SMALL SPACES dir. Elvin Flamingo, 2008. 40min.
GOLD REMI AWARD - THE ARTS & CULTURE, USA 2009.
Nominowany przez StopklatkaPL i TV Kino Polska do tytułu ODKRYCIE ROKU FILMU NIEZALEŻNEGO 2008.
motto 1:
"The essence of a documentary is reality. Something that really exists: real people, real events, real feelings, moods, faces, thoughts, a real tear. The essence of this genre is the author's personal, subjective attitude. Above all this is usually expressed by the film's construction (dramaturgy - if one prefers), and achieved through hard and fantastically interesting work in an editing room. A documentary does not tell the story of the author; it shows the world and people from the author's point of view. Sharpness, expressiveness and the vividness of the author's outlook gives the film it's status."
Krzysztof Kieślowski
motto 2:
Don't give up
"It's complicated. You want to practice your art, but at the same time you have to support yourself financially. So you have to work, and then you're too exhausted to pursue your art. But if you love what you do, you'll continue doing it no matter what. I was very lucky. On our paths we meet people who help us, and I met a lot of these people. They helped me take the next step. And I received help because I'd already achieved something. So don't give up. A lot of what happened to me can be ascribed to luck. I would put it differently: Try to find a job that leaves you some free time; get enough sleep and food; and do the best you can. There is so much pleasure to be found in doing what you love. Maybe this will open doors for you, and you'll find a way to do what you love. I certainly hope so."
David Lynch
motto 3:
"From the viewpoint of Buddhism, everyone can do as they please. From the viewpoint of an artist, they cannot."
Tymon Tymański
PROJEKCJE FILMU SMALL SPACES:
KATOWICE, kino Światowid, 19 października 2008, godz. 18 - jako Inauguracja MIĘDZYNARODOWEGO FESTIWALU NOWEJ MUZYKI IMPROWIZOWANEJ.
GDAŃSK, Klub ŻAK, 24 października 2008, godz. 20 - jako pokaz specjalny na festiwalu JAZZ JANTAR.
WARSZAWA, Teatr Montownia, Centralny Basen Artystyczny, 16 listopada 2008, godz. 19 - jako pokaz specjalny na festiwalu NIEWINNI CZARODZIEJE.
AMSTERDAM [Holandia], IDFA Docs for Sale, 21-29 listopada 2008.
POZNAŃ, Centrum Kultury ZAMEK, 28 listopada 2008, godz. 20 - jako pokaz specjalny poza konkursem, XII Międzynarodowy Festiwal Filmowy OFF CINEMA.
WARSZAWA, Plan B, 29 listopada 2008, godz. 22 - jako pokaz specjalny EUROSHORTS poza konkursem.
SOPOT, SFINKS, Honorowy patronat: Nadbałtyckie Centrum Kultury Larry Okey Ugwu dyrektor NCK Gdańsk, 19 grudnia 2008.
FILMOFFO, Opole Lubelskie, 6-7 lutego 2009.
TV Kino Polska, 18/19 lutego 2009, 00:01.
TV Kino Polska, 23/24 lutego 2009, 02:37.
TVP Kultura, 17 marca 2009, 23:25.
GOLD REMI AWARD 42nd Annual WorldFest-Houston, Texas, [USA], April 25th 2009.
Gdańsk DocFilm Festival 2009, Godność i Praca / Dignity & Work, Gdańsk, kino Neptun, Sobota, 25.04.2009.
TV Kino Polska, 15 maja 2009, 0:35.
GDAŃSK, ŁAŹNIA Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej, 17 maja 2009 - godz. 17.
TV Kino Polska, 29 maja 2009 - godz. 3:47.
KRAKÓW, KRAKOWSKI FESTIWAL FILMOWY pokaz specjalny KINO NIEZALEŻNE, 30 maja 2009, - 19:00, - 21:30.
KRAKÓW, Krakowskie Targi Filmowe, 31 maja - 4 czerwca 2009.
ŁÓDŹ, kino Charlie, 14 czerwca 2009.
Kino Niezależne FILMOWA GÓRA 5; Zielona Góra - Bielsko-Biała - Berlin - Edynburg - Kostrzyn n/Odrą - Ciężkowice; 21-28 sierpnia 2009.
TVP Kultura, 1 września 2009, 23:40.
TVP Kultura, 16 grudnia 2009, 23:45.
STREETWAVES Gdańsk 23 maja 2010
Warszawa KINO POZA KINEM - Scena Warszawska - 11 lipca 2010
Katarzyna Paluch - November 20, 2008 "SMALL SPACES"
The 41-minute quasi-documentary "Small Spaces" was shot during the third Silesian Jazz Festival in April of 2008.
The names that appear in the opening credits are sure to quicken the pulse of all jazz and improvisational music lovers. Elvin Flamingo's picture is a chance to listen to Jim Black, Tymon Tymański, Irek Wojtczak, Ravi Coltrane, Ralph Alessi and Wojtek Mazolewski, to discover their philosophy of improvisational music, their opinion on Poland's jazz music scene and even on its music schools.
Small Spaces is an attempt to portray improvisational music, to understand it, to depict its purpose of being. This is necessary in the case of a music form which to many is only noise. Even though Jim Black does say: "It can be noise, if that's what we want it to be". Observing the work of musicians and listening to the way they achieve different sounds or entire musical arrangements, emphasizes the fact that improvisational music is linked with life, with an ideology, even with a sort of rebellion of its creators. It can be a dialogue, an argument, a free observation or a monologue. Sometimes it can be the work of chance and searching.
A certain degree of criticism is present in the musicians' words. Tymon Tymanski notes the stagnation of the Polish jazz music scene, how the West is observed "from the perspective of fish in an aquarium". Irek Wojtczak remarks that the "professoring" in music schools can kill what is most important in an artist- subjectivity and a personal approach to sound. We hear the words " I've seen people leaving school with their spirit broken, it took them years to return to their natural selves".
But the most striking in Flamingo's documentary is its fascination with sound, its need for a total freedom of artistic expression. How music should be treated like a being which allows us to express our own emotions, a being which doesn't like being trapped in any frames. For forty minutes we admire the display of technical prowess of the individual instrumentalists in a distinctively edited and "improvised" form. The colors, situations, sounds all intermingle and merge. And nothing really ends, because no piece is played out entirely, cut short by the artists' spoken interjections. In truth, the film itself has no end, for the director lets the audience come to its own conclusions.
Poles don't make films about music, and most certainly not about its crisis. Elvin Flamingo is the first who dared to interrupt the silence and self-rapture of Polish jazz. This is on one hand enlightening, on the other it inspires serious reflection. How many of Tymanski's predictions will come true, how many young musicians will manage to break the deadlock of the Polish music scene- we have yet to find out. But Small Spaces is certainly something that will be talked about. It doesn't matter if it's criticism, as long as it's constructive.
Katarzyna Paluch, Onet.pl
Patryk Gochniewski - October 27, 2008 "SMALL SPACES"
The film Small Spaces, directed by Jarosław Czarnecki, aka Elvin Flamingo, premiered at Żak during the Jazz Jantar Festival.
This 41-minute quasi-documentary attempts to answer the question of what improvisation is and where Polish music stands in this context. It is also a film about the greats of improvisation, and their music creates an absorbing soundtrack. Small Spaces was shot during the 3rd Silesian Jazz Festival in April 2008. Czarnecki’s film renders emotion and communication in polyphonic terms. Not only does he touch on verbal communication; he focuses on emotional communication, which is the most important aspect of music. The film delivers a lot of criticism of music school, not the least of which is that it destroys talent by imposing schematic thinking on the creation of music. This is put most succinctly by the percussionist Jim Black, who observes, “When you look at sheet music, you stop hearing the notes”. One of the toughest opinions expressed in the film is that Poland is intolerant of musicians who play differently, who improvise. This is accompanied by extraordinarily bitter commentary from Tymon Tymański.
The key to understanding what improvisation is can be found in Czarnecki’s interesting editing, which is itself an act of precisely considered improvisation. He has not allowed any of music to play through to the end. He does, however, let the musicians talk in different languages. Thanks to the juxtaposition of artists such as Jim Black and Ravi Coltrane as well as Tymon Tymański and Irek Wojtczak, there are plenty of sequences full of musical ecstasy or bitter conclusions, the latter of which bring us back to the ground.
Small Spaces is an unprecedented film; the first that openly addresses the current crisis in Polish music.
Answers to the question of what is improvisation will be as numerous as the film’s viewers. For some, it will be found in the way the facts are presented, for others it will be in the film’s editing, or in the unexpected musical turns the film takes.
One thing is for certain, we haven’t yet heard the end of the film Small Spaces.
Patryk Gochniewski, Gazeta Wyborcza
Patryk Gochniewski - October 24, 2008 "Film at JAZZ JANTAR festival"
Small Spaces, a film directed by Jarosław Czarnecki, the man behind the pseudonym Elvin Flamingo, premiers on the first day of Avant Days. Small Spaces is an interesting quasi-documentary about the greats of improvisation. Shot during this year's Silesian Jazz Festival, the film attempts to answer the question of what improvisation is and where Polish music stands in this context. In addition to the musicians' words, the film's concert sequences make the Small Spaces soundtrack unusually original and absorbing. This peculiar quasi-documentary considers the essence of training young musical talents at music school, and highlights the huge disproportion in the understanding of music that exists between Polish and foreign artists. This is the first film which speaks openly about the Polish music scene being in such a bad state and the first one which speaks about the essence of improvisation. This is why Small Spaces should be required viewing, not only for cinema lovers, but more importantly for young musicians.
Patryk Gochniewski, Gazeta Wyborcza
Marcin Babko - October 23, 2008 "From the beach to the dump?"
One of the most interesting Polish documentaries about jazz was filmed in Katowice, but the director is from Sopot.
Sunday’s inauguration of the Jazz and Surroundings International Festival of New Improvised Music provided an opportunity to see the documentary film Small Spaces by Elvin Flamingo, the Sopot artist, director, filmmaker, graphic artist, and musician (his other films include The Joiner's Baby and Mama Africa). Flamingo shot the film during the international music workshops held as part of the 3rd Silesian Jazz Festival at the Music Academy in Katowice in April 2008.
“When I heard that the American percussionist Jim Black would be participating in the workshops, I decided to make a film. I took a leave from work and headed for Silesia. Improvised music is nothing new to me; I’ve always listened to it and tried my hand at playing it. But this is not a film about the workshops. They were just a pretext. If Jim Black and his friends had gone to a folk music song festival, I’d have made the film about them there. What I wanted to do was to open up the film’s perspective, not close it off just at jazz. This is also a film for people who really don’t have a feel for music”, relates Elvin.
Ravi Coltrane, Ralph Alessi, Tymon Tymański, and Irek Wojtczak all appear and play music in the film. For the moment, the film is only being shown at jazz festivals in Gdańsk, Warsaw, and other locations. The director is not shy about his hope that it will be shown at foreign film festivals, and in anticipation of this there are English and French versions in addition to the Polish. The film is scheduled to be shown in November at the IDFA Docs for Sale in Amsterdam. And next year, it will be broadcast on TVP Kultura and TV Kino Polska.
Is Katowice just a stop along the way? – A conversation with Andrzej Kalinowski
MB – In the spring of this year, you co-organized the international music workshops in Katowice. But the film about them was shot by Elvin Flamingo, a director from Sopot...
AK – That’s the problem with Silesia. It’s the largest region in Poland with more than three million residents. It has a film school, two television stations, an art academy, many independent filmmakers... We look too much to others and parrot ideas from Warsaw, the Tri-Cities (Gdańsk-Sopot-Gdynia), Amsterdam, Berlin. We don’t notice the cutting-edge events happening right here. The workshops were of national proportions. Most importantly for me, someone took an interest in them; a person from Sopot came to shoot and produce this film at his own cost. It’s a little disappointing nobody from here came up with this idea, but maybe this will be the impulse that shows local artists that inspiration can be found here in Silesia. It would be bad indeed if Katowice became just a stop on the highway between Cracow and Wrocław.
Marcin Babko, Gazeta Wyborcza
Agnieszka Szeffel - October 13, 2008 "SMALL SPACES"
Even though I am a complete ignorant when it comes to music, to the point that music could cease to exist without my noticing it, this film didn't bore me. I even heard something, but I don't want to talk about sounds because they aren't the most important thing here. The film's portrayal of a music workshop serves as a pretext, at least the way I see it, because different kinds of improvisations crossing the "small spaces" are something I come into contact with in every field that occupies me. This is something close to my heart. The film moves me, there are a lot of scenes that I like- "music's mission" always makes me smile, the way Jennifer Zielińska appears on screen and what she says; Jacek Staniszewski simply touches the most fundamental issues. On the whole I admire the ease and naturalness of the characters, the unforced and free rhythm in which they present their opinions, that's how I prefer it. However, there are things I don't understand: on one hand I like the idea of the film's editing – along with the red face, but on the other hand I can't associate the boy's face with anything, even though it appears most frequently. The girl's face, in my opinion, is used too directly during the conversation about the "pose" amongst musicians. I also don't understand the monochromaticity of some of scenes, it seems very random, but may also be justified by the particular aesthetic that accompanies jazz concerts. This is also visible here- the musicians are immersed in one color, which is usually very vivid, but in the film this is a certain surplus, the aesthetic doesn't always appeal to me. As I've said, naturalness is something which I find very attractive, it's like observing certain faces: their sketches are so noble, strange, interesting, intense, that the surroundings or the clothes of these people could be the most ordinary in the world, but they will still appear extraordinary. The more intense the sketch of the face, the calmer the background; and here we have a great intensity of the characters' personalities, maybe the monochromaticity and the peculiar scene editing also have their own rhythm, which my ear (or eye) can't detect, because it simply doesn't have that capability.
My congratulations. This film is truly interesting.
Agnieszka Szeffel, film studies expert
Grażyna Świętochowska - September 22, 2008 "SMALL SPACES"
22 hours of material, one-person coordination and realization. What is Elvin Flamingo's concept for Small Spaces?
The film's creator conducted a paradoxical exercise in which he executes a fundamental shift of proportions in a music documentary based on jazz improvisation workshops. Musicians that are ejected from their roles, talk, chat, weave a slightly theoretical narrative. Topics turn up repeatedly, namely the essence of improvisation, the usefulness and limitations of music school, the voice preceded all other instruments, synesthetic experiences with sounds and color, the status and quality of musical feeling. The small gateways between sounds let forth rivers of words, concert images fade into the background and are purposefully underrepresented.
Characteristically, the musicians from the West talk about music in terms of a desire to move closer to synthesis. They have the courage to speak about difficult things in language that is often unspecific, opalescent, nearly esoteric. Their conversations do not stem as much from the profundity of musical mystery as they do from the heights of spiritual experience. Much indicates there is synthesis, and the music is experienced simultaneously on several sensory levels.
The Polish musicians willingly point out, it seems, the immovable fronts of generation and caste. The young and those who look different and play differently don't have a hope of succeeding in this hermetic community at the poles of Poland and “out there”, where it is presumably better, more relaxed, free of constraints. But doesn't speaking about this, in fact, sanction the presumed division between Poland and the rest of the world?
It's an impressive piece of filming, editing, and production work by one person. One would perhaps like captions beneath the “talking heads”. On the one hand, this silencing procedure creates the impression that only the members and fans of this particular musical community have access to the message, while also mirroring the thesis of mystification that is referred to within context of music school. On the second hand, it unifies the script from the workshops with that of the creative layer. Faces looking on in silence, sometimes haughtily, provocatively, are silent or single-sentence commentators of the musical confession.
Grażyna Świętochowska, Editor-in-chief of "Panoptikum"
Tymon Tymański - September 1, 2008 "SMALL SPACES"
I have just seen a compelling documentary called Small Spaces, created by the Sopot artist Elvin Flamingo. The film was inspired by the music improvisation workshops organized by music lover and jazz activist Andrzej Kalinowski in Katowice. Participants of the workshops attended lectures and played with musicians such as Ravi Coltrane, Jim Black, Mark Helias, and Brad Shepik. The American musicians discussed the subjects of music school, the study of canons, and the space of freedom in improvisational music. Polish instrumentalists Wojciech Mazolewski, Irek Wojtczak, Jacek Staniszewski, and myself also expressed our views. When listening to our opinions, I experience two contrasting feelings: that while we are right in criticizing the Polish artistic community, we ourselves are not internally free. We are still struggling with the unwanted heritage of communism, with our lame passport, our insecurities, social impediments, and the narrow-mindedness of the community. We put on a good face, pretending that we aren't bothered about having to live in this atmosphere of a chicken coop. But who would feel OK in a chicken coop? In contrast to us, young Coltrane or Black speak with the ease of people unconstrained by their community. Their art grants them independence and respect; they don't need to get involved in any unnecessary antagonisms. On the other hand, let's consider what it really means to live in the United States. Being an alternative artist in the States (such as Sonic Youth or John Zorn) means operating on the margin of the pop mainstream. That margin (in the States alone) probably comprises between fifty-thousand and a half a million listeners. Whereas being an alternative artist in Poland means almost nothing. Poland still isn't connected to the general telephone network of European culture; everyone is calling us and suddenly they're dropping in on us. Yet we still can't return their calls, and we leave Poland only sporadically. Of course, the way to break away from the misery of this backward country is to leave for London. Switch to English (which in my case isn't a problem), to become someone in an amazingly more tolerant, normal, universal atmosphere. I admit, I sometimes think about moving to London's Hackney and not giving a shit about Polish problems and barriers. It's true, a lot was going on here in the 90's; there was madness, unrest, and innovation. I thought some changes would come about sooner. They didn't. It will take several generations to change this indolent, provincial mentality. Yes, I'm happy with my status and with the money I make, but I'm not satisfied with the Polish mentality. This is confirmed by the American artists in Small Spaces, “You don't have it easy here,” they say, “Poland is not a tolerant country.” But no one said it was going to be easy. So we keep on fighting.
Tymon Tymański
"The film really made a tremendously good impression. Excellent editing, the camerawork, how it's all put together - it's hard to believe that this was all done by one person. Great sound. Full respect.
The film can be understood in a wide context. - Break out of the standards, and you will feel that you are creating - And it's not only about the music, but about everything we do. This is a truly great and inspiring message. We need these kinds of films in a world filled with negative messages."
Marcin Safranow
traveler
"The film as a piece of filmmaking is great. But I don't understand it. Tymon's such a big boy, and he goes on about such things."
Tomek Sowiński
jazz percussionist
"Not only is this an interesting, engaging documentary, it is also a rare occasion to meet with some truly great people. Listening to their music and their thoughts is pure pleasure - finally the OCEAN of which Tymon Tymański speaks in the film."
Joanna Rożen-Wojciechowska
Telewizja Kino Polska
"The film is remarkable. I think it will spark more interest in the West."
Larry Okey Ugwu
Baltic Sea Culture Centre
"I consumed this film with great pleasure. Only the truth, a great film, captivating narrative, and editing. It's worthwhile doing this kind of thing; life is worth living."
Jacek Staniszewski
Independent artist
"As a picture, yeah, I really liked it, but the content, no. I don't know what the director's getting at. I think he has a mad streak."
Mikołaj Trzaska
leading jazz saxophonist
"The film takes up the interesting subject of musical improvisation; leads us behind the scenes of the improvisational musician's work. Improvisation is a conversation between musicians, yet for each of them it has a different meaning; it's a flow of energy or a way of expressing emotions. It doesn't confine musicians to one genre, it allows them to cross stylistic boundaries. The film doesn't merely show the artists talking; it also contains fragments of their concerts, giving the audience a chance to listen to some really good music."
Justyna Jabłońska
TVP Kultura
"Small Spaces is a 41-minute quasi-documentary about improvisation in music, about creating, about searching for inspiration, about the artists' approach to art and to each other... The film was made with the participation of well-known performers from the Polish and New York music scenes. It displays a lot of emotional insight and depth; it also has a cool narrative and a sense of humor."
Kasia Swinarska
Painter
"It's not easy to explain what improvisation is exactly. It's even more difficult to convey its meaning through such precise, detailed forms as the documentary or quasi-documentary. Small Spaces shows us how it can be done. In both cases the secret lies in the editing. Musical improvisation connects seemingly incongruent phrases and scraps into a captivating and surprising sequence. It entwines individual sounds, sometimes even those not commonly associated with music, into an intriguing arrangement. It's similar with this film, which is not a typical film about music. None of the pieces are played out entirely, they don't even have the chance to develop fully.
Instead, we get a parade of multilingual talking heads. We hear shreds of their discussions and monologues, which though at first glance appear frayed beyond repair, are harmoniously composed into a whole. Exalted fascinations and enrapturements blend with a more worldly, more bitter discourse. Moments of silence are interrupted by sheer eruptions of words. There is a good deal of surprise, and the realization that speech only touches the surface. And though music reaches much deeper, the most important things can neither be said or played. They must remain somewhere inside of us or between us. In truth, improvisation only points out unexpected paths to listeners and to musicians. And Small Spaces encompasses this idea."
Jarosław Irzykowski
Poet
"Fuck me, what a fantastic movie. A Master! I'm excited and charged up."
Maciej Swinarski
traveler, filmmaker
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