Jan Jakub Kolski, Jasminium

JAN JAKUB KOLSKI’S JASMINUM OPENS CHICAGO’S
18TH POLISH FILM FESTIVAL IN
AMERICA
 
NOVEMBER 4, 2006, 7:30 PM
 
Gateway Movie Theatre
5216 West Lawrence Avenue
Chicago


 


 

 

 


The PFF Chicago poster

JASMINUM (Latin for jasmine) is Kolski’s eleventh feature film. It has already won top awards at this year’s film festivals in Torun and Cieszyn. Its fabulous cast includes Janusz Gajos, Adam Ferency, and Boguslaw Linda, and it’s scored by Zygmunt Konieczny. The contemporary but mysterious and magical story is set in a monastery in which some of the monks emit bodily scents that match their names – Brother Plum, Brother Cherry. When an art restorer arrives to conserve sacred paintings (played by Grazyna Blecka-Kolska), who happens to be skilled in the preparation of love scents, the inquiring mind of her charming five-year-old daughter Gienia (Wiktoria Gosiewska) wreaks havoc in the ordered life of the monastery. The work of Jan Jakub Kolski, probably the most stylistically unconventional of contemporary Polish filmmakers, has been compared to the magic realism of South American writers, and enjoys a special popularity at this Chicago festival, which has shown all his feature films: A Potato Burial, Pograbek, Johnny the Aquarius, A Miraculous Place, Playing for a Death Angel, A Sword from Commander, History of the Movies in Popielawy, Far from a Window, and Pornography.
 
The Festival offers on its gala Opening Night presentation of the festival stars and official guests, special awards ceremony, and a surprise mini-concert, as well as The Opening Night Reception attended by the Polish film celebrities before the screening, and Plus Blues Night Party showcasing world famous Chicago blues musicians afterwards; both events will take place in 1112 Gallery of the Society for Arts (1112 Milwaukee Ave., Chicago), a place of special film exhibition to open that evening as well. The PFFA Opening Night all inclusive invitations are $60.00 per person. Tickets for screening only are $20.00, and Plus Blues Party admission is $25.00.
  The Festival will include in its program a retrospective of the legendary POLA NEGRI (including Woman of the World, 1925, and Hotel Imperial 1927, as well as the new documentary Life is a Dream in Cinema: Pola Negri, directed by Mariusz K. Kotowski (2005, 89 min.), and a selection of documentaries about Poland by MACIEJ DRYGAS, including his Voice of Hope (2002) and One Day in People’s Poland (2005).
 
For complete information about the PFFA and the 2006 Festival (November 4-19), call 773-486-9612 or visit its official website at www.pffamerica.com.

 

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