“Journey to the West.” Dust particles swirling in sunlight. The bustle of a busy street. The sound of sea waves. A man waiting for something, smoking a cigarette alone in a room. A child who, intrigued by something, stops on the stairs in an underground passage. A monk absorbed in meditation, walking through the city. All of this happens simultaneously and side by side. It is up to us how deeply we immerse ourselves in the reality surrounding us. “Journey to the West,” directed by Tsai Ming-Liang (pictured), winner of the Golden Lion in Venice, is a profound spiritual experience: a serene and joyful experience for everyone who races against time and lives in perpetual haste. In a world of constant pursuit, anxiety and assaults on our senses from all directions, this film offers a calming experience that allows us to enter the mind of a meditating person and experience deep peace and concentration. “Journey to the West” is a film that awakens us from the lethargy of perpetual pursuit and anxiety. Shown on a giant IMAX screen during its world premiere at the Berlin festival, the film attracted crowds of viewers and was watched in absolute concentration, allowing everyone in the auditorium to have a unique experience: an encounter with themselves. Running time: 56 min.
“The End of the World.” The documentary, produced by Wajda Studio and directed by Monika Pawluczuk, was presented in the official selection of this year’s edition of the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival in Toronto. It is an intimate, auteur film in which several stories converge during a single night. Its protagonists are residents of a large city seeking ways to cope with loneliness and anxiety. Some call an ambulance—often unnecessarily—while others call a radio station, where the host asks a question about the end of the world: what does it mean to each of them individually? They talk about tragic and painful matters, as well as minor, even amusing ones. Radio is the motif connecting this nocturnal world—we hear it in an ambulance and in the city monitoring centre, where dozens of screens show the city’s nightlife. Radio is the film’s unifying frame and the source of its most important questions. The cinematographers are Małgorzata Szyłak, Szymon Lenkowski, Jakub Giza and Michał Dymek. The film was made under the artistic supervision of Jacek Bławut. Running time: 38 min.
CK Muza/ii