Over 500 films in 11 days at Era New Horizons

by Dorota Hartwich

23/07/2010 - Over 500 films and 350 guests in 11 days: directors, actors, producers, distributors and sales agents from across the world are in attendance at the 10th Era New Horizons International Film Festival, which opened yesterday in Wrocław. The festival, which is the largest film event in Poland, will run until August 1, when it will close with a screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro [trailer].

A total of 14 titles will vie for the Grand Prize (worth €20,000), the Audience Award and the FIPRESCI Prize (presented for the first time at this festival). The line-up includes Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s Amer [trailer] (“Bitter”), Veiko Õunpuu’s The Temptation of St. Tony [trailer], Michelangelo Frammartino’s The Four Times [trailer, film focus], Pietro Marcello’s The Mouth of the Wolf [trailer, film focus] and local director Adam Sikora’s Expelled (the only world premiere in the International Competition).

Competition titles produced outside Europe include I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You by Brazil’s Marcelo Gomes and Karim Aïnouz; Vimukti Jayasundara’s Between Two Worlds (Sri Lanka); and Harmony Korine’s UK/US co-production Trash Humpers.

Festival director Roman Gutek commented to Cineuropa: “It’s the official competition that determines the festival’s uniqueness. We don’t avoid films that have won awards at major festivals like Cannes, Berlin or Venice but we present them out of competition, mainly in the Panorama section. The official competition is reserved for lesser-known titles, which – on account of their extraordinary form and strength of expression – linger for a long time in our memories, which elicit extreme reactions and emotions, and are made by directors with a highly individual vision, going against the tide and trends”.

Poland is represented by just seven titles, including Paweł Sala’s Karlovy Vary prize-winner Mother Theresa of Cats [trailer]; Ingmar Villqist and Adam Sikora’s Ewa, presented in world premiere; Przemysław Wojcieszek’s Made in Poland [trailer]; and Polish/Japanese co-production Tomorrow Will Be Better by Dorota Kedzierzawska.

Several retrospectives complete the line-up, including one celebrating Jean-Luc Godard’s 80th birthday and another in memory of Polish director Wojciech Jerzy Has, who died ten years ago. There will also be a Focus on New Turkish Cinema.

(Translated from French)