For many years, Kraków’s cultural life of late spring has been indelibly linked with the big screen, celebrated by three major festivals: Mastercard Off Camera drawing independent film stars from home and abroad, KBF’s spectacular Film Music Festival, and the Krakow Film Festival – Poland’s longest-running event of its kind and one of the oldest in Europe.
Justyna Skalska
“Kraków Culture”
The restrictions introduced due to the pandemic over the last two years brought changes to the timings (in 2020 and 2021, Mastercard Off Camera was postponed until autumn) and programmes (cyclical FMF concerts and the groundbreaking move online of the entire KFF) – however, in 2022 cinematic spring is in full bloom. In the coming months we will enjoy some of the finest films, soundtracks, meetings with filmmakers and much, much more.
Versatile artist
This year’s special guest of springtime events is Jerzy Skolimowski, and we will have plenty of opportunities to explore his multifaceted art. The acclaimed director, screenwriter, actor and artist, and even occasional boxer, celebrates his 84th birthday on 5 May. Director of films such as Identification Marks: None, Four Nights with Anna and Essential Killing, and author of the script for Roman Polański’s Knife in the Water, he is a highly versatile artist. Graduate from the Faculty of Ethnography at the University of Warsaw, he has been painting for many years, has published two volumes of poetry and dabbles in jazz. Organisers of Mastercard Off Camera have prepared a special section dedicated to Skolimowski’s work as actor and director (see p. 19). As well as performing in his own films, he also appeared as a boxer in Andrzej Wajda’s Innocent Sorcerers. Between 8 and 29 May, the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology presents Skolimowski’s large format art which he started creating after his first journey to Japan in 1997 (see p. 45). The exhibition is accompanied by a recital by Kamila Klimczak from the Bagatela Theatre (7 May, Na Sarego Stage), performing songs by some of Poland’s most acclaimed lyricists such as Agnieszka Osiecka, Wojciech Młynarski and Jacek Cygan. The multimedia staging of the concert features some of Skolimowski’s art. This year’s concert Scoring4Polish Directors of the Film Music Festival (25 May, ICE Kraków) is dedicated to soundtracks from films by this versatile artist and Commander of Polonia Restituta (see p. 22).
