On May 28, Sunday, starts the 57th edition of Krakow Film Festival, one of the oldest and the most recognisable events dedicated to documentary, animated and short films. During 8 days of the festival, the viewers will have a chance to watch, in 4 competitions and 12 non-competing sections, over 200 films from Poland and around the world, the majority of which will be shown in Poland for the first time.
The grand opening gala of the Festival, which is held in the cinema Kijów.Centrum at 6 .pm., will be honoured with the international première of the documentary film “THE BEKSIŃSKIS. A Sound and Picture Album” by Marcin Borchardt. It is a feature-length documentary film, made out of sound, film and photography archive materials. Most of them come from the private archive of Zdzisław Beksiński and have not been shown publicly before. Almost fifty years long, the painter meticulously documented his life and the life of his closest family. From these materials emerges an extremely complex image of the relationships between the artist and his wife Zofia and his son– the charismatic radio journalist and translator– Tomasz. The film will be evaluated by the Juries of two festival competitions: Polish and international documentary film competition.
The Festival will be inaugurated by a grand ceremony, but film screenings and meetings with film-makers start at noon. On the 28th of May, at 4 p.m. in the Festival Centre in Małopolski Ogród Sztuki, there will also be a vernissage of the exhibition of the portraits of people of the cinema, “Face to Face,” with the participation of the authors of the visual identity of the Festival: Kuba Sowiński and Jakub de Barbaro.
This year, the special guest at the Festival is German cinematography – within the section “Focus on Germany,” the latest documentary and short films will be shown, as well as a programme for children and teenagers and a selection of student films. The section will be inaugurated on Monday, the 29th of May at 8 p.m., with the screening of the film “Brother Jakob” in the cinema Kijów.Centrum with the participation of the author. Elí Roland Sachs documented a fascinating process of his brother’s spiritual transformation, engaging in a peculiar cinematic dialogue in search of explanations and attempts to rebuild the relationship. The film is also an attempt to answer the fundamental questions about the essence of faith and its place in human life, as well as a story about acceptance, freedom and stereotypes.
Krakow Film Foundation Programme Council decided to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Polish animated film, which falls this year, and honour two eminent veterans of this genre, Witold Giersz and Daniel Szczechura, with the Dragon of Dragons award. The Dragon of Dragons award, given for exceptional contribution to the development of international cinema, will be ceremoniously handed to the winners on the 30th of May, Tuesday, at 8 p.m. in the cinema Kijów.Centrum. The award ceremony will be accompanied by a presentation of exceptional films by both artists. The programme of the Festival will also include a comprehensive retrospective of these artists’ work.
Numerous film screenings will be accompanied by shows and special events, such as presenting of the memorial plaque and the screening of films dedicated to the memory of Yoram Gross; music concerts by Mary Komasa and Marek Dyjak and industry event KFF Industry. In response to the expectations of the audience, there will be a continuation of the series Critical mornings, that is, close meetings between critics and the authors of the films presented within the frames of the Festival.
In the fourth edition of the series Docs+Science, there appears a review of the most interesting science documentary films and meetings with experts. In the open air cinema Kino pod Wawelem, within the frames of the series “Sounds of Music,” 5 documentary and feature films will be shown, with the joint title “Bards” – the stories of legendary artists who became famous mostly thanks to the lyrics of their songs, but also captivating melodies.
Traditionally, there will also be screenings of films awarded at the partner festivals (“Festival Award Winners”), Polish documentary, animated and short films, directed both by young film-makers and acclaimed directors (“Panorama of the Polish Film”), and the review of short films nominated for the European Film Award in 2016 (“Short Matters! – short films of the year”), screenings for children and teenagers (Kids & Youth – cinema for the young), presentation of the most famous documentary films made last year from various corners of the world (“World Stories”) and films made in European countries (“Somewhere in Europe”).
In four competitions, 89 films will vie for the recognition of the jury and the audience. The best productions from all corners of the globe will participate in the International documentary film festival, International short film festival, in the music documentary film competition DocFilmMusic and in the National competition.
This year, over 800 international guests: directors, producers, representatives of festivals will visit Krakow Film Festival.
57th Krakow Film Festival is held from the 28th of May to the 4th of June, 2017.