News
"Essential Killing" Wins in Gdynia
The winners of the 36th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia have been announced. The winner of the most awards (a total of five), including the Golden Lions for Best Film, was Essential Killing by Jerzy Skolimowski. The Silver Lions went to the creators of Sala samobójców (Suicide Room) by Jan Komasa. The jury also awarded a Special Jury Prize, which went to Młyn i krzyż (The Mill and the Cross) by Lech Majewski, and Special Recognition of the Jury went to Czarny czwartek. Janek Wiśniewski padł (Black Thursday) by Antoni Krauze. The Platinum Lions for lifetime achievement went to Tadeusz Konwicki and Roman Polański.
36th Gdynia Film Festival Starts
The 36th edition of the Polish Film Festival launched in Gdynia. The opening ceremony brought the presentation of the Polish Film Institute Awards.
36th Polish FF Press Conference
On May 23, the official press conference of the 36th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia was held at Warsaw's Polish Press Agency headquarters. The press conference speakers included Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski, General Director of the Polish Film Institute Agnieszka Odorowicz, director of the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia Leszek Kopeć, and artistic director of the festival Michał Chaciński. The press conference marked the release of the lineup of the 36th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia.
"Joanna" Premieres at Moscow IFF
Joanna by Feliks Falk will screen in main competition at the Moscow International Film Festival. The 33rd edition of the event will run from June 23 through July 2 2011. Joanna's screenings in Moscow mark the film's international premiere.
"At the Edge of Russia" Awarded
Koniec Rosji (At the Edge of Russia) by Michał Marczak is among the winners of the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto, one of the world's top documentary film events.
At the Edge of Russia is the story of 19-year-old soldier Alexei who begins his military service at a remote border post in northern Russia. This is one of many border posts guarding the vast uninhabited areas of Russia along the Arctic Ocean.
Twelve Films in Main Competition
The list of twelve titles competing for the Grand Prize at this year's 36th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia has been revealed. The new artistic director of the Gdynia festival Michał Chaciński comments on the final selection: "I hope that these twelve films will inspire debate. I'd like to invite everyone to Gdynia to participate in this discourse. There will definitely be films worth watching, and worth being discussed."
Polish Films on Toronto Star List
The Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival is now on in Toronto. The Canadian daily newspaper Toronto Star made a list of the festival's ten most interesting titles, choosing from among 199 films from 43 countries. The list includes two Polish documentaries.
Interview with Roger Christian [video]
At the Off Plus Camera film festival in Krakow, which drew to a close on April 17, we spoke to director and production designer Roger Christian, winner of an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) by George Lucas. Roger Christian discussed his work as a jury member of the Polish Feature Film Competition at Off Plus Camera, and shared a few details about the upcoming adaptation of Stanisław Lem's novel "Pamiętnik znaleziony w wannie" (Memoirs Found in a Bathtub), which he will be directing.
Kubarska’s New Project Pitched
The next edition of the MIPDoc international documentary film market will be held in Cannes in early April, along with the seventh run of the MIPDoc Co-Production Challenge pitching session, which will include the latest project from Polish filmmaker Eliza Kubarska.
OPC Awards Presented
The fourth edition of the Off Plus Camera international independent film festival has drawn to an end. The Krakow Film Award went to Korean filmmaker Park Jung-bum, director of Musan il-gy.
Zanussi Awarded in Skopje
Krzysztof Zanussi will be a special guest at the Skopje Film Festival in Macedonia, where he is to be honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the Macedonian Film Archive and the University of Audiovisual Arts.
Tim Roth Awarded at OPC
At the Script Pro 2011 awards gala, the "Against the Current" award for contribution to the development of independent cinema went to British actor and director Tim Roth. The award was presented by Jerzy Skolimowski, who chaired the jury of the International Competition for the Krakow Film Award.
filmPOLSKA Festival in Berlin
The sixth edition of the filmPOLSKA film festival takes place between April 14 and 20. Organized since 2006, this event is an annual presentation of latest Polish film in Germany.
Łoziński’s Films at Doc Alliance
In the last two weeks of April, the Doc Alliance website will have free access to films by Marcel Łoziński, one of the masters of Polish documentary filmmaking, director, screenwriter, and lecturer, whose 89mm od Europy (89mm from Europe) received a European Film Award nomination and an Oscar nomination in 1994.
Weir and Producers on The Way Back [Video]
Right before the Polish premiere of Peter Weir’s latest feature The Way Back (Polish title: Niepokonani), we spoke to the director and to producers Joni Levin and Keith R. Clarke (who also co-write the script). The creators of The Way Back talked about their own long way in the making of this project, about working on set, and about their Polish inspiration.
"Świteź" Awarded in Las Palmas
The animated film Świteź (The Lost Town of Świteź), directed by Kamil Polak, received the grand prize in the Short Film Competition at the 12th Las Palmas International Film Festival.
"Charcoal Burners" Awarded in Paris
The Jury of the 1st Semaine du Cinéma de Sciences Po festival, presided by Gilles Jacob, head of the Cannes International Film Festival, unanimously awarded the festival's Golden Fox grand prize to the documentary student film Smolarze (Charcoal Burners) by Piotr Złotorowicz.
Interview with Katarzyna Klimkiewicz
Jo Harper of The Guardian conducted an interview with award-winning Polish film director Katarzyna Klimkiewicz, who is currently working on her feature debut Flying Blind in the UK.
Polish Films at the 51st Krakow FF
The selection of competition films at the 51st Krakow Film Festival is now complete. This year's edition of the festival will run from May 23 through 29. The final lineup of the international feature documentary and medium-length documentary competitions and the short documentary, feature, and animation competitions has been announced. Seven Polish films will screen in competition.
Off Plus Camera: Polish Competition
This year will mark the first Polish Feature Film Competition at the Off Plus Camera film festival in Krakow. An international jury will judge ten selected films that were produced over the past year.
“Between Two Fires” at FebioFest
Dwa ognie (Between Two Fires), the feature debut from Agnieszka Łukasiak, made in co-production between Sweden and Poland, will screen at the FebioFest festival. The festival's 18th edition is taking place in Prague between March 24 and April 1.