Triumph of Polish Cinema. An Oscar for "Ida"!!!
Ida, a film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, received the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The 87th Academy Awards ceremony was held on February 22 in Los Angeles.
“The Oscar for Ida is the crowning glory of the spectacular international success – at festivals and at the box-office – that this wonderful film by Paweł Pawlikowski has enjoyed. The Academy recognised the strength and the originality of Polish cinema. I am very happy tonight and I would like to extend my most heartfelt congratulations to the filmmakers,” said Agnieszka Odorowicz, General Director of the Polish Film Institute. “The fact that a Polish film received this Academy Award also serves as a beautiful and symbolic crowning of ten years of Polish Film Institute activity in supporting Polish cinema.”
Ida Wins Best Foreign Language Academy Award
Paweł Pawlikowski’s Ida received the Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Other films nominated for this award included Leviathan by Andrey Zvyagintsev (Russia), Tangerines by Zaza Urushadze (Estonia), Timbuktu by Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania), and Wild Tales by Damián Szifrón (Argentina).
Another International Award for Ida
The Academy Award marks yet another international award for Paweł Pawlikowski’s latest feature. In 2014, Ida received five European Film Awards (including Best Film), the BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language, the Goya Award for Best European Film, the LUX Prize of the European Parliament, several awards by American film critics’ circles, the ASC Spotlight Award, and the FIPRESCI Jury Prize in the Special Presentations section of the 38th Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. Ida has also received the grand prizes at film festivals in London, Wiesbaden, Gijon, and Minsk, and was nominated for a number of other awards, including the Golden Globes and the BIFA awards.
A Polish-Danish Co-Production Supported by the Polish Film Institute
Ida was made as a Polish-Danish co-production between Opus Film and Phoenix Film, in cooperation with Portobello Pictures, Phoenix Film Polska and Canal+ Polska. The film was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, Eurimages, the Danish Film Institute, the Łódź Film Fund, and the 2007-2013 MEDIA Programme.
Poland’s First Foreign Language Academy Award
Paweł Pawlikowski’s Ida is the first Polish production to receive an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language category. Over the years, a total of nine Polish films were among nominees in this category – Agnieszka Holland’s W ciemności (In Darkness) in 2011 and Andrzej Wajda’s Katyń in 2007 (both co-financed by the Polish Film Institute), as well as Człowiek z żelaza (Man of Iron) in 1981, Panny z Wilka (The Maids of Wilko) in 1979, both films by Andrzej Wajda, Noce i dnie (Nights and Days) by Jerzy Antczak in 1976, Ziemia obiecana (The Promised Land) by Andrzej Wajda in 1975, Potop (The Deluge) by Jerzy Hoffman in 1974, Faraon (Pharaoh) by Jerzy Kawalerowicz in 1966, and Nóż w wodzie (Knife in the Water) by Roman Polański in 1963.
The official Academy Awards website is available at www.oscars.org.