Garden of Earthly Delights — 21st Szczecin Film Festival

Lech Majewski's film (Wojaczek, Angelus) is an adaptation of his novel “Metaphysics”. Its main characters are Luis, a naval engineer, a loner living in a world of symmetry and arithmetic, and Bea, an Italian woman fascinated by the painting of Hieronim Bosch and medieval alchemy. Both are looking for their place in the world, trying in different ways to find and tell the truth about their lives. Luis films with a video camera every moment spent together, Bea in turn, tries to decipher the clues hidden in the painting “Garden of Earthly Delights” by Bosch on how to achieve paradise while alive, on Earth.

As in the novel, it is in the film, for which the shooting was made in Venice and London. Only the names of the heroes have changed. Now they are called Claudia and Chris, just like the actors playing in the film. In this way, the director wanted to bring them even closer to the characters being played. For this purpose, the film crew was also reduced to the necessary minimum, in many scenes the actors filmed each other. “I wanted to introduce such a strong element of intimacy that I had never seen before in the so-called normal cinema,” said Lech Majewski.

21st Szczecin Film Festival: Ekstraklasa: Retrospective — Lech Majewski

The undisputed protagonist of the 21st Szczecin Film Festival is Lech Majewski — one of the most original visionaries of world cinema, director, writer and painter, skillfully blurring the boundaries between the visual arts and the screen. This year's festival is not only an opportunity to admire his outstanding works, but above all a space for direct, creative dialogue with the Master. The retrospective invites you into the unique universe of the artist. In the halls of the Castle Cinema we will see productions that have delighted international critics, the moving “Mill and the Cross” as well as the mesmerizing “Garden of Earthly Delights”. Each session is an invitation to a world full of symbols, deep spirituality and painterly precision of the frame.

GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS, dir. Lech Majewski, 2003, 104', Poland, United Kingdom, Italy

A metaphysical treatise on art and dying, an artfully refined and culturally appealing tale of love and death; adaptation of Lech Majewski's earlier novel “Metaphysics”. The protagonists are Luis, a naval engineer, a loner living in a world dictated by the principles of symmetry and arithmetic, and the terminally ill Bea, an Italian born in London, fascinated by the painting of Hieronim Bosch, medieval alchemy and the speech of symbols. Chance determines their further life, mutual fascination, fulfillment and crippling loneliness. It is a story about the relationship of two people, trying in different ways to find and tell the truth about their lives, drawing on the omnipresent art in it, which turns out to be a kind of refuge and hope. Further attempts to decode the meanings hidden in the thicket of abstraction bring the characters closer to the Mystery hidden in the painting by Hieronymus Bosch. This is the story of two people living in the “cocoon of death”, trying to tear apart its walls with violent movements. The truth of this film is contained in the gaze of the digital camera — she is the protagonist of “The Garden of Earthly Delights”, becoming an argument against despair. The effort to save, to perpetuate life, is manifested in art, science, in esoteric philosophy and in all the actions taken by the heroes.

21st Szczecin Film Festival at Cinema Zamek — program of events

19:00 — 20:30 Lech Majewski Retrospective: MILL AND CROSS — Kino Zamek

17:00 — 18:00 ZFF Pomerania Film at SFF: PERSONAL COMEDY — Kino Zamek

19:00 — 20:45 Lech Majewski Retrospective: GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS — Kino Zamek

17:00 — 19:00 DokumentArt at SFF: Polish-German exchange of art universities — Kino Zamek

19:15 — 21:45 DokumentArt at SFF: German Film in Poland — Kino Zamek

14:30 — 16:30 Crossing Borders. Direction Africa: LAMPART Festival at SFF — Kino Zamek

17:00 — 19:30 European Documentary Film Competition Block 1 — Kino Zamek

20:00 — 22:30 European Documentary Film Competition Block 2 — Kino Zamek

16:30 — 19:00 European Documentary Film Competition Block 3 — Kino Zamek

19:30 — 22:00 European Documentary Film Competition Block 4 — Kino Zamek

16:30 — 19:00 European Documentary Film Competition Block 5 — Kino Zamek

19:30 — 22:00 European Documentary Film Competition Block 6 — Kino Zamek