ANOTHER PREMIERE AT THE KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL: "FREESTYLE LIFE" BY ADAM PALENTA

The film takes part in the Polish Competition at the Krakow Film Festival. Aganieszka Południak talked to Adam Palenta, the film's director.

 Just like in his first short documentary "Take A Look" (2005), Adam Palenta focuses on the problems of the disabled. This time, however, he watches the competitors on the World Swimming Championship for the Disabled in Rio de Janeiro and on the European Swimming Championship for the Disabled in Berlin. He shows, how the struggle, not so much against the rivals, as with oneself, becomes the most difficult challenge for the participants. The spirit of sport is clouded by the attempt to deal with one's own limits, with disability. The protagonists, whom we meet only for a moment, make us aware, how difficult it is to overcome adversities and compete for another medal with the head up; what an enormous exertion is necessary, not only to achieve success, but also to take part in such a sport event.

Several selected sequences from "Truisms" (a set of authorial sentences created from 1977 to 1979) by Jenny Holzer, one of the most eminent American artist of the middle generation, which accurately describe what we can see on the screen, can serve as a commentary on the film.

All this, together with the fantastic music by Motion Trio, builds a rhythmical narration, devoid of necessary commentary and not crossing the thin line of bombast.

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What prompted you to choose the subject of disability?

Adam Palenta: I have chosen this subject for several reasons. The problem is that nobody wants to watch the disabled, the old, the ugly, we push some social groups to the margin, we create enclaves for them. A general cult of beauty, shaped by the mass media, dominates. Death is left in the hospitals, the elderly in old people's home, we want to believe in our immortality, push away the awareness of our own feebleness. But life is beautiful enough to be worth showing in all its forms. We also do not take the sport of the disabled seriously. Have you ever seen a disabled athlete advertising a bank or designer shoes? No, because by giving the gold medal, it seems that we wink knowingly to ourselves - all this is not serious. We are accompanied by pity, fear and the desire to escape. Also admiration, but rather like admiring a strange phenomenon, of which we are a little afraid.

How long did the shooting of the film take? 

A.P.: Really, I have shot it for three years, of course I did also other things during that time, and most of all, I had to wait for the European Championships in Berlin to finish the film. Editing alone took me half a year.

Are you working on the next film project?

A.P.: I do, but for the time being I do not want to reveal any details.