”THEATRUM MAGICUM” AWARDED IN THE USA
We know the winners of the Black Maria Film Festival in the USA. One of the awarded films was ”Theatrum Magicum” by Marcin Giżycki.
The Black Maria Film Festival came to life in 1981 to celebrate diversity of the short film. The Festival's home is New Jersey City University in Jersey City. It is named after Thomas Edison's original West Orange film studio dubbed the "Black Maria" because of its resemblance to the black-box police paddy wagons of the same name.
During this year's 37th edition of the festival the Jury’s Choice Award for the 37th Annual Festival Tour – 2018 was given to the film ”Theatrum Magicum” by Marcin Giżycki.
”Theatrum Magicum” tells the story of a magic show performed at the end of the 18th century by a magician and his troupe. The magician’s persona is modelled after Cassandre, the protagonist of Jan Potocki’s plays, but also resembles Georges Méliès as a character in his own films, and Baron Münchhausen (both from movies and Gustave Doré’s illustrations). The script contains allusions to Potocki's writing, cinema prehistory and silent movies but it does not expect the viewer to be a particularly erudite person. It is just like any magician's performance - a funny and astonishing show.