"COMMUNION" WINS IN TRIESTE

Komunia (Communion), a documentary directed by Anna Zamecka and co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, won the documentary film competition at the 28th Trieste International Film Festival.

The audience of the 28th Trieste International Film Festival awarded the Alpe Adria Cinema Award for Best Documentary to Anna Zamecka’s Komunia (Communion). The film was voted best film among eleven competition titles.

At an earlier edition of the festival in 2015, the winner of the documentary competition in Trieste was Something Better to Come, a film by Polish director Hanna Polak.

Komunia (Communion)

When adults are playing house, sometimes children need to grow up quickly. 14-year-old Ola not only takes care of her incapable father, her handicapped brother Nikodem and her absentee mother (who is present in their lives mostly by phone), but she also tries to piece together her dysfunctional family – much like one would try to mend a broken piece of furniture. She is genuinely hoping to bring her mother back home. The upcoming holy communion ceremony for Nikodem is a good excuse to meet with their mother; Ola takes the responsibility of organising the perfect family celebration upon her shoulders. Anna Zamecka’s Komunia (Communion) finds beauty in the rejected, strength in the weak, and a need for change where nothing seems to point to it. It is an accelerated lesson in growing up that teaches her that no setbacks are final. Especially when it comes to love.

A Multi-Award Winning Debut

Komunia (Communion) is the feature-length documentary debut by Anna Zamecka, produced by Otter Films, Wajda Studio and HBO Europe, with MX35 as supporting producer. Lensed by Małgorzata Szyłak, the film was also co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. Komunia (Communion) had its world premiere at the 69th Locarno International Film Festival, winning the top prize in the festival’s Critics Week (La Semaine de la Critique) section. Anna Zamecka’s documentary also received awards at film festivals in Warsaw, Jihlava, Minsk, Leipzig, and Bratislava. The film was released theatrically in Poland on November 25, with distribution handled by Aurora Films.

The festival’s “When East Meets West” workshop and presentation brought the Flow Digital Cinema Award to Biegacze, a documentary project by Łukasz Borowski.

Further details about the 28th Trieste IFF are available at www.triestefilmfestival.it.

Marta Sikorska

Translated by Karolina Kołtun

30.01.2017