SPECIAL SCREENINGS – A weekend on adrenalin with Jackie Stewart and Roman Polanski

Jackie Stewart et Roman Polanski © FDC / GT

Selected in Special Screenings, Frank Simon’s documentary Weekend Of A Champion, will be shown in the presence of the film’s two central characters: former Formula 1 World Champion, Jackie Stewart and film-maker Roman Polanski, who is also In Competition this year with La Vénus à la fourrure.

Between 1965 and 1973, Jackie Stewart won 27 Grands Prix and 3 World Champion titles. Despite his initial doubts about taking up the career because of the accidents that befell his elder brother, also a driver, Jackie Stewart went on to become one of the greatest racing drivers in history.

He and Roman Polanski, a great fan of motor racing, got to know each other at the end of the 1960s. In 1971, Roman Polanski decided to spend a week-end with him during 29th Monaco Grand Prix, in front of the camera of Frank Simon. At that time, motor racing was an extremely dangerous sport and, according to Jackie Stewart, a driver who raced for five years had just a one in three chance of surviving.
 

Jackie Stewart et Roman Polanski. Photo du film © DR.


Weekend Of A Champion recounts these three days in the life of the celebrated Scottish driver through the eyes of his admirer and friend Roman Polanski. Three days during which we live every minute of the preparations and tests, but also the race itself, thanks to a camera positioned onboard the car for the first time.

Weekend Of A Champion has hardly ever been seen in movie theatres. Despite winning the Prize for Best Documentary at the Berlin Festival in 1972, the film was never publicly released. The print was gathering dust in a London laboratory until Roman Polanski decided to re-edit it and shoot an epilogue: his meeting up with Jackie Stewart again in the same hotel room, forty years later. A warm and light-hearted reunion that makes a beautiful afterword to this portrait of a hero.
 

Béatrice de Mondenard

SCREENING
Wednesday 22 May / Buñuel Theatre/ 7.45pm
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