Polish Triumph in Cottbus

Maria Sadowska. Photo by filmfestivalcottbus.de

Polish films co-financed by the Polish Film Institute received a total of five awards at the 22nd Cottbus International Film Festival. The winner of the festival’s Grand Prize is Dzień kobiet (Women’s Day) by Maria Sadowska.

Dzień kobiet (Women’s Day) and Leszek Dawid: Top Winners in Main Competition

The Grand Prize of the 22nd edition of the Cottbus film festival, along with a cash prize of 20,000 EUR went to Dzień kobiet (Women’s Day), directed by Maria Sadowska. The winner of the Best Director award was Leszek Dawid for his feature Jesteś Bogiem (You’re a God). This year’s Main Competition lineup featured ten films by first- and second-time directors.

Best Feature Short: Święto zmarłych (All Souls’ Day)

The winner of the Best Short Feature Film competition was Święto zmarłych (All Souls’ Day) by Aleksandra Terpińska. The film tells the story of Lena, a young girl who celebrates her eighteenth birthday on November 1st and decides to reconnect with her family. The film was produced at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Radio and Television Department of the University of Silesia in Katowice.

Awards for Moja Australia (My Australia) and Katarzyna Figura

The winner of the Dialogue Prize for mutual cultural understanding was Ami Drozd, director of the Polish-Israeli co-production Moja Australia (My Australia), which screened in the ‘Focus – Eastern Europe by Religions’ section of the Cottbus festival. The jury in this section, consisting of high school students from Cottbus and Zielona Góra, decided to award a special prize to Polish actress Katarzyna Figura for her performance as Halinka in the film Yuma by Piotr Mularuk.

All Polish films awarded at the 22nd Cottbus International Film Festival were co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

Further details about the festival winners available at www.filmfestivalcottbus.de.

Paulina Bez

Translated by Karolina Kołtun