The creation of this review was inspired by the fact that this year we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Creation of the Advocates’ Self-Government. However, we hope that thank to its universal message it will become a regular item of the festival programme.
The aim of the review is to encourage questions about the condition of civic values in the contemporary world – the questions that are still valid. Looking into these issues becomes particularly relevant in the age of democracy and civic society crisis, which result from the broadly defined so-cial confidence collapse.
Within the review, we would also like to present films that raise the questions related to human rights. Films that ask about the role and commitment of advocate, and other legal professionals, in defence of the individual rights against the abuse by authorities or large financial corporations. We would like the review to provoke discussion on human dig-nity, that lies at the heart of every individual right and is an unlimited source of inspiration and film subjects. And just like advocates look at themselves in the mirror of their clients’ emotions, film authors look at themselves in the emotions of their viewers…
PROGRAMME
14.10. Wednesday
Opera Nova
10.45 PM, The Children Act, dir. Richard Eyre, cin., Andrew Dunn, UK 2017, 105’
15.11. Thursday
Orzeł Cinema
9 PM, Sweet Country, dir. Warwick Thornton, cin. Dylan River, Warwick Thornton, AU 2017, 110’
16.11. Friday
District Bar Council in Bydgoszcz (5 Nowy Rynek Street)
10 AM, XIV Forum „X Muza a Temida” (Polish language only)
Orzeł Cinema
5.30 PM, Roman J. Israel, Esq., dir. Dan Gilroy, cin. Robert Elswit, USA 2017, 122’
How law inspires filmmakers? - discussion with lawyers and filmmakers after the screening
9.15 PM, I am not your negro, dir. Raoul Peck, cin. Henry Adebonojo, Bill Ross, Turner Ross, Belgium / France / Switzerland / USA 2016, 93’
SYNOPSES
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Roman J. Israel, Esq. is set in the underbelly of the overburdened Los Angeles criminal court system. Denzel Washington stars as a driven, idealistic defense attorney whose life is upended when his mentor, a civil rights icon, dies. When he is recruited to join a firm led by one of the legendary man’s former students – the ambitious lawyer George Pierce (Colin Farrell) – and begins a friendship with a young champion of equal rights (Carmen Ejogo), a turbulent series of events ensue that will put the activism that has defined Roman’s career to the test.
The Children Act
As her marriage to Jack (Stanley Tucci) flounders, eminent High Court judge Fiona Maye (Emma Thompson) has a life-changing decision to make at work - should she force a teenage boy, Adam (Fionn Whitehead), to have the blood transfusion that will save his life? Her unorthodox visit to his hospital bedside has a profound impact on them both, stirring strong new emotions in the boy and long-buried feelings in her.
Sweet Country
Sam, a middle-aged Aboriginal man, works for a preacher in the outback of Australia’s Northern Territory. When Harry, a bitter war veteran, moves into a neighbouring outpost, the preacher sends Sam and his family to help Harry renovate his cattle yards. But Sam’s relationship with the cruel and ill-tempered Harry quickly deteriorates, culminating in a violent shootout in which Sam kills Harry in self-defence. As a result, Sam becomes a wanted criminal for the murder of a white man, and is forced to flee with his wife across the deadly outback, through glorious but harsh desert country. A hunting party led by the local lawman Sergeant Fletcher is formed to track Sam down. But as the true details of the killing start to surface, the community begins to question whether justice is really being served.
I Am Not Your Negro
Master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, Remember This House. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words and flood of rich archival material. I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.
