SOFA 2019 | COURAGE

A celebration of art, people and ideas, the Solidarity of Arts Festival is an attempt to decipher the contemporary world. The 11 th edition of SOFA, Gdańsk, has invited artists who are motivated by courage—not only in their creative endeavours but mainly in how they denounce what is wrong and engage in an open dialogue on the world’s shortcomings: restrictions of human rights, populism, nationalism, violation of the rules of democracy or policy-makers’ passivity towards climate change.

This year’s SOFA has a symbolic hero: Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director, writer, documentarian, Euromaidan participant, accused by Russia’s services of terrorism and sentenced to 20 years in a Siberian labour camp. He has never pleaded guilty and, with his uncompromising attitude, he clearly indicates what’s good and what’s evil and gives testimony that it is worth paying the highest price for truth and good. This year, Oleg Sentsov will join the winners of NEPTUNE, an award which the Mayor of Gdańsk presents to artists whose life and creative work reflect the values of freedom and solidarity.
award ceremony: 23 Aug, after the debate, free admission

MUSIC

Thursday / 22 Aug
/ 21:00–1:00 / B90 → ticket: PLN 60
BEN FROST & MFO | HOLLY HERNDON | TANGERINE DREAM

Tangerine Dream are a legend of electronic music and one of the first Western bands to freely play live behind the Iron Curtain. Performing as support acts for the German group are: Holly Herndon, an American who combines choral music with AI, and Ben Frost, an Australian who created, for example, the soundtrack for the hit drama series Dark.

Friday / 23 Aug
/ 20:00 / 100cznia → free admission
LOTTO
Gdańsk-based band in the new wave of Polish Minimalism, they combine guitar music with jazz.

/ 21:00–1:00 / B90 → ticket: PLN 60
MARY KOMASA | FELICITA & ŚLĄSK DANCE ENSEMBLE: SOFT POWER | SIKSA | PUSSY RIOT
Starring Pussy Riot, famous for their performative campaigns aimed at the Russian dictatorship. Plus artists from Poland: Mary Komasa, with her multitude of ideas on how to make music, and Siksa, a punk rock feminist with a mission, alongside Soft Power: a story about folk culture and national identity through the lens of farce and illusion.

Saturday / 24 Aug
/ 20:00 / 100cznia → free admission
POLMUZ
New quality in Polish folk music.

/ 21:00–22:30 / ECS → free admission
THE ROUND TABLE ORCHESTRA
Featuring a star-studded line-up: Tomasz Gadecki, Mike Majkowski, Remont Pomp, Raphael Rogiński, Mikołaj Trzaska and Tomasz Ziętek.

/ 23:59–6:00 / ECS → pass required
ROBERT RICH / SLEEP CONCERT
The audience listen to live music and—sleep. Starring: Robert Rich, a California-based musician who experiments with electronic music.

Sunday / 25 Aug
/ 21:00 / ECS → free admission
NOT A WORD WITHOUT US
donGURALesko raps Timothy Snyder’s essay On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.

FILM

Thursday / 22 Aug
/ 18:00 / ECS → pass required
THE TRIAL: THE STATE OF RUSSIA VS OLEG SENTSOV
dir. by Askold Kurov / co-prod. Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic / 2017 / documentary / 72 mins Chronicle of the political show trial of the Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov. Accused of terrorism and planning attacks on bridges, power lines and a Lenin statue, he was tortured during the investigation and sentenced to 20 years in prison but never pleaded guilty.

Friday / 23 Aug

/ 18:00 / ECS → pass required
MR JONES
dir. by Agnieszka Holland, screenplay by Andrea Serdaru-Barbul / co-prod. Poland, Ukraine, United Kingdom / 2019 / political thriller / 2 hrs 21 mins
Story of Gareth Jones, a Welsh journalist who, in 1933, went on a solo journey across Ukraine to discover the frightening truth behind Stalin’s regime and the Soviet utopia.

Saturday / 24 Aug

/ 18:00 / ECS → pass required
BIRD TALK
dir. by Xawery Żuławski / Poland / 2019 / drama / 2 hrs 18 mins
“Xawery Żuławski, you’ve made a remarkable movie. It’s your win!”Onet Kultura Editor-in-Chief Katarzyna Janowska commented.

VIDEO

22–23 Aug / 21:00–1:00
/ B90, small stage → free admission with concert ticket purchase
ACT & PUNISHMENT
dir. by Evgeny Mitta / Russia / 2016 / documentary / 1 hr 30 mins
Movie about the Pussy Riot band. Documentary footage intertwined with performances by the protagonists.

24–25 Aug / 11:00–17:00
/ ECS, media library → pass required
GAAMER
dir. by Oleg Sentsov / Ukraine / 2011 / drama / 1 hr 32 mins
Story of a teenager, king of computer games, totally consumed by the virtual world.

ECS, round table at the fountains → free admission

Thursday – Sunday / 22–25 Aug

CHILLOUT ZONE AT THE TABLE
City centre garden created by: Denis Zaykovskiy, a journalist by background. He was born in Moscow and worked in television while it was still a time of Russia’s limited freedom / structures with plants by: Bartek Cybowski, 2beeart Productions.

REMINISCENCES

In four languages (Polish, English, Russian and Ukrainian), you will hear fragments of the last will of Oleg Sentsov, a symbolic hero of this year’s Festival. The sound installation created by: Petar Petkov, musician, composer, improviser, who studied in Bulgaria, Sweden and Poland.

Saturday & Sunday / 24–25 Aug / 10:00–14:00

ACTIVITIES AT THE TABLE
Handcrafting workshops for everyone—make a bag with a print, a badge or a Gdańsk souvenir with this year’s Festival motto: COURAGE. Hosted by: MyWy Creative Collective.