Jesteś Bogiem

The legendary Polish hip-hop group Paktofonika didn’t last long but their work markedly enriched the genre, leaving its own special indelible trace. After only the first weekend of its release, Leszek Dawid’s long-awaited movie, charting the rise and fall of Paktofonika, became the third biggest box office success of the decade. Director Dawid unsentimentally captures the atmosphere of the late 90s Polish music scene while investigating the creative process and the lives of the three main protagonist band members. Music is everything to them because they (as the central song states) “have hip-hop encoded in their DNA.” At center stage is Magik, a volatile musician for whom reality represents a complicated, somewhat inscrutable place, and music is the tool he uses to deal with all its potential pitfalls. This visually powerful film is dominated by a fantastic soundtrack that will leave no one napping. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)