OFF PLUS CAMERA 2012

The fifth edition of the festival will be full of surprises but the core of our event remains the same, as we present two main dramatic competitions:

“Making Way“ – an international competition for twelve first and second features with an award of $100,000.

“Polish Feature Film Competition“ - 10 feature films, made in 2011 and 2012, will be competing for the “Polish Film Noble” award of 100, 000 PLN.

Off Plus Camera 2012 will be back with more “Discoveries“ and movies selected for our “Catching Up“ and “From the Gut“ strands.

"It’s been a very stimulating year for the independent cinema. Our programmers visited a number of great festivals all over the world and I am very excited that, at last, we will be able to share those cinematic treasures with our audiences. There will be special screenings and even more special guests. We’ll be celebrating our first anniversary and we’re going to do it in style (indie-style, of course:) We’re about to unveil some of the titles from this year’s selection so stay tuned!" - Ania Trzebiatowska, festival’s Artistic Director

Here's some details about this year’s new sections:

New Israeli Cinema
It could be stated without any doubt that Israeli cinematography is one of the most interesting and fast-emerging global film phenomenonof the last decade. The country’s unique history combining old Jewish tradition with the post-war restitution of Israeli state, turned out to be more than inspiring. This cinematography often explores tough subjects connected with the sudden changes taking place in Israel, where tradition and some modernizing tendencies are in conflict with each other. The retrospective of some outstanding Israeli films is a perfect opportunity to understand the politics and dynamics of modern cinema.

New British Cinema
The idea behind this particular strand of the festival’sprogram is to introduce our audiences to the most original and exciting voices in British independent cinema of recent years. We aim to present a selection of thought-provoking, critically acclaimed feature films produced outside of the studio system. This section is being prepared in partnership with New British Cinema Quarterly (www.nbcq.co.uk) - an organization, which was established in order to promote British films and filmmakers locally and abroad.  The second part of the program is aimed at those members of our audiences who are interested in getting to know world-famous documentaries about art, made by the BBC Arena. Arena was voted one of the 50 most influential programs of all time in a poll of leading TV executives in Broadcast magazine. Over the years, Arena has covered profiles and topics that included: Salvador Dali, the Mona Lisa, the Chelsea Hotel in New York, DireStraits, the Everly Brothers, OrsonWelles, Buddy Holly, Bob Marley, and many others.

Geet It Up!
This section is devoted to the new cultural phenomenon, thatis the figure of a geek and its film representations. “Geek” is a term that combines the features typical of so-called “losers”, “misfits” and “crammers”. Over the last years, cinema has shown growing interest in the geeky characters, mainly due to their being different from the commonly used, Hollywood-like, beautiful and successful types. “Geek” also means the celebration of otherness and rejection of social and cultural norms that make us find “the love of life”, get a steady, prominent job and follow the rules of consumerist society. The Geek Cinema Section is an attempt to shed some spotlight (from various perspectives, of course) on the figure of a geek as well as ask some questions about its meaning and functions in the contemporary culture.