54th Krakow Film Festival
May 25 marked the launch of the 54th Krakow Film Festival, an event co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. The festival lineup features a number of Polish films. This year’s special country focus is on the United Kingdom.
Krzysztof Gierat on the Lineup of the 54th KFF
Festival director Krzysztof Gierat told us about the opening film and about Polish documentary, short and animated films in the lineup of the 54th Krakow Film Festival. We also discussed the upcoming industry events and guests at this year’s edition of Industry Zone, as well as out-of-competition sections and special screenings (such as those related to the Silent Film Festival and the Stanley Kubrick exhibition).
Polish Filmmakers Lead Four Competition Juries
The international documentary film competition will be presided by cinematographer/director Wojciech Staroń, author of the acclaimed documentary Argentyńska lekcja (Argentinian Lesson), winner of the Golden Horn award in Krakow in 2011, and cinematographer on Papusza. The head of the DocFilmMusic jury will be Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz, one of the most acclaimed film score composers in Poland. The short film competition jury will be chaired by director Wojciech Marczewski, while the Polish competition jury will be led by documentary filmmaker Jerzy Śladkowski. In addition to the four main juries, the festival will also have a FIPRESCI jury [members: Pierre-Simon Gutman (France), Tonci Valentic (Croatia), István Szathmáry (Hungary)] and FICC jury [members: Jan Jankowiak (Poland), Tea Gabidzashvili (Georgia), and Tapesh Sharma (India)]. There will also be an award of the students of the city of Krakow.
For more details about the jury members of the 54th Krakow IFF please visit www.krakowfilmfestival.pl.
Dragon of Dragons for Bogdan Dziworski
Bogdan Dziworski, acclaimed Polish cinematographer, director, member of academia in film and photography studies, will receive the Dragon of Dragons award for lifetime achievement. The Dragon of Dragons award has been awarded annually since 1998 by the Krakow Film Foundation, the organization responsible for the Krakow Film Festival, to recognize exceptional filmmakers for their contribution to world cinema in the field of documentary and animation filmmaking. Winners of the Dragon of Dragons award in past years include such acclaimed artists as Kazimierz Karabasz, Allan King, Albert Maysles, Werner Herzog, Jonas Mekas, Helena Trestíková, Stephen and Timothy Quay, Raoul Servais, Jerzy Kucia, and Paul Driessen. Bogdan Dziworski will be presented with his Dragon of Dragons award at a special ceremony on May 27. The festival lineup also features a master class and selection of films by Bogdan Dziworski.
For more details about the Dragon of Dragons award please visit www.krakowfilmfestival.pl.
Opening Film of the 54th KFF
The festival will open with a screening of Sen o Warszawie by Krzysztof Magowski. Co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, this film is the first biopic about iconic Polish musician Czesław Niemen. The film was produced to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the artist’s death last January. Production on this project launched in 2005 and uses lots of previously unreleased footage.
The Krakow Film Festival will mark the film’s world premiere. Sen o Warszawie will also be a part of the Polish competition lineup, running for this section’s Golden Hobby-Horse top prize. A special screening attended by the filmmakers will be held on May 25, during the 54th Krakow Film Festival opening ceremony.
DocFilmMusic Competition
DocFilmMusic, the youngest out of all the competition sections, will have its second edition at this year’s festival. This section was open to all music documentary films with a running time of over 30 minutes. The winner of this competition receives the Golden Heynal award along with a cash prize. The DocFilmMusic competition lineup features two Polish films: Nowa Warszawa, directed by Bartek Konopka, nominated for an Academy Award® for his Królik po berlińsku (Rabbit a la Berlin), and Za to, że żyjemy, czyli punk z Wrocka by Tomasz Nuzban.
For more details about the DocFilmMusic competition please visit www.krakowfilmfestival.pl.
Documentary Competition
Krakow’s documentary competition is open to all documentary films with a running time over 30 minutes. Ten mid-length and ten feature-length documentaries compete for this section’s top prize – the Golden Horn. This year marks the eighth edition of this competition, which has been organized annually since 2007. The selection of mid-length documentaries includes two Polish films: I co dalej z Tobą Karolinko – Norwid i Nicole by Karolina Bendera and Pozwól kochać, pozwól marzyć by Monika Nawrot and Dominik Górski. The selection of feature documentaries includes three Polish films: Deep Love by Jan P. Matuszyński, Efekt domina (The Domino Effect) by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski, and Niegdyś moja matka, a Polish-Australian co-production directed by Sophia Turkiewicz.
For more details about the documentary competition please visit: www.krakowfilmfestival.pl.
Short Film Competition
39 films are in the running for the Golden Dragon – the top prize in the festival’s Short Film Competition. Bringing together three genres – documentary, animated and feature filmmaking – and films from around the world, this is undoubtedly the most versatile section of the Krakow Film Festival. One of the films screening in the documentary film competition is Salon Sióstr W., the latest film by Jakub Stożek, while the feature film selection includes Źle nam z oczu patrzy (You Keep an Eye on Us) by Arek Biedrzycki. The animation lineup also includes four films from Poland: Fuga na wiolonczelę, trąbkę i pejzaż by Jerzy Kucia, Hipopotamy (Hippos) by Piotr Dumała, Lato 2014 by Wojciech Sobczyk, and Łaźnia (Baths) by Tomasz Ducki.
For more details about the Short Film Competition please visit: www.krakowfilmfestival.pl.
Polish Competition
The Polish Competition is the fourth among the equally-ranked competition sections of the 54th Krakow Film Festival, an event co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. This year’s lineup of the Polish Competition features a selection of 42 titles. The complete lineup is available here: www.krakowfilmfestival.pl.
Marta Sikorska
Translated by Karolina Kołtun