Valladolid International Film Festival (also known as Seminci lub Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid) is a film festival held annually in Valladolid, Spain since 1956. It is currently considered one of the most important events for independent and auteur productions. Diversity is one of its major strengths – the event's extremely rich program includes excellent short films alongside award-winning feature-length movies.
“Balcony Concert” was invited to the competitive section “Time of History”. The film by Diana and Krzysztof Kadłubowski is a tragicomic picture of Polish society during the first lockdown. The residents of a certain tenement house – each locked in their own apartment – are adapting to the new situation. Most of them stay at home, and the way to stay in contact with the outside world is through… their balconies and a common yard. Isolation and distance sharply limit social contacts but make it possible to observe the life of their neighbours. The by-product of this backyard culture is the Balcony Concert – the story of a certain pair of shoes and one of the most peculiar performances of the song “What a Wonderful World”.
At the same section we can find also a Tomasz Wysokiński's "Walk with Angels". It's a story about curren situation in South Africa, where children routinely disappear. Organised business, local conspiracy of silence and blood clotting stories often stand behind it. Jerry, who has been fighting his demons since childhood, makes an attempt to find a girl from Soweto who was kidnapped a few years ago. He needs to walk along the path leading through slums and shady streets, the traces of apartheid, local religious cults and personal memories. His private investigation, magnified by Paweł Mykietyn’s hypnotic music, and a journey deep into the self, will lead the viewer to the very heart of darkness.
More information about the festival held at the end of October can be found on its official website.