PIANOFORTE

Poland, 2024
89 minutes
directed by: Jakub Piątek

A masterfully created documentary that in one fell swoop won over audiences at festivals in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. From Sundance to Copenhagen and Munich, from Tel Aviv to Bali, this stunning film has captivated so many different audiences alike with its superb music and glorious behind-the-scenes reveal of the world's biggest music competition.

The legendary "Frederic Chopin" International Piano Competition has been held in Vršava every fifth year for almost a century. Rightly called the pianist's Olympics, this three-week competition brings together the world's best young pianists who, through incredibly demanding and exhausting tasks, compete to win the title of the best. That prestigious title brings a reputation that introduces them to the world of brilliant virtuosos, and for some of prominent pianists from Vladimir Ashkenazy and Martha Argerich to Ivo Pogorelich that was the way to have come into the spotlight of the world public. In this unique framework, Jakub Piątek creates an exceptional film composition ranging from a brilliantly playful musical film to a superb drama in which fantastic dreams collide with reality burdened by countless external and internal demands and pressures. While in front of us, two basic streams excitingly intertwine - the skill and beauty of playing and the dramatic anxiety regarding the outcome of the rounds of the competition through which a smaller and smaller number of participants pass, the director almost imperceptibly develops and builds a new surprising essayistic layer that introduces us more and more intensively into a wider dimension of questions about the meaning of competition that tests and exhausts all our strength, and the meaning of victory itself opposes the meaning of art.

A masterful film achievement that enchants us with virtuoso interpretations of music combined with fears, dilemmas, ups and downs of the best young pianists!