ICE - special Polish film buffs set world record in non-stop film watching

Cinema Atlantic, photo: www.kinoatlantic.pl Joy, relief and for some just a prelude to start another movie watching marathon. .From the 60 people who settled comfortably in the armchairs of the Atlantic cinema in Warsaw only 21 had enough power to survive the 73 hours and 26 minutes of the kaleidoscope of world cinema productions, and as they declared at the end of the marathon they could be ready for more

"We'd find enough strength for sure, it was a fantastic experience, we had a wonderful time. Initially it was hard to imagine we could manage the 72 hours, but now we know we're ready for more."

Malgorzata Jach who had come up with the idea of organizing the marathon says the repertoire had to be changed during the event because the abundance of Polish films which the majority of the participants knew by heart created a sleepy atmosphere- so something thrilling had to be added to make the participants survive.

"Two years ago I heard about the record and talent on TV and I said - why not in Poland. And we started to prepare the items - a comedy, then thriller, then horror and Polish movies. A lot of Polish movies because they can stop to read the subtitles, we had to change it because they say more thrillers, more horrors, please, please. So we take all the movies which we have and we change them."

The change was a wise decision since as one of the participants argues some films cannot be stomached at 3 in the morning.

"If you start watching a psychological drama about the twists of human character at three in the morning, on an empty stomach, it is definitely too much for you to take."

But of course the participants were not kept on an empty stomach- their diet was set up by a specialist and they had regular intervals every 5 hours to recover.

A special jury watched the participants carefully not allowing anyone to close their eyes or even worse: to fall asleep or leave except for the short intervals. Their job was to take care to keep the audience fit, says Maja, one of the coordinators:

"Sometimes I prepared coffee or just talked with them or played some games, or played cards or sang sometimes, or told jokes. I was here just to not let them fall asleep. To make them feel that they are not alone, that there is someone outside who is watching them and taking care of them."

Well, another record has been set, all the participants looked tired, some really exhausted. When asked what they had seen, not everyone could recall the titles, but all of them felt great satisfaction to be placed in the Guinness Book of Records. The organizers joke that they are now preparing a sleeping marathon to help the participants recover. But frankly they have to be on the lookout since rumour has it that already the Czechs are preparing to beat the Polish record in film watching.