World Premieres in Warsaw

The 27th Warsaw International Film Festival press conference.  Photo by Marcin Kułakowski, Polish Film Institute

The press conference of the 27th Warsaw Film Festival was held at Warsaw’s Marriott hotel. The festival hosts announced this year’s lineup and other events that surround the festival.

“Work on this year’s programme wrapped merely a few days ago,” said festival director Stefan Laudyn. “We will present ten sections, five of which are competition sections. A total of twenty films made it into the festival’s main section – the International Competition. Over half of these mark the films’ Polish or international premieres”.

Polish Films in Competition

Two Polish films will screen in International Competition: Wymyk (Courage) by Greg Zglinski and Róża (Rosa) by Wojciech Smarzowski. The domestic film industry will also be represented by two co-productions: Droga na drugą stronę (Crulic) by Anca Damian and Znieważona ziemia (The Land of Oblivion) by Michale Boganim, starring Andrzej Chyra. In addition, the lead part in Lena by Christophe van Rompaey is played by Agata Buzek.

“I was lucky enough to have all of my films screen at this Festival,” said Wojciech Smarzowski, a guest of the festival and of today’s press conference.

An Elite Festival

“The aspect of marking a film’s premiere screening is important, however we focus our attention mostly on film selection,” Laudyn emphasized. “Usually about 90% of submitted film are rejected. What we’ll screen this year will really be a unique selection of films. Each film is well worth your time. There will be 127 feature films and 97 short films from 59 countries around the world. The festival’s Polish guests include Agata Kulesza, Marcin Dorociński and Paweł Borowski. Jury members include Andrzej Bart and Grzegorz Jaroszuk.”

CentEast, work in progress…

“The CentEast film market is a key side event at this year’s Festival. The international film industry considers this the place to be,” said Stefan Laudyn. “The core of the film market is a screening of selected works-in-progress, the so-called Warsaw Screenings. These screenings have helped more and more films find international sales agents. We also have other events for film professionals: the well-established FIPRESCI workshops, as well as editing workshops”.

Polish Shorts

A new section this year is Shorts Warszawa – an out-of-competition panorama of 17 short films from the past year, complemented by discussion panels with industry representatives.The Warsaw Film Festival’s Short Film Competition also features the Polish film Urodziny by Maciej Sobieszczański and two co-productions: Mały listonosz by Dorota Kobiela and Magiczny fortepian by Martin Clapp. Apart from this last film, the children’s shorts section will also feature Poznańskie Koziołki by Jacek Adamczak and Janusz Gałązkowski, as well as Dar skarbnika by Robert Turła.

The 27th Warsaw International Film Festival runs from October 7 through October 16. The event is co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

Aleksandra Różdżyńska | Translated by Karolina Kołtun