205 Films at Warsaw Film Fest
Photo: WFF archive
The lineup of the upcoming 26th Warsaw Film Festival was announced at the September 22 press conference. The festival team also presented this year’s festival trailer, made by Platige Image.
The festival will feature five competitions and three non-competition sections.
The International Competition will include feature films from around the world. These films will be judged by the International Competition Jury; among jury members is director Andrzej Jakimowski.
“I am very happy to have the opportunity to be a part of this festival; it is an event of growing international significance,” said Jakimowski. “There are some festivals that, despite their A-class listing, are often in decline. The Warsaw Film Festival has an amazing ambiance, which is why it continues to grow in importance. The quality of the lineup is very high. Films screened at the Warsaw Film Festival, though often little known at first, within a few months gain worldwide recognition and acclaim.”
The 1-2 Film Competition will screen films by first- and second-time directors. “It is worth mentioning that we have always paid special attention to film debuts. Almost half of our festival lineup consists of films by first- or second-time filmmakers,” said festival director Stefan Laudyn.
Innovative and independent films will screen in the Free Spirit Competition. The remaining two competition sections are the Feature-Length Documentary Film Competition and the Short Film Competition.
“I am happy to say that this year’s lineup will feature approximately twenty European and world premieres,” said Laudyn. “These include The Third Floor by Bijan Mirbagheri, Walking Too Fast by Radim Šačk, and Hunting Down Small Predators by Tzvetodar Markov.
An annual industry event organized within the Warsaw Film Festival framework is known as the CentEast Film Market; this year’s edition will run from October 15 to 17. CentEast is focused on screenings of new films and works-in-progress from Eastern Europe for industry reps (festival programmers, film distributors, potential co-producers etc.).
“It is not easy to convince directors to screen excerpts from their works before they are finished. Even at closed industry screenings,” said Laudyn. “But it is certainly worth it. The films we promoted at last year’s CentEast event included Wszystko co kocham (All That I Love) by Jacek Borcuch and Matka Teresa od kotów (Mother Teresa of Cats) by Paweł Sala.”
The 26th Warsaw International Film Festival will run from October 8 through 17, 2010. There will be a total of 384 screenings: 205 films from 53 countries. Polish films at this year’s festival include: Chrzest (The Christening) by Marcin Wrona, Dwa ognie (Between Two Fires) by Agnieszka Łkasiak, Lincz (Lynch) by Krzysztof Łkaszewicz, 50/50 by Krzysztof Nowińki, Bad Girls. Cela 77 (Bad Girls. Cell 77) by Janusz Mrozowski, Plama (The Stain) by Igor Chojna, and Twist & Blood by Kuba Czekaj.
The “Pierwsze ujęie” programme of the Polish Film Institute co-operates closely with the Warsaw Film Festival. Interviews and festival coverage will be published on www.pierwszeujecie.pisf.pl.
Translated by Karolina Kołtun