Then 40. At last, only 10 lucky ones make it to the final. These are the contestants in the legendary International Chopin Piano Competition, held every five years in Warsaw, Poland. PIANOFORTE follows an eclectic group of young musicians from around the world who have prepared since they were children for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Offering a rare behind the scenes look backstage at the triumphant highs and crushing lows of competition, filmmaker Jakub Piatek captures the intense pressure these musicians face in an experience that combines tears of exhaustion and despair with the ecstatic joy of playing.
LOGLINE
The
world’s most talented young pianists compete in the International Chopin Piano
Competition,
held every five years in Warsaw, Poland. A rare behind the scenes look at the triumphant
highs and crushing lows of competition, Pianoforte is both a testament to the remarkable
power of music and an intimate coming-of-age portrait.
SYNOPSIS
During
the preliminary round, there are 160 of them. Then, about 90. Then 45. At last,
only 12 lucky ones make it to the final. These are the contestants in the
legendary International Chopin Piano Competition, held every five years in
Warsaw, Poland. PIANOFORTE follows an eclectic group of young musicians from
around the world who have prepared since they were children for this
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Offering
a rare behind the scenes look backstage at the triumphant highs and crushing
lows of competition, filmmaker Jakub Piatek (PRIME TIME, 2021 Sundance Film
Festival) captures the intense pressure these musicians face in an experience
that combines tears of exhaustion and despair with the ecstatic joy of playing.
PIANOFORTE is both a testament to the power of remarkable music and an intimate
coming-of-age portrait of young pianists navigating the rigors of competition,
intense practice sessions, new friendships, lots of drama, and even more nerves.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
by Jakub Piątek
My family has no musical roots and I didn't attend music school. At primary school, I was asked to join the school choir on account of my height. When my teacher heard me sing at rehearsal, she told me to learn the lyrics but only lip-synch to songs, without uttering a single sound. I developed an interest in classical music much later, only a few years ago. It is this fascination with a rather inaccessible world that I wanted to retain in my film: to tell the story of a few young people from the perspective of an amateur who experiences music through emotions.
The Chopin Piano Competition. The unique “piano Olympics” held every five years attracts incredible media attention, hitting several million streams of the concerts performed during the Competition. The event itself has an organic narrative arc. Almost 160 people selected, out of 500 candidates, enter the race. A few days later, twelve pianists make it to the final. There's only one winner. Sounds a bit like real life. Yet here, the actual award immediately guarantees their place in the pantheon of great pianists.
Record deals, the
best concert halls and orchestras. Still, these young artists prepare for the
Competition at great sacrifice. According to research, when a pianist plays a
concert to an audience, their brain looks like a supernova. This act is one of
the highest brain activations: both hands, the sense of hearing, emotions,
feet, memory, everything at top performance level. Our protagonists are young, ultra-talented
pianists who started preparing for the Competition at the age of four to six, following
different paths to get to the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. Hao took a
30-hour round trip to attend lessons with his piano teacher. It was only last
year, at the age of 18, that he saw the ocean for the first time.
At some point, Alex, one of our protagonists, says, “People perceive us as magical creatures who move from town to town, from continent to continent, and live on sound.”As I got to know that community, I became naturally interested not in what happened on stage, but rather what had brought them there. What sacrifice? How much work? At what cost? I also wanted to find out what happened later, several minutes after a concert, when they got offstage. First of all, however, I wanted to see them as young people with their dilemmas and emotions. On the brink of adulthood.
The process began with about fifty in-depth online conversations with the qualified pianists. Then I accompanied the selected pianists during the Preliminary Round for the Competition, a few months before the event. At that time, I chose our characters. I wasn't guided by the piano rankings, but by my documentary interest and intuition. In a way, making the film was a bet with the Competition itself. The night when Stage One results were announced may have seen our selected characters go home. Statistically, we should have had 1.5 characters in the final, and yet we had so many more. I had a similar deal with our characters. We were in it together, no matter where they'd end up: the final or the plane home. That sort of trust between crew and subjects laid the foundation for this film. This is why I focus on the backstage and the private sphere, unavailable to the Philharmonic audience. This approach is similar to the one used in the 1960 classic short documentary The Musicians by Kazimierz Karabasz, the crucial part being a rehearsal of a brass band made up of tram drivers, not the concert itself. It is during rehearsal that we are human; while on stage, we become magical, mythical creatures
Jakub Piątek - Director
Born in 1985, he graduated from the Polish National Film School in Łódź. Before studying directing, he worked as a journalist and culture manager. His debut film, "Mother" (2009), produced by Wajda Studio, was screened at more than fifty international festivals and received several awards. In 2014 he completed the documentary "One Man Show", which premiered in Krakow FF and DOK Leipzig. In 2018, he made a short feature film "Users" (premiere in Krakow and Slamdance). In 2021, his full-length feature debut "Prime Time" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and it is available on Netflix platform in all regions. In 2021 he started teaching fiction directing (Polish National Film School).
