{"id":54049,"date":"2023-04-30T22:15:08","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T19:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=54049"},"modified":"2023-05-02T19:33:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T16:33:21","slug":"docaviv-2023-pianoforte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=54049","title":{"rendered":"Docaviv 2023: Pianoforte"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pianoforte\/Photo: Darius Golik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Pianoforte<\/em>, director Jakub Pi\u0105tek looks at the International Chopin Piano Competition \u2013 known to insiders as the \u201cpiano Olympics\u201d; it\u2019s the kind of competition that can launch a career. Competitions are almost always compelling to view, with a suspenseful narrative trajectory. Yet Pi\u0105tek\u2019s emphasis is more on character than outcome, the identity of the ultimate winner is less important than the different individuals under the camera\u2019s gaze and their experiences. I imagine it must have been somewhat suspenseful for the director as well, since having decided to follow 6 of the 87 competitors, at each stage of the competition there was a chance that one or more of his protagonists would not make it to the next stage.<\/p>\n

Pianoforte is a fascinating look behind the scenes of the competition, as seen primarily through the experiences of 6 competitors: Leonora Armellini, Michelle Candotti, Alexander Gadjiev, Eva Gevorgyan, Hao Rao, and Marcin Wieczorek. Moving deftly from one individual to another along the competition timeline, crisp editing creates a lively tempo for this documentary and the soundtrack is suffused with the beauty of Chopin\u2019s music. Observing the competition fly-on-the-wall style, the film takes the viewer into the intensity of the young pianists and their world.<\/p>\n

Held every five years in Warsaw, Poland, the International Chopin Piano Competition is organized by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute. It\u2019s a grueling process that lasts 21 days. Like any other athlete, the pianists are constantly training, and scenes of Alexander\u2019s teacher giving him encouraging affirmations \u201ccreative energy is coming to you\u201d or Eva working out in the gym, reinforce this comparison. All but two of the pianists followed in the film were in their mid-to-late twenties at the time of the competition, Eva and Hao were both just 17 at the time of the competition. Watching the pianists as they wait their turn to perform, or after they finish playing, their tension and exhaustion are apparent. Becoming a concert pianist is not for the faint of heart.<\/p>\n

Coming from different backgrounds, although they all practice the same art, it soon becomes apparent that their teachers have different approaches. It is also interesting to see the different relationships between student and teacher. Vivian Li, Hao\u2019s teacher, has been working with him since he was very young. She is very nurturing and caring towards Hao, and even says that she is like a mother to him. Eva\u2019s teacher appears to take a different, more strict approach, with meticulous, almost relentless critique, admonishing her at one point to \u201ckeep working, keep working.\u201d And work they all do, even when they don\u2019t feel like it. Marcin wistfully talks about wanting to have an Xbox, but immediately qualifies that wish by saying \u201cjust for a few days, then I\u2019d work hard again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the pianists socialize together, like Leonora and Alexander, sharing their worries and fears, or celebrating when they advance to the next stage. Others are more solitary. Michelle\u2019s vivacious descriptions of her feelings, dreams \u2013 both literal and figurative, and frustrations were one of the great pleasures of this film. Yet although some of the pianists revealed less of their inner world, they too engage the viewer\u2019s empathy.<\/p>\n

Pianoforte<\/em> will be screened at the 2023 Docaviv film festival which will take place from May 11 \u2013 20, 2023. The full program and schedule are available on the Docaviv website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pianoforte<\/p>\n

Poland\/2023\/89 min\/English, Russian, Chinese, Italian, Polish and Slovene with English and Hebrew subtitles<\/p>\n

Director: Jakub Pi\u0105tek; Editing: Ula Klimek-Pi\u0105tek; Cinematography: Filip Dro\u017cd\u017c; Sound Design: Anna Rok, Micha\u0142 Fojcik, Joanna Popwiczk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Pianoforte, director Jakub Pi\u0105tek looks at the International Chopin Piano Competition \u2013 known to insiders as the \u201cpiano Olympics\u201d; it\u2019s the kind of competition that can launch a career. Competitions are almost always compelling to view, with a suspenseful narrative trajectory. Yet Pi\u0105tek\u2019s emphasis is more on character than outcome, the identity of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":54051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[319,51,59,96,320],"class_list":["post-54049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-chopin","tag-docaviv","tag-documentary","tag-film","tag-international-chopin-piano-competition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}