Holy queues and lektors, Batman, film festival's here again
The 12-day festival, which kicks off Thursday, Oct. 1, features more than 50 films from all over the world, but due to the popularity of the festival and the eager anticipation of some of the films, tickets (only zl. 10) sell out quickly, so it's best to purchase them in advance.
And advance tickets are sold at one location only, hence the continuous queue snaking out of the Skarpa cinema, ul. Kopernika 5/7/9. (Advance sales end Wednesday.) This is where the useful phrase comes in. Turn to the person in line behind you, say, "Zaraz wracam," and go have a beer. (You'll probably have enough time to brew a beer.)
The expression means: Hold my place in line while I go live my life; I'll be back to reclaim this spot and purchase my tickets without going through the hours-long ordeal of waiting in line like you, fool! (Polish phrases are short but extremely powerful.)
Twice last year I lost my patience queuing for tickets. While I waited in line outside Skarpa, millions and millions of Poles repeated the aforementioned phrase to me (or a variation thereof) and then skedaddled.
They reappeared several days later, butting in front of me as I finally got to the ticket window.
My second attempt lasted about five minutes. Four minutes into the ordeal, Poles all around me started bailing out, again, and I with them, though I had no intention of ever returning. I had decided to take the chancier option - showing up the day of the show to get tickets.
If you're a high-powered Warsaw businessperson, you probably have other recourse, namely, sending one of your minions to stand in line.
This year's event opens with the Czech director Vladimir Michalek's "Zabic Sekala" ("Sekala Must Die"), starring Boguslaw Linda and Olaf Lubaszenko at 8 p.m. Thursday at Skarpa and closes at 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, at Skarpa with "Historia kina w Popielawach" ("A History of the Cinema in Popielawy") by Jan Jakub Kolski.
In between are 50-some other films. Have you wondered why some movies, such as, say, Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown," haven't played in Warsaw yet? It's because they are in the film festival. They've been hoarded for this event.
"I don't care where it comes from or how old it is as long as I or one of my colleagues likes it," said Stefan Laudyn, the film festival director, adding that 80-90% of the films are from this year or the year before.
In addition to the standard categories of Polish, European, Asian and world cinema, the festival will highlight 10 films from Scandinavia as part of Poland's ongoing "Polnoc 98" cultural program.
The possibility of a sell-out combined with the future availability of movies force one to adopt a ticket-purchasing strategy. With 41,000 people attending last year's festival, most of the evening showings were sold out.
Although Laudyn expects more people to attend this year's event, more tickets will be available because the cinemas - Skarpa, Bajka and Kultura - hold more people than last year's venues.
Still, movie-watching tactics are in order because you can't possibly see all the movies. So, do you see the movies that you know will be out soon on general release? Or do you go for the more obscure movies that will not likely be here again?
For example, "Doing Time for Patsy Cline" premiered at last year's film festival and has only recently made it back to Warsaw cinemas. I don't think "Trees Lounge" ever made it back. Meanwhile, successful films like "Kiler," "The Full Monty" and "L.A. Confidential" made it to the rest of Warsaw's cinemas shortly after the festival, and they are still making a killing.
If you go for the more obscure films - beware the lektor. Films are shown in their original language with Polish subtitles, however, a lektor was used sometimes last year. Because of the large number of films being shown in a short period of time, not all of the films could be subtitled.
Last year while settling in for the Canadian mockumentary "Hard Core Logo," the ticket-taker told my wife and me to sit up front on the right. The reason: The lektor's voice will come through the left speaker; the movie's soundtrack through the right.
This problem should be lessened, if not eradicated, this year, Laudyn said.
"Last year we had only one subtitling device; this year we will have two."
Even more reason to go to the film festival.
If you go ...
Advance tickets are zl. 10 and on sale through Wednesday at Skarpa. Also, a festival catalog (zl. 10), which gives short synopses, in both Polish and English, of all the films, will be on sale. Tickets can also be purchased the day of the show from the cinema. Besides Skarpa, films will be shown at Bajka, ul. Marszalkowska 138, and Kultura, ul. Krakowskie Przedmiescie 21/23.
Some of the better-known films include Neil Jordan's "The Butcher Boy,"
John Boorman's "The General," which won him the director's prize at Cannes; Roberto Benigni's "Zycie Jest Piekne" ("La Vita e Belle"), the grand jury prize winner at Cannes; Shane Meadows' "Twentyfourseven" ("Dzien w Dzien"); Zhag Yuan's "East Palace, West Palace" ("Palac Wschodni, Palac Zachodni"); Joel Coen's "The Big Lebowski"; Spike Lee's "He Got Game"; Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" ("Burza Lodowa"); Martin Scorsese's "Kundun" ("Zycie Dalaj Lamy"); Jerry Zaks' "Marvin's Room" ("Pokoj Marvina"); Billy Bob Thornton's "Sling Blade."
For a complete schedule, check out the film festival web page - www.wff.org.pl - or retrieve a copy of last Thursday's (Sept. 24) Gazeta Wyborcza for a schedule. Beware, each time that I checked the festival's web page, I got the web site for Grupa ATM.
The Scandinavian films "Pokazy Filmow z Polnocy" will also be shown in Krakow, from Oct. 4-9 at the Pod Baranami cinema, Rynek Glowny 27.
And advance tickets are sold at one location only, hence the continuous queue snaking out of the Skarpa cinema, ul. Kopernika 5/7/9. (Advance sales end Wednesday.) This is where the useful phrase comes in. Turn to the person in line behind you, say, "Zaraz wracam," and go have a beer. (You'll probably have enough time to brew a beer.)
The expression means: Hold my place in line while I go live my life; I'll be back to reclaim this spot and purchase my tickets without going through the hours-long ordeal of waiting in line like you, fool! (Polish phrases are short but extremely powerful.)
Twice last year I lost my patience queuing for tickets. While I waited in line outside Skarpa, millions and millions of Poles repeated the aforementioned phrase to me (or a variation thereof) and then skedaddled.
They reappeared several days later, butting in front of me as I finally got to the ticket window.
My second attempt lasted about five minutes. Four minutes into the ordeal, Poles all around me started bailing out, again, and I with them, though I had no intention of ever returning. I had decided to take the chancier option - showing up the day of the show to get tickets.
If you're a high-powered Warsaw businessperson, you probably have other recourse, namely, sending one of your minions to stand in line.
This year's event opens with the Czech director Vladimir Michalek's "Zabic Sekala" ("Sekala Must Die"), starring Boguslaw Linda and Olaf Lubaszenko at 8 p.m. Thursday at Skarpa and closes at 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, at Skarpa with "Historia kina w Popielawach" ("A History of the Cinema in Popielawy") by Jan Jakub Kolski.
In between are 50-some other films. Have you wondered why some movies, such as, say, Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown," haven't played in Warsaw yet? It's because they are in the film festival. They've been hoarded for this event.
"I don't care where it comes from or how old it is as long as I or one of my colleagues likes it," said Stefan Laudyn, the film festival director, adding that 80-90% of the films are from this year or the year before.
In addition to the standard categories of Polish, European, Asian and world cinema, the festival will highlight 10 films from Scandinavia as part of Poland's ongoing "Polnoc 98" cultural program.
The possibility of a sell-out combined with the future availability of movies force one to adopt a ticket-purchasing strategy. With 41,000 people attending last year's festival, most of the evening showings were sold out.
Although Laudyn expects more people to attend this year's event, more tickets will be available because the cinemas - Skarpa, Bajka and Kultura - hold more people than last year's venues.
Still, movie-watching tactics are in order because you can't possibly see all the movies. So, do you see the movies that you know will be out soon on general release? Or do you go for the more obscure movies that will not likely be here again?
For example, "Doing Time for Patsy Cline" premiered at last year's film festival and has only recently made it back to Warsaw cinemas. I don't think "Trees Lounge" ever made it back. Meanwhile, successful films like "Kiler," "The Full Monty" and "L.A. Confidential" made it to the rest of Warsaw's cinemas shortly after the festival, and they are still making a killing.
If you go for the more obscure films - beware the lektor. Films are shown in their original language with Polish subtitles, however, a lektor was used sometimes last year. Because of the large number of films being shown in a short period of time, not all of the films could be subtitled.
Last year while settling in for the Canadian mockumentary "Hard Core Logo," the ticket-taker told my wife and me to sit up front on the right. The reason: The lektor's voice will come through the left speaker; the movie's soundtrack through the right.
This problem should be lessened, if not eradicated, this year, Laudyn said.
"Last year we had only one subtitling device; this year we will have two."
Even more reason to go to the film festival.
If you go ...
Advance tickets are zl. 10 and on sale through Wednesday at Skarpa. Also, a festival catalog (zl. 10), which gives short synopses, in both Polish and English, of all the films, will be on sale. Tickets can also be purchased the day of the show from the cinema. Besides Skarpa, films will be shown at Bajka, ul. Marszalkowska 138, and Kultura, ul. Krakowskie Przedmiescie 21/23.
Some of the better-known films include Neil Jordan's "The Butcher Boy,"
John Boorman's "The General," which won him the director's prize at Cannes; Roberto Benigni's "Zycie Jest Piekne" ("La Vita e Belle"), the grand jury prize winner at Cannes; Shane Meadows' "Twentyfourseven" ("Dzien w Dzien"); Zhag Yuan's "East Palace, West Palace" ("Palac Wschodni, Palac Zachodni"); Joel Coen's "The Big Lebowski"; Spike Lee's "He Got Game"; Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" ("Burza Lodowa"); Martin Scorsese's "Kundun" ("Zycie Dalaj Lamy"); Jerry Zaks' "Marvin's Room" ("Pokoj Marvina"); Billy Bob Thornton's "Sling Blade."
For a complete schedule, check out the film festival web page - www.wff.org.pl - or retrieve a copy of last Thursday's (Sept. 24) Gazeta Wyborcza for a schedule. Beware, each time that I checked the festival's web page, I got the web site for Grupa ATM.
The Scandinavian films "Pokazy Filmow z Polnocy" will also be shown in Krakow, from Oct. 4-9 at the Pod Baranami cinema, Rynek Glowny 27.
