BEATS OF FREEDOM – ZEW WOLNOŚCI

BEATS OF FREEDOM - ZEW WOLNOŚCI

Beats of Freedom – Zew wolności is a captivating film about the birth of rock music in Poland. In the times when life was controlled by the communist regime, music became an extremely powerful phenomenon. The Iron Curtain could not stop rock music, thanks to which young people could find their space of freedom. From the very beginning, Polish rock stood in opposition to the reality it met with. The songs broke stereotypes and formed bonds among people. One particular freedom enclave was the festival in Jarocin, colourfully shown in the film thanks to previously unpublished archival materials. The film stars: Marek Niedźwiecki, Krzysztof Skiba, Jurek Owsiak, Kazik Staszewski (Kult), Muniek Staszczyk (T.Love), Kora Jackowska (Maanam), Tomek Lipiński (Tilt and Brygada Kryzys), Krzysztof Grabowski (Dezerter) and many more. 

FILM REPRESENTED BY THE KRAKOW FILM FOUNDATION

  • Genre: Dokumentalny
  • Country: Polska
  • Running time: 78
  • Year: 2010

Director: Leszek Gnoiński, Wojciech Słota

Script: Wojciech Słota, Leszek Gnoiński

DOP: Dariusz Szymura, Piotr Trela

Editing: Wojciech Słota

Production company: TVN, Instytut im. Adama Mickiewicza

About the directors:

Leszek Gnoiński

Music journalist. He wrote, among others, for: “Dziennik”, “Machina”, “Super Express” (in the mid-90s he co-created the biggest rock column in Polish national newspapers), “Tylko Rock”, “Muza” musical magazine (he was deputy editor in chief), www.cgm.pl portal (he was also its editor in chief) and “Dziennik Polski”. During this time he conducted hundreds of interviews with nearly all of the most important Polish musicians, not only those related to rock music. He wrote musical books, which were sold in 70,000 copies: Raport o Acid Drinkers [Report on Acid Drinkers] (1996), the bestseller Kult Kazika [The Cult of Kazik] (2000), Myslovitz. Życie to surfing [Myslovitz. Life is Surfing] (2009). Together with Jan Skaradziński he wrote the unique position on the Polish market Encyklopedia polskiego rocka [The Encyclopaedia of Polish Rock], which has had four editions so far (first edition in 1996; another is planned in 2010). Together with Wojtek Słota he produced a six-episode TV series titled Historia polskiego rocka [The History of Polish Rock] (2008) for the Discovery channel and a full-length film Beats of Freedom – Zew wolności (2010). 

Wojciech Słota

In 1997-2000 he studied television creation and production at the Polish National Film, Television and Theater School. He is the author of the films: Tysiąclecie kontra milenium [Thousand Years vs. Millenium] (2006), Górnicy z Piasta [The Miners from Piast] (2006), a documentary TV series Historia polskiego rocka [The History of Polish Rock] (2008) and Beats of Freedom – Zew wolności (2010). He normally works as an editor of feature and documentary films, as well as feature programmes. In the first half of the 90s, he dealt with rock music, organized concerts and festivals. Together with friends, he set up the “cyberstudio” recording studio. He was the manager of the bands Myslovitz and Nowy Horyzont. 

At festivals:

DocMiami International Film Festival, USA, 2010 (screening)

45th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic, 2010 (screening)

Kaunas International Film Festival, Lithuania , 2010 (screening)

13th Antimatter Film Festival, Canada, 2010 (competition)

KINOPOLIS Polish Film Festival, Ireland, 2010 (competition)

Sheffield Doc/Fest, England, 2010 (screening)

32nd Noordelijk Film Festival, The Netherlands, 2010 (screening)

22nd Trieste Film Festival, Italy, 2011 (screening)

Göteborg International Film Festival, Sweden, 2011 (screening)

SXSW Film Festival, USA, 2011 (screening)

4th MusiXine International Music Film Festival, Finland, 2011 (MusiXine Main Prize)

DISTRITAL, Mexico, 2011 (screening)

Bergen International Film Festival, Norway, 2011 (competition)

Seattle Polish Film Festival, 2012 (screening)