Kafka Jaworska awarded by The President of Toruń city
This has indeed been a great week for Tofifest. The Torun-based film festival and its director Kafka Jaworka have received an award from the Marshal of our home region Kuyavia-Pomerania, and another from the President of Torun, our hometown. It is a great energy booster, before the fourteenth edition of the Tofifest International Film Festival that starts on 15th October.
Let me just name a number of guests to the festival, during its previous editions: Jim Sheridan, Jiri Menzel, Geraldine Chaplin, Ulrich Seidl, Emanuelle Seigner, Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Stuhr, Janusz Gajos, and Wojtek Smarzowski.
The festival has earned itself a permanent place on the film map of Poland, primarily thanks to its excellent programme and being "inherently rebellious in nature". And this rebellious nature has produced an award, this week. Sorry, two awards!
Passion, you fool! Passion!
The award in the category of Culture has been awarded by Piotr Calbecki, Marshal of the Kuyavia-Pomerania Region, to Kafka Jaworska and the entire Tofifest Team. It is a team comprised of young cinema enthusiasts, who invest a lot of energy and effort into making the festival.
Kafka Jaworska herself has been recognised by President Michal Zaleski, who recognised Tofifest 2015 as the most significant cultural event in the last year.
We consider both awards as quite important, as they show appreciation for the 14 years invested in making the festival happen, in the best possible way. And what nice words did we hear as justification for the award!
Balm to our hearts
When justifying the award given to Tofifest, the Marshal emphasised that awards go "to themost valuable accomplishments in the areas of public and social activities, as well as professional and business ones". As for the idea behind the award given by the President, it was to recognise people, who "are particularly dedicated to Torun and its residents, and whocontribute to promoting the city, in Poland or beyond its borders”.
This is yet another award added to her collection, as Kafka Jaworska had previously received an award from the Marshal, as well as the Zlota Kareta Nowosci, the title of Female Entrepreneur of Gazeta Pomorska, or an award for Personality in Culture given by the Kulturalny Torun website. In addition to that, Kafka was nominated for the title of the Woman of the Year, numerous times.
From indie films to Jim Sheridan
Kafka Jaworska has developed Tofifest from being a festival of Polish independent short films, to what it is today, namely the Tofifest International Film Festival.
However, one thing has remained unchanged. Tofifest is not about superfluous celebrations. All guest filmmakers come to us to talk to their audiences. They come to meet other people, interesting people. This Torun-based festival does strive to outrun its fellow festivals that are often blown out of proportion. This festival has its own scale, which creates its beautiful atmosphere and character.
Our festival is referred to as "rebellious", as it focuses on cinema that asks uncomfortable questions about the world we live in and the modern man. The main competition for the Golden Angel Award is focused on international debuts. The festival has three other competitions for other awards, as well.
The number of submissions we receive each year for all competitions is immense. Let me just say that there were 2,900 submissions for short and feature films coming from 62 countries around the world, during the previous edition of Tofifest.
Palme d'Or vs. The Dancing Street Cleaner
The source of pride for the festival is its film programme. It is a programme full of contrasts. We have winners of the Palme d'Or, on one side, competing artistically against niche films belonging to the Blaxploitation genre, on the other. We have cinema from Kosovo that stives to win audience against cinema from the Philippines. We have Ulrich Seidl and an independent director from Torun, both of who come here to meet their respective audiences.
We have reviews of films by Luis Berlanga and by Juan Antonio Bardem, who are set next to the "ABC of the Iranian New Wave". We have a winner of the Palme d'Or and a film about the Dancing Street Cleaner from Torun ("Ziggy Dust").
This year, nothing changes. We will remain "rebellious", which probably makes us dangerous.
Come visit us in October to experience cinema without boundaries.
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The 14th edition of the Tofifest International Film Festival will be held in Torun, from15th October to 23rd October, 2016. All information will be available on www.tofifest.pl.
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