Polish Documentary Nominated

Atijat, the First Wife – the directorial debut by Anna Błaszczyk, produced by OTO Film Studio and TVP1, has been nominated for the prestigious Golden Panda Award, presented to the best documentary film at the International Documentary Film Festival in Sichuan, China. The festival took place on November 6-8, 2009.

Atijat, the First Wife is one of five films nominated for “exceptional anthropological values” and is the only Polish film among the 120 films from around the world screened in the festival’s 24 categories.

This film by Anna Błaszczak is a portrait of a family in Sudan, as well as a depiction of Sudanese social relations. The director discovers the truth about the Sudanese ideal of beauty, about polygamy – difficult for women and entertaining for men, and about the appaling tradition of circumsizing young women.

This year, Atijat, the First Wife screened at the FIPA festival in Biarritz, France and the Roma Fiction Fest in Rome. The film has also received special mention of the jury at the International Film Festival in Pärnu, Estonia.

For more information about the Sichuan festival, go to: www.sctvf.com.cn

Translated by Karolina Kołtun