About the filmmakers

‘Pianoforte’ was directed by Jakub Piątek, whose feature film debut ‘Prime Time’ was presented at Sundance in 2021. Now, his debut full-length documentary as the second Polish production in thirty years of history has been invited to the festival programme. The film was shot, among others, in China, Russia and Italy, with Filip Drożdż being the director of photography. Ula Klimek-Piątek is responsible for film editing, responsible for sound: Anna Rok, Michał Fojcik MPSE and Joanna Popowicz, and Katarzyna Dudarewicz was the production manager.

The film was produced by Maciej Kubicki from Telemark, and the Polish co-producers are the Fryderyk Chopin Institute (Artur Szklener, Joanna Chorzępa), the Mazovia Warsaw Film Commission (Anna Spisz) and MX35 (Mateusz Wajda, Paweł Ziemilski). “Pianoforte” is also co-produced by the broadcasters of HBO Max (Hanka Kastelicova) and BBC Storyville (Lucie Kon). The Polish audience will see this film in May at the 20th Millennium Docs Against Gravity.

Plot

It is a gripping story about the coming-of-age participants of the legendary Chopin Competition. Eighty-seven remarkable musicians advanced to the first stage of the last edition in 2021, and after over a dozen days, only the best twelve were qualified for the finale. The main characters are young people from all over the world. They have one thing in common – since childhood, they have devoted themselves completely to playing the piano.

Their struggles are a real emotional roller coaster. They have to learn to resist the huge pressure connected with competition. For the first time in history, the film crew managed to peek to such an extent behind the scenes of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw to show the atmosphere of the pressure of the competition there. Jakub Piątek also accompanies the characters in their daily lives, presenting the multidimensional picture of talented people with extraordinary personalities.

/photos: promotional materials, photographer: Darek Golik/