The Krakow Film Festival has launched an international project where it joins forces with Italy’s Festival dei Popoli, France’s FIPADOC, and Ukraine’s Docudays UA to jointly promote European documentary cinema among young audiences, and support the international distribution of the most interesting film productions made for adolescents.
Our common mission is to get young people more interested in documentary films – convinces Barbara Orlicz-Szczypuła, Head of Programme Department at the Krakow Film Festival – We believe that documentary films are the best and most accessible source of knowledge about the world, and their attractive form makes them a great tool for supporting education.
Representatives of the festivals participating in the Docs4Teens – Building Bridges project have jointly come up with a selection of excellent titles aimed at an audience aged between 12 and 16, which will be screened during the upcoming editions of these film events.
The Krakow Film Festival will be held in Krakow cinemas from 29 May to 5 June and online from 3 to 12 June 2022, and the films selected by the festival network will be available for free as part of the Kids&Youth Fest section.
ABOUT THE FESTIVALS PARTICIPATING IN THE DOCS4TEENS NETWORK
Krakow Film Festival – one of the oldest events in the world dedicated to documentaries, animated films, and short fiction films. During the 8 festival days, viewers get the opportunity to watch approximately 200 films from Poland and the rest of the world – both in Kraków’s cinemas and on the Internet. The festival is included on the prestigious list of film events qualifying for the Academy Awards in the short film competition (fiction film, animated film, documentary film) and feature-length documentary film, as well as recommending films for the European Film Awards in the same categories, and qualifying short fiction films for BAFTA awards.
Festival dei Popoli – held in Florence, Festival dei Popoli has a long history. The first edition took place in 1959. During over 50 years of its existence, the festival has managed to establish a recognizable brand in the documentary industry. In addition to the competitive section, reviews of outstanding filmmakers are a big part of the festival’s program. It is equally important to reach young audiences, and for years the festival has featured a section aimed at young viewers – Popoli for Kids and Teens, where a separate prize is awarded by young jurors during the Young Jury Day.
FIPADOC – is an international documentary film festival that has been held since 1987 in Biarritz, France. During the six-day event, the audience gets see the most interesting documentaries of recent months and attend numerous meetings with filmmakers. The festival program also includes a section for young viewers. The non-competitive segment Family Films presents the most interesting documentaries for children and school students.
Docudays UA – established in 2004 in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is a documentary film festival devoted to human rights issues. In addition to domestic productions there are also competitions featuring documentaries from all over the world. The event’s extremely rich program also includes films for children and adolescents. Films for younger audiences can be found in the non-competitive DOCU/YOUTH section.