Award for "Something Better to Come"

Marzenie Julii (Something Better to Come), photo courtesy of IDFA

November 28 brought the closing of the 22nd edition of the IDFA International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam. The Special Jury Award in Main Competition went to Marzenie Julii (Something Better to Come), a film directed by Hanna Polak and co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

The IDFA Main Competition jury members Anne Aghion, Talal Derki, Sandra den Hamer, Joshua Oppenheimer and Alina Rudnitskaja recognized Hanna Polak’s film, a Polish-Danish co-production, for being “never sentimental, and displaying a brave and rare commitment to take a life-changing journey with her protagonist; [and] a vision of hell worthy of Dante, all the more painful for its tenderness.” According to the jury statement, “by subtly referencing contemporary political events, the film becomes allegory as well as human tragedy.”

2014 IDFA

In the voting for the audience award of the festival, one of the top slots went to Królowa ciszy (The Queen of Silence), a film by Agnieszka Zwiefka. This year’s edition of the festival saw over 250,000 admissions. The event was also visited by over 2,900 representatives of the film industry and about 12,500 students from Dutch schools.

Further details are available at: www.idfa.nl.

Marta Sikorska

Translated by Karolina Kołtun