Spring 2021—Friday, April 9

Icarus. The Legend of Mietek Kosz

Ikar. Legenda Mietka Kosza

2019, 122 minutes
Directed and written by: Maciej Pieprzyca
Music: Leszek Możdżer
Principal Cast: Dawid Ogrodnik, Justyna Wasilewska, Wiktoria Gorodeckaja, Piotr Adamczyk, Mikołaj Chroboczek, Jowita Budnik, Maja Komorowska, Grzegorz Mielczarek, Jacek Koman, Cyprian Grabowski, Michał Filipiak

Description

The film is based on the biography of a blind jazz pianist, Mieczysław Kosz, who died tragically at the age of 29.

Born in 1944 in a small village Antoniówka, Kosz was recognized as one of the most promising young jazz musicians in the country. Despite being classically trained as a musician, he felt drawn toward jazz, and by the end of the 1960s, he became a phenomenon of the jazz piano scene in both Poland and worldwide, compared to Bill Evans.

We see Kosz’s life through select episodes depicting the most influential moments in his life and career: his childhood on a poor farm in the farmlands of Poland and the loss of his eyesight at age 12 to a debilitating disease and the trauma that it causes. We witness the birth of his gifts - an uncanny ear for music and his determination shared only by true virtuoso. We witness the great heights he achieves in his career that is accompanied by his loneliness and desperate need for acceptance. We see how low he falls due to his fight with alcoholism and trying to deal with the consequences of his fame.

It is a story of an "outsider, a rebel who was struggling against the world and his own limitations" - said Maciej Pieprzyca, the director and screenwriter.

Dawid Ogrodnik brilliantly plays the blind musician, and the outstanding jazz musician Leszek Możdżer is responsible for the musical setting.

A link to the virtual discussion with Director Maciej Pieprzyca will be placed on the festival website.

Trailer

Panel Discussion

March 26, 2021

The panelists are: Maciej Pieprzyca, film director; Professor Randall Stone, Skalny Center director; Zbigniew Granat, professor of music, Nazareth College School of Music; Professor Mark Watters, director, Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media