National competition at 54th KFF

 Press release
NATIONAL COMPETITION AT THE 54th KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL
The Polish competition is the last of four coordinate competitions of the 54th Krakow
Film Festival. 42 titles have been qualified to take part in this year’s struggles.
– Krakow Film Festival is a mirror of our cinema in the area in which we achieve the greatest
success in the world – says Krzysztof Gierat, the director of the Festival. – Each year the
Polish competition arouses the stongest emotions. It comes as no surprise, it is here where
international careers start for those who win or are noticed by foreign visitors among other
filmmakers.
This year, the trend continues which began to crystallise during the previous editions of the
festival, namely, Polish filmmakers prefer to shoot abroad. The effect can be spectacular, as
in “6 Degrees” which documents the theory of six degrees of separation, in a moving image
“Samuel” by a feature filmmaker Jan Kidawa-Błoński who had to find his hero and the hero of
the Polish land in Israel, or, finally, in “The Domino Effect” – a story of love in the forgotten
Abkhazia, very up-to-date in the context of current events in Ukraine. Documentary film is a
great tool to draw attention to the marginalised, the excluded by their own volition or history
judgments, and Polish artists reach for this tool skillfully and sensitively. As a result, the
programme of the 54th KFF includes films about the simplest joy of being (“It's Only a
Dream”), a struggle for life (“W. Sisters' Beauty Salon”), about the needto leavea trace (“One
Man Show”) or a responsibility about the other (“Werka”). Documentary film is also a prism
allowing to observe the reality. It was the greatest power of films by Krzysztof Kieślowski,
Wojciech Wiszniewski or Kazimierz Karabasz. Young artists are going in their footsteps,
ironically eyeing the Polish need for the chronic professing of historical victories (“From
Grunwald Village”), maliciously portraying the fight of sexes (”Survey about Men”) and
nostalgically saying goodbye to the outgoing traveling circus (“Knife in the Wife”). It should
be noted that almost all the competition documentary films received support of the Polish
Film Institute. An exceptionally strong representation has also been prepared this year by
Channel 2 of the Polish Television.
– The fiction part of the competition should satisfy those who complained that Polish short
films are just shool exercises or acting etudes, while in the world shorts are made by mature
artists, with participation of outstanding actors. Meanwhile, we have such films in Poland –
says Barbara Orlicz-Szczypuła, the director of the Programme Office. – Excellent proposals
have been submitted by schools from Katowice (“You Keep An Eye On Us”), Łódź
(“Fragments”), the Wajda School (“Milky Brother”), the Munk Studio (“Father’s day”), and
even from Białystok (“Frank”).
In the part of the competition dedicated to animations there are also new films of the masters
and their students – Piotr Dumała will show “Hippos” and Jerzy Kucia – “Fugue for Cello,
Trumpet and Landscape”. Of the 11 animations taking part in the Polish contest 4 were
selected for the parallel participation in the international short competition.
The results of the selection for the Polish competition close the list of films competing in the
54th Krakow Film Festival. Viewers will see 10 music documentaries, 20 feature-length
Krakowski Festiwal Filmowy, ul. Basztowa 15/8a, 31-143 Kraków
[email protected] , www.krakowfilmfestival.pl documentaries, 39 films in the shorts competition and 42 in the Polish one – a total of 111
films but only 99 titles, because 12 Polish have been also qualified for international
competitions.
The list of films qualified for the national competition:
Documentary:
1.
6 Degrees (6 Kroków), dir. Bartosz Dombrowski, 2013, 85’
2.
Rebellion (Był bunt), dir. Małgorzata Kozera, 2014, 55’
3. What's next Karolinka - Norwid and Nicole (Co dalej z tobą Karolinko), dir. Karolina
Bendera, 2014, 58’
4.
Deep Love, dir. Jan P. Matuszyński, 2013, 84’
5.
House on the Head (Dom na głowie), dir. Adam Palenta, 2014, 28’
6.
The Domino Effect (Efekt domina), dir. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski, 2014, 76’
7.
It's Only a Dream (To tylko marzenia), dir. Jakub Michnikowski, 2014, 21’
8.
The New Warsaw (Nowa Warszawa), dir. Bartosz Konopka, 2014, 69’
9.
Brave New World (Nowy wspaniały świat), dir. Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, 2013, 52’
10. Knife in the Wife (Nóż w wozie), dir. Vita Drygas, 2014, 11’
11. One Man Show, dir. Jakub Piątek, 2014, 58’
12. Let them love, let them dream (Pozwól kochać, pozwól marzyć), dir. Monika Nawrot,
Dominik Górski, 2013, 55’
13. Together (Razem), dir. Maciej Adamek, 2014, 50’
14. W. Sisters' Beauty Salon (Salon sióstr W.), dir. Jakub Stożek, 2013, 30’
15. Samuel, dir. Jan Kidawa-Błoński, 2013, 75’
16. A Dream of Warsaw (Sen o Warszawie), dir. Krzysztof Magowski, 2014, 104’
17. The Strongwoman (Siłaczka), dir. Kacper Czubak, Iwona Kaliszewska, 2014, 16’
18. Survey about Men (Sonda o mężczyznach), dir. Mateusz Głowacki, 2014, 30’
19. Werka, dir. Paweł Łoziński, 2014, 46’
20. For Being Alive (Za to, że żyjemy, czyli punk z Wrocka), dir. Tomasz Nuzban, 2014, 70’
21. From Grunwald Village (Ze wsi Grunwald), dir. Artur Wierzbicki, 2014, 20’
Fiction:
1.
The Boys (Chłopcy), dir. Paweł Orwat, 2013, 22’
2.
Fragments (Fragmenty), reż. Agnieszka Woszczyńska, 2014, 25’
3.
Frank (Franek), dir. Bartek Tryzna, 2013, 6’
Krakowski Festiwal Filmowy, ul. Basztowa 15/8a, 31-143 Kraków
[email protected] , www.krakowfilmfestival.pl 4.
Games (Gry), dir. Maciej Marczewski, 2013, 30’
5.
Milky Brother (Mleczny brat), dir. Vahram Mkhitaryan, 2014, 30’
6.
The Naturals (Naturalni), dir. Kristoffer Rus, 2014, 30’
7.
Father’s day (Ojcze masz), dir. Kacper Lisowski, 2013, 33’
8.
Light in August (Światło w sierpniu), dir. Matej Bobrik, 2014, 23’
9.
TRASHHH, dir. Filip Syczyński, 2014, 22’
10. You Keep An Eye On Us (Źle nam z oczu patrzy), dir. Arek Biedrzycki, 2014, 25’
Animation:
1.
Ex Animo, dir. Wojciech Wojtkowski, 2013, 6’
2. Fugue for Cello, Trumpet and Landscape (Fuga na wiolonczelę trąbkę i pejzaż), dir.
Jerzy Kucia, 2014, 18’
3.
Hippos (Hipopotamy), dir. Piotr Dumała, 2014, 12’
4.
Construction (Konstrukcja), dir. Andrea Guizar, 2013, 6’
5.
Summer 2014 (Lato 2014), dir. Wojciech Sobczyk, 2014, 12’
6.
Baths (Łaźnia), dir. Tomek Ducki, 2013, 4’
7.
The Bear (Niedźwiedź), dir. Zofia Antoniak, 2013, 4’
8. The incredible elastic man (Nieprawdopodobnie elastyczny człowiek), dir. Karolina
Specht, 2013, 5’
9. under_construction, dir. Marcin Wojciechowski, 2014, 8'
10. Lost senses (Zmysły prysły), dir. Marcin Wasilewski, 2013, 6’
More about films in competition soon at: www.krakowfilmfestival.pl Media contact:
Anna E. Dziedzic
PR manager
[email protected] Tel. + 48 696 448 795
Krakowski Festiwal Filmowy, ul. Basztowa 15/8a, 31-143 Kraków
[email protected] , www.krakowfilmfestival.pl