Wojciech Staroń: Brothers

Taken from the site of the Magnificent7 festival in Belgrade (http://www.magnificent7festival.org/en/) this text is written by festival directors Svetlana and Zoran Popovic about the film to be shown tonight at the Sava Center in Belgrade:

From the very first moment of the film, from the first wonderful scene, an unusual and poetic story unfolds in front of us, a story about two brothers and their still unsettled life history that surrounds them. This documentary takes you on the small country roads lined with meadows, in beautiful, blossoming fields, in the dark forests where two old charismatic men are walking through – a painter, constantly in search of what excites his creative spirit, and the other one, who looks like his reflection in the mirror, and who managed, like in fairy tales, to get rid of the physical connection with the character and to become its opposite – a silent, reliable companion and protector. And whatever happens, from wandering through the landscapes full of colors and impressions, riding with no apparent purpose and reason, to everyday situations

in which they are talking and being silent at the same time, between the two brothers runs continuous and exciting current which outlines some of the deep secrets of life and human communication. All this is linked by magical scenes of family films, which as a leitmotif of the film testify to the metaphysical sphere in the existences of our heroes.

Wojciech Staroń is the author of the stories of the unseen, documenting and building, above all, an atmosphere of space and events. Staroń is a painter and a poet, when as a cameraman reveals the protagonists in many different settings or when approaches their striking portraits. As a director, he develops a complex structure and story from a seemingly simple scenes and situations, where he successfully plunges deep beneath the tangible manifestations of the real. Finally, he adds to all of this a new, very special visual impression that is created by the use of archival footage of amateur films.

The winner of the festival in Leipzig, film “Brothers” will mesmerize you with its carefully designed visuals, with poetic scenes and portraits, speaking strongly about the relationships that pervade man, about love, wandering and searching.

Director’s Word: For a long time I was looking for the answer what is this film about, what will be its main motive and its structure. However I knew from the very beginning that it will be a film about brotherhood. The final structure of the film appeared as a result of a year-long process of editing. I had to eliminate many plots to achieve as kind of universal and clear story.

www.staronfilm.pl/movies-b/2015/7/9/brothers

The review on “Brothers” on Filmkommentaren: link

Poland 2015, 68 minutes.

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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