"Our Curse" Awarded in Sheffield

June 12 marked the closing of the Sheffield Doc/Fest international documentary film festival. Nasza klątwa (Our Curse), a film directed by Tomasz Śliwiński, received the festival’s Best Student Film award.

This year’s edition of Sheffield Doc/Fest launched on June 7. Tomasz Śliwiński’s Nasza klątwa (Our Curse) screened in the festival’s Short Docs section for short documentary films. Jury members David Brindley (UK-based Channel 4), Anne MacDonald (London Film Academy), Dr Clifford Shaw (Cineaste) and directors Cherie Frederico (United Kingdom) and Paweł Kloc (Poland) awarded Śliwiński’s film the prize for best student film. A total of seven films competed for this particular prize.

Jury members agreed that the high quality of the screened films made it difficult to distinguish that they were student films. Dr Clifford Shaw said that he “found [Śliwiński’s film] quite a remarkable film with a very special quality,” and that the film’s message was that “life, despite its problems, still has something to offer.”

Nasza klątwa (Our Curse) is a personal statement of the director about the battle he and his wife must endure in facing the rare and incurable disease of their newborn child – CCHS or congenital central hypoventilation syndrome, also known as Ondine’s Curse. The film portrays the process of coming to terms with the fear that accompanies this disease, and slowly adapting to the new circumstances.

Organized annually since 1994, Sheffield Doc/Fest is the United Kingdom’s largest documentary film festival. In addition to Nasza klątwa (Our Curse), this year’s edition featured Aneta Kopacz’s film Joanna, and the Sheffield Marketplace film market and co-production forum was attended by the Polish Docs Delegation, organized by the Krakow Film Foundation and supported by the Polish Film Institute, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and the Polish Cultural Institute in London.

Source: www.polishdocs.pl.

Translated by Karolina Kołtun