5th edition
The fifth edition of the Festival ran from 1 to 10 September 2006. This time the emphasis was on Russian culture. As in the previous years, the programme comprised a variety of theatrical, musical, film and fine art events.
The music element was the most diverse. It offered, among other performances, a concert by the Israeli violinist Sophie Solomon and a music show entitled “The Ethnic Sound of Four Cultures” (featuring Kapela ze Wsi Warszawa and the Dutch band Farlanders) – both directed by Piotr Trzaskalski, whose films include Edi and Mistrz. Music lovers had the opportunity to hear a concert of Sophiya Gubaydulina. The world-famous artist (b. 1931 in Chistopol in the Tatar Republic of the former Soviet Union) studied piano and composition at the Kazan Conservatory, then at the Moscow Conservatory with Nikolay Peyko and Vissarion Shebalin. In 1992, she emigrated to Germany and settled near Hamburg. In 1975 she founded, with Vyacheslav Artyomov and Viktor Suslin, the group Astrea, which specialized in improvisation on rare folk instruments of Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Her music draws on ancient Egyptian and Persian poetry, as well as the lyric verse of Marina Tsvetaeva and the Chuvash poet Gennadi Aigi.
“Truth of the Time or Truth of the Screen?,” a showcase of Russian silent film (works by Sergei Eisenstein, Aleksandr Medvedkin, Vsevolod Pudovkin and Lev Kuleshov), was a real treat for cinephiles. All screenings featured a live piano accompaniment. The programme also included exhibitions (e.g. the work of Iwan Kulik), happenings (Jerzy Kędziora’s balancing sculptures, suspended over Piotrkowska Street), street parades and conferences. The Manufaktura once again became the principal venue of the Festival’s activities.
Festival poster
