Krakow Film Festival is a place of exchange: films are “imported” and “exported”.
From the beginning of its existance, Krakow Film Festival has been trying to show the most interesting of world´s documentaries. In cooperation with well-known film festivals abroad, Krakow can show films which have already managed to win audience`s hearts in Amsterdam, Leipzig or Jihlava. This year 6 projects are presented in the section: „Winners of the world`s film festivals”. „Last Train Home” directed by Lixin Fan, the winner of the IDFA, is a story about hard-working Chinese parents trying to earn money for their children`s education. Mostly, the solution is working far away from home and almost whole year separation. „Disco and Atomic War”, the winner of the Warsaw Film Festival, directed by Jaak Kilmi and Kiur Aarma, touches the issue of Finnish-Estonian television war in the Soviet Union times. Supported by opposing powers, both countries hit each other with propaganda-like contents. „Six Weeks”, a documentary by Marcin Janos Krawczyk, appreciated in Amsterdam, is a story about mothers giving their children away for adoption. Women have 6 weeks to change their decision. „The House” by a Columbian filmmaker Tayo Cortes, the winner of the Leipzig festival, is based on dramatic narration and tells a story of a Sisyphean family of small sellers, living only to survive the next day. In his short and chamber film „Ivan and Loriana”, Stefano Cattini observes a couple of deaf children who communicate with each other without a smallest difficulty. The project was mentioned by jury of the Pontenure Film Festival. In Tampere jury appreciated a Thai project entitled „Four Boys, White Whiskey and Grilled Mouse”.
We are is not only „importing” movies. During this year`s edition a large number of international representatives of film industry will come to Krakow in order to discover new talents and find films which they could show later on in their countries. „Panorama of the Polish Film” is a section created especially for international guests. This year 35 projects will be shown, including the most recent and most interesting documentaries and shorts that have been made in Poland lately, also those made as part of programmes for young filmmakers. This section is most interesting for international film festivals` programme selectors and television makers, and is a very strong „exporting” platform for Polish cinema.
In this year`s „Panorama of the Polish Film” there are many documentaries devoted to artists, musicians and filmmakers, i.e. a life story of Jerzy Kawalerowicz entitled „Żyłem 17 razy” directed by Tadeusz Bystram and Stanisław Zawiśliński or „Komeda – muzyczne ścieżki życia” by Claudia Buthenhoff-Duffy, presenting life of a music composer Krzysztof Komeda. „Doktor Jimmy” by Janusz Barycki and Tomasz Szwan is a biography of a journalist Tomasz Beksiński. Tomasz Stroynowski, a famous musician who invited celebrities and organized school radio programmes for children living in the countryside has become the main character of a documentary „Tournée” by Andrzej Mańkowski. Tadeusz Król made a portrait of Antoni Antoine Cierplikowski, an ingenious hairdresser living at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, entitled „Ręka fryzjera”. „Dokumentaliści” by Jędrzej Lipski and Piotr Melecha is devoted to Polish documentary filmmakers. It is acted by Ewa Borzęcka, Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, Maciej Drygas, Andrzej Fidyk, Kazimierz Karabasz, Grzegorz Królikiewicz, Marcel and Paweł Łoziński. This film was made especially for the Krakow Film Festival jubilee edition. Polish film panorama will also present projects about characters whose activities were a matter of controversy, like “Dzieci wolności” by Miłosz Kozioła, presenting Paweł Zyzak, the author of a controversial biography of Lech Wałęsa.
Among features presented in this section, a couple of projects are worth mentioning. Jan Wagner, student of the Lodz Film School, is the director of “Syn”, which is said to resemble Roman Polanski`s „Knife in the Water”. „Dekalog 89+”, vol. 5 describes a story of a TV presenter who caused a fatal car accident and fights with the image created by mass media. The project is entitled „Sprawa Janusza W.”. Zbigniew Hołdys, Krzysztof Skiba, Jerzy Urban and Krzysztof Zanussi are narrating the story of a misterious man who contributed to tearing down the Iron Curtain in the movie „Człowiek z Winylu” by Bartosz Warwas. Edyta Wróblewska is a director of “Ala z Elementarza”, a portrait of the famous Ala from the primer by Marian Falski. The project is a biography of totally unknown Alina Margolis-Edelman, a pediatrician and spouse of Marek Edelman.
FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS
SIX WEEKS, dir. Marcin Janos Krawczyk, Poland 2009, 18’
LAST TRAIN HOME, dir. Lixin Fan, Canada / China, 2009, 85’
FOUR BOYS, WHITE WHISKEY AND GRILLED MOUSE, dir. Wichanon Somumjarn, Thailand 2009, 10’
DISCO AND ATOMIC WAR, dir. Jaak Kilmi, Kiur Aarma, Estonia / Finland 2009, 80’
IVAN AND LORIANA, dir. Stefano Cattini, Italy 2008, 10’
THE HOUSE, dir. Tayo Cortes, Columbia / Spain 2009, 70’