WINNERS OF THE 8TH POLISH FILM INSTITUTE AWARDS

The eighth annual Polish Film Institute Awards ceremony was held on September 16, 2015 at the 40th Gdynia Film Festival. These are Poland’s only award for significant achievements in promoting and disseminating Polish cinema.

Eighth Polish Film Institute Award Winners

Cinema

• The “Rialto” cinema in Poznań

Polish Film Event of the Year

• 41st Film Summer in Ińsko

International Promotion of Polish Cinema

• Opus Film in cooperation with ACME PR for the Oscar campaign of Ida by Paweł Pawlikowski

Distribution of a Polish Film

• Next Film for the distribution of Bogowie (Gods) by Łukasz Palkowski
• Next Film for the distribution of Powstanie Warszawskie (Warsaw Uprising) by Jan Komasa

Distribution of a Non-Commercial Foreign Film in Poland

• Against Gravity for the distribution of Leviathan by Andrey Zvyagintsev

Film Critic; Reviewer’s Contribution to the Development of Contemporary Polish Cinema

• Michał Walkiewicz

Film Programme

• Tomasz Raczek and Kaja Klimek for “Weekendowy Magazyn Filmowy” in TVP 1

Film Blog/Website

• Legalna Kultura for the LegalnaKultura.pl website

Film Book

• Jerzy Armata, Anna Wróblewska for “Polski film dla dzieci i młodzieży,” published by Fundacja Kino

Education for Young Audiences

• Filmoteka Szkolna regional leaders:
• Iwona Baldy (Opolskie voivodship)
• Jarosław Basaj (Mazowieckie voivodship)
• Justyna Całczyńska (Mazowieckie voivodship)
• Katarzyna Czubińska (Wielkopolskie voivodship)
• Kinga Dolatowska (Zachodniopomorskie voivodship)
• Krzysztof Fortuna (Zachodniopomorskie voivodship)
• Agnieszka Grzegórzek-Zając (Małopolskie voivodship)
• Ewa Jakubowska (Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship)
• Piotr Kalitka (Wielkopolskie voivodship)
• Anna Karp (Świętokrzyskie voivodship)
• Aleksandra Kędra (Łódzkie voivodship)
• Ewa Klonowska (Śląskie voivodship)
• Ewa Magdziarz (Lubelskie voivodship)
• Jolanta Manthey (Pomorskie voivodship)
• Małgorzata Miszczak (Lubuskie voivodship)
• Ewa Musiał (Podkarpackie voivodship)
• Magdalena Nogaj (Opolskie voivodship)
• Anna Równy (Mazowieckie voivodship)
• Magdalena Rudnicka (Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodship)
• Ewelina Waląg (Dolnośląskie voivodship)
• Mariusz Widawski (Małopolskie voivodship)
• Katarzyna Zabłocka (Podlaskie voivodship)
• Emilia Żuber (Lubelskie voivodship)

Film Debate Club

• DKF Kinochłon in Augustów

Digital Reconstruction of Polish Films

• Studio Produkcyjne Orka for the digital reconstruction and colouring of archive footage from the Warsaw Uprising shot in 1944

Professional Training Programmes

• Film Spring Open Foundation for Film Spring Open Air

This year’s Polish Film Awards selection committee did not nominate candidates in the Film Poster category.

Special Thanks to Agnieszka Odorowicz

Agnieszka Odorowicz’s second term as head of the Polish Film Institute ends on October 2.
“To express gratitude to Agnieszka Odorowicz, I would like to present her with this symbol of success and dedication for the organization she herself created. The Polish Film Institute anniversary gala [in May] marked a presentation of Milestone Awards to thank and reward those who made the Polish Film Institute what it is today. Those milestones that had not been presented were left with me, to present them to those whom I consider worthy of such recognition. I thought that today would be the right day to present one of these milestones to Agnieszka Odorowicz, because it is here, at this festival, that her job comes to a close and I believe this will be the proper way of honouring her decade as head of the Polish Film Institute,” said Małgorzata Omilanowska, Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

“These past ten years have been the most beautiful years of my life. I would like to thank you all for that. I have learned a lot from you. I believe in your talent, your hard work, and I believe there is more success to come,” said General Director of the Polish Film Institute Agnieszka Odorowicz at the awards gala.

Magdalena Sroka Officially Appointed as New Head of Institute

At the eighth Polish Film Institute awards gala, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Małgorzata Omilanowska presented Magdalena Sroka with the appointment as new General Director of the Polish Film Institute. The new General Director will take office on October 3, 2015.

“I guarantee that I will do everything in my power to pursue, hopefully as effectively, the mission that Agnieszka Odorowicz began ten years ago. I hope that my contribution will be a source of both satisfaction and inspiration to you as an industry,” said Magdalena Sroka, new General Director of the Polish Film Institute.

The Winners’ Acceptance Speeches

“We would like to thank Agnieszka Odorowicz, the Selection Committee, but also our audience. If it wasn’t for them, our cinema would not have been able to stay in business for so many years, including the last twelve years since we have taken over,” said Jolanta Myszka of Rialto cinema in Poznań.

“The magic of cinema is in films, but also in the fact that audiences flock to these cinemas. I would also like to thank the people who have worked at Rialto over the past decade or so,” said Piotr Zakens.

“I would like to thank all the filmmakers who came to visit us, and all the viewers who come to our festival; some of them have been coming for over 40 years,” said Przemysław Lewandowski, artistic director of the Film Summer in Ińsko.

“This programme is truly unique for one reason: it is made by filmmakers, young filmmakers, directors who finished film school. These people are most competent and they’re the ones who make this programme unique,” said Tomasz Raczek as he and Kaja Klimek accepted the award in the Film Programme category.

Awards of the Polish Film Institute

The awards of the Polish Film Institute are a unique mark of recognition in the film industry, created in order to express appreciation for the people and organizations who are not directly involved with film production itself. Presented annually in over a dozen categories, these are Poland’s only awards for significant accomplishment in disseminating and promoting Polish cinema and facilitating access to Polish works. The awards of the Polish Film Institute have been presented annually since 2008. Candidates are submitted by cultural organizations, film schools, regional authorities, cultural NGOs and other organizations operating in the field of culture.