World success for Operation Danube

The film Operacja Dunaj (Operation Danube) by Jacek Głomb has been entered in the First Works competition at the Festroia International Film Festival in Setúbal, Portugal. It will also compete for the top international prize at the International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in October and will be screened at several other festivals this fall.

Operation Danube joins another Polish film, Splinters (Drzazgi) by Maciej Pieprzyca, in the debut category competition at the Festroia festival.

Jacek Glomb’s film will be among only 15 features presented in the Discoveries Section at the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg in Germany (5-15 November). The organisers of the Braunschweig International Film Festival have also expressed interest in screening the film.

The Polish-Czech co-production, a tragicomedy based on the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, has been entered in the International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (10-17 October) where a change in rules this year means it will compete for the top international prize. The Golden Orange Award will be given in both the national category for Turkish films and the international category. The film will also be screened at the Leeds International Film Festival (4-22 November).

Operation Danube has received many invitations from India: the Bangalore International Film Festival (4-10 December), the International Film Festival of Kerala (10-16 December), the Chennai International Film Festival (16-24 December), and the Pune International Film Festival (7-14 January 2010). The director will also decide whether to choose an invitation to the World Panorama section at the Mumbai International Film Festival, or take part in the International Film Festival of India in Goa. Contractors from South Korea are interested in buying the film.

Other Polish films – General Nil by Ryszard Bugajski and Case Unknown (Enen) by Feliks Falk – will also be shown at the festivals in India at Goa, Chennai, and Kerala.

The film Infallible System (Niezawodny System) by Izabela Szylko, produced by the Documentary and Feature Films Studio (WFDiF) in Warsaw, was invited to the International Competition at the KIN International Film Festival in Armenia (December) and to the Moveast International Film Festival in Pécs, Hungary (October).

A Warm Heart (Serce na dłoni) by Krzysztof Zanussi will be screened at the International Film Actors’ Festival “Baltic Pearl” in Riga, and at the International Film Festival of India in Goa.

The film Mall Girls (Galerianki) by Katarzyna Rosłaniec will be the only Polish film shown in the World Panorama Section at the Bangkok International Film Festival (24-30 September). The director will take part in meetings with the audience and journalists.

The documentary film Wyjście by Małgorzata Bieńkowska will have its world premiere at Filmfest Hamburg (24 September-3 October). The film follows the plight of Germans fleeing from the German Democratic Republic and illegally crossing the Polish border in 1989. The film will also be shown at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (26 October-1 November). Organisers of other German festivals have expressed interest as well. The film will be shown soon on Polish Television (TVP).