury Award for Visual Poetry, in 2013, "The Whistle" by Grzegorz Zariczny won the Grand Jury Prize, and in 2011, "Out of Reach" by Jakub Stożek won the Honorable Mention.
The full programme of the Sundance Film Festival can be found here.