Polish Films in Rotterdam

January 22 will mark the launch of the 43rd Rotterdam International Film Festival. In addition to the world premiere of Małe stłuczki (Little Crushes) and a presentation of Tomasz Wasilewski’s latest project at CineMart, the festival lineup also features a number of other Polish productions.

Short Film Competition

One of the films nominated for this year’s Tiger Award for Best Short Film is La Isla, the latest film by Katarzyna Klimkiewicz [author of Hanoi-Warszawa (Hanoi-Warsaw) and Flying Blind], which she co-directed with Dominga Sotomayor (Thursday Till Sunday). Inspired by “Wypadek drogowy”, a poem by Wisława Szymborska, the film tells the story of one family; a reunion at the the family home on Chiloe island brings an opportunity to reminisce and to discuss time lost.

A DOX:LAB Project

La Isla is a project developed within the DOX:LAB section of Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX festival that brings together filmmakers from different countries and continents. The 2013 edition had 22 participating directors from around the world, with Katarzyna Klimkiewicz as the only filmmaker representing Poland. Filming took place in April 2013 on the island of Chiloe. The film was produced by an international Polish-Chilean crew, and lensed by Inti Briones.

Ida and Papusza in Rotterdam

The broadest section of Rotterdam’s lineup is known as Signals, divided by subject into several smaller sub-sections. One of 18 titles screening in the Signals: Gran Tour lineup is Paweł Pawlikowski’s Ida. One of 17 films representing European cinema dedicated to ethnic minorities and migration in the EU-29 section is Papusza by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze.

The 43rd Rotterdam IFF runs through February 2.

Further details are available at: www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com.

Marta Sikorska

Translated by Karolina Kołtun