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Still Bill Sweet rush (Tatarak)
USA
It’s remarkable that the singer/songwriter behind such timeless hits as
POLAND
Great Polish film director Andrzej Wajda (Katyn, SDFF 31) returns to the
Directors: Damani Baker, Alex Vlack “Lean On Me,” “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and “Just The Two of Us” isn’t a Director: Andrzej Wajda festival this year with a multilayered, metacinematic work of the heart
Producers: Damani Baker, Alex Vlack, household name. Equally remarkable are the unique path he took to Producers: Waldemar Dabrowski,
that is at once the dramatization of a short story about the magnetism
Jon Fine
fame, his reasons for renouncing it at its height, and the shining wisdom
Slawomir Józwik, Michal Kwiecinski,
between youth and experience, an homage to a longtime friendship,
Screenwriters: Damani Baker, that the fiercely independent Bill Withers still shows in this revealing
Dorota Rakowska-Kosmicka
and an act of remembrance for a departed colleague. It’s a delicate
Alex Vlack
documentary by Damani Baker and Alex Vlack.
Screenwriter: Andrzej Wajda
balancing act, artfully accomplished.
MS: A to Z
Cinematographers: Jon Fine,
Cinematographer: Pawel Edelman
MS: A to Z
il
Damani Baker, Edward Marritz
Only consider his inauspicious beginnings in Slab Fork, West Virginia, Editor: Milenia Fiedler In Sweet Rush’s first scene, actress Krystyna Janda, playing herself,
il
Editors: Jon Fine, Sakae Ishikawa
where he grew up with asthma and a speech defect; from there, he Cast: Krystyna Janda, Pawel Szajda, delivers an emotional monologue about the premature death of her
E F
Cast: Bill Withers,
joined the navy and worked all manner of odd jobs before making it
Jan Englert, Julia Pietrucha,
husband, renowned cinematographer Edward Klosinski. From there,
E F
h
Dr. Cornel West, Tavis Smiley,
big. But unlike most stars in the music business, Withers would not
Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak
h
T
the film segues into a touching postwar drama, based on a Jaroslaw
T
Raul Midon, Angelique Kidjo
become trapped inside his own fame. Given a choice between what he
2009 / color / 85 min.
Iwaszkiewicz short story, about a melancholy doctor’s wife (also played
2009 / color / 76 min.
saw as a compromising and lonely life in entertainment on the one hand by Janda) who is drawn to a younger man (Pawel Szajda) and begins
and a family life on the other, he chose the latter. meeting him on the banks of a gently flowing river. Eventually Wajda
breaks the fourth wall to expose the filmmaking process – as well as to
DaMani BaKEr
Through interviews with Dr. Cornel West, Sting, Jim James of My
anDrzEJ WaJDa
share some of his own ideas about love and death. A crucial point of
Damani Baker was selected by Seminal Polish director Andrzej Wajda
Filmmaker Magazine as one of the 25
Morning Jacket, and Withers’ family and friends – as well as concert
is a leader of the Polish School of
context here is, of course, that Wajda has known and admired Janda
New Faces in Independent Film. He has
footage and a soundtrack containing some never-before-heard songs
filmmaking. He has been directing
for decades; he cast her in his landmark Man of Marble 32 years ago.
made documentaries, music videos, – Still Bill presents a man who, at 70, and without fanfare, continues to films since the 1950s, critiquing the Klosinski, for his part, was a frequent close collaborator. So the self-
and advertisements. In addition to
make deep human connections in the form of music.
Nazi and Soviet occupations of Poland
referential aspect of Sweet Rush has its roots in authentic feeling.
directing, Baker is a guest professor through allegorical and artistic means.
at Sarah Lawrence College’s Film and As a youth he studied the impressionist
New Media Department. and postimpressionist movements,
But it might never have been. It was only in the first week of filming
being especially fond of Paul Cezanne.
that Janda showed Wajda an account she had written about her
He was awarded an honorary Oscar in husband’s last days, acknowledging that she wanted to share her experi-
2000 and an honorary Golden Bear at
aLEx VLaCK
ences on the screen – and thus giving rise to the complex cinematic
the Berlin Film Festival in 2006 for his
Along with director Andrew
structure Wajda has so carefully shaped from its original form as a
contributions to cinema.
Zuckerman, Alex Vlack cofounded
simple adaptation from fiction.
Late Night and Weekends, a company
Selected Filmography
that produces films, commercials,
Katyn (2007)
books, branded content, and media
In cooperation with: Kosciusko Foundation, Rocky Mountain Chapter
The Revenge (2002)
installations. Vlack has had media
The Possessed (1988)
installations at the Center for Disease
Man of Iron (1981)
Control and the National Museum
The Girl from Wilko (1979)
of Marine Corps. He has also made
Samson (1961)
ad campaigns for Puma, BMW, and
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Wired.
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