AWARDS
DRAGON OF DRAGONS AWARD for the contribution into development of the world documentary film: PÉTER FORGÁCS (Hungary)
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Having watched all the competitive films the International Documentary Jury of the 60th Krakow Film Festival consisting of: Łukasz Żal – chairman (Poland), Renata Santoro (Italy), Tod Lending (USA), Eva Mulvad (Denmark), Martin Horyna (Czech Republic) has decided to award the following prizes:
THE GOLDEN HORN for the director of the best film – Radu Ciorniciuc for Acasa, My Home (Romania, Finland, Germany)
‘Acasa, My Home’, is awarded the The Golden Horn for its remarkable and complex storytelling that is presented from the children’s perspective of a Roma family. This extraordinarily intimate and authentic film artfully captures the multiple layers of the social, emotional and political realities the family wrestles with as they struggle to maintain their way of life, dignity, sense of self-determination and cultural identity. It is highly unusual when a single documentary film, such as this one, is able to successfully examine and explore so many important aspects of the human condition within one beautifully crafted story.
THE SILVER HORN for the director of the film with high artistic value – Maciej Cuske for The Whale from Lorino (Poland)
‘The Whale of Lorino’ is awarded The Silver Horn for its immersive experience where metaphorical imagery and sound let us plunge into the reality of a native Siberian village located in a distant, forgotten corner of Russia. The film at times makes us uncomfortable and disturbed, while at other times we feel deeply connected. The director uses a circular narrative structure that challenges the audience to interpret their experience of the community and confront their own prejudices. In the end, this extraordinary film beautifully captures the cultural relationship between man and the environment, and paradoxically shows us that the men who hunt endangered whales for subsistence, are also living lives that are on the edge of extinction.
THE SILVER HORN for the director of the film on social issues – Mehrdad Oskouei for Sunless Shadows (Iran, Norway)
‘Sunless Shadows’ is awarded the Silver Horn for being an outstanding cinematic piece of work on an important social issue. With precision, authenticity, sensitivity and creative elegance the director presents dramatic stories of domestic violence, hidden traumas, and the collective responsibility of a patriarchal society for the crimes committed by its young female individuals who are in prison for having committed murder. As great art often finds a way to combine the laughter and the tears, we find ourselves both crying and laughing in the company of these remarkable girls who courageously face death sentences while living in an Iranian prison.
SPECIAL MENTION for Hey! Teachers! directed by Yulia Vishnevets (Russia)
For the richness of a multi-faceted story set in a seemingly ordinary backdrop, and for the insightful, bitterly ironical take on how the Russian public education system can sometimes break down the idealism of certain teachers whose altruistic goal is to educate and improve the lives of their students.
The FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Jury consisting of: Jan Storø (Norway), Jihane Bougrine (Maroko), Nachum Mochiach (Israel) has decided to award the International Film Critics Prize to Margreth Olin, Katja Hogset, Espen Wallin for The Self Portrait (Norway)
‘The Self Portrait’ is the kind of movies that hits you from the beginning and stays with you. It’s a perfect example of real-life cinema boasting both authenticity and aesthetic vision. Heart-breaking and relevant, both brave and emotional, it is a powerful documentary about illness and art where photography can change our vision of life.
The Krakow Film Festival recommendation to the European Film Award in a documentary category:
The Self Portrait, dir. Margreth Olin, Katja Hogset, Espen Wallin (Norway)
Punta Sacra, dir. Francesca Mazzoleni (Italy)
INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Having watched all the competition films, the International Short Film Jury consisting of: Jan Komasa – chairman (Poland), Marko Škop (Slovakia), Dekel Berenson (Great Britain), Paola Orlić (Croatia), Csilla Kato (Romania) has decided to award the following prizes:
GOLDEN DRAGON for the director of the best film – Shoko Hara for Just a Guy (Germany)
Raw and straight-forward animation used in the documentary ‘Just a Guy’ strongly contributes to an overall awkwardness quality of an exceptional story being told from the perspective of three obviously misfit female characters. Absolutely aware of their unusual obsession, mostly based on sexual excitement and fascination with a notoriously famous mass murderer Richard Ramirez, on a death row, while recalling their meetings and correspondences, those three characters underline an interesting question of many different perspectives on the terms love and phantasm.
SILVER DRAGON for the director of the best documentary film – Alex Evstigneev for Golden Buttons (Russia)
For its harrowing depiction of how tyranny does not spare the souls of the most vulnerable amongst its citizens. Using minimalist style from fragments of footage, clandestinely obtained, the film depicts fragments of moments telling the story of how autocracy indoctrinates its youth, and its devastating effect on the emotions and psyche of its future generations.
SILVER DRAGON for the director of the best animated film – Konstantin Bronzit for He Can’t Live Without Cosmos (Russia)
Classical narrative animated short dealing with the familiar subject of growing-up and cutting the archetypal ties between mother and son – breaking with the past (mother) in order to be free and open to the future. Konstantin Bronzits’ film ‘He Can’t Live Without Cosmos’ stands out with its undeniable mastery of purely visual storytelling. The high degree of clear and precise visual language supported by the author’s distinct style gave us a beautiful visual meditation on an overall feeling of human universal loneliness, or so to say, the well-known feeling of being left on our own in the „cosmic adventure“ of growing-up.
SILVER DRAGON for the director of the best short fiction film – Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli for Chubby (Canada)
‘Chubby’ stands out not just because of the exceptional performance of the main female character playing the young girl Jude (Maya Harman), but for choosing and mastering the most appropriate cinematic language for evoking all the layers of the clumsy uncertainty of big dramas as they happen in everyday life. Be it about children and young adults pushing boundaries while exploring sexuality, or the complex uneasiness of an ordinary event such a Christmas family gathering.
SPECIAL MENTION – for Dad You’ve Never Had directed by Dominika Łapka (Poland)
For a daring act of filming a painful and long-awaited family confrontation which goal is to search for truth, dignity but most importantly proof of love. For allowing us to look into what is usually hidden and perceived as shameful but quickly becoming familiar in the most unsettling way.
SPECIAL MENTION – for Nina directed by Hristo Simeonov (Bulgaria)
An intimate portrait of a young girl trapped in a life of poverty and crime, and her encounter with a middle-class woman who is in the midst of dealing with her own bourgeois misfortune. Beautifully acted, sensitively written, understated and authentic, Nina tells the story of those in society who go unseen, while the rest of us go about our daily lives, with no judgement or over-dramatization, but simply as life unfold, for millions of people around the world, every single day.
Jury Award for the Best European Film (Krakow Candidate to the European Film Award 2020 in the short film category) – Golden Buttons directed by Alex Evstigneev (Russia)
The International Federation of Film Societies (FICC) Jury consisting of: Mira Bernardes-Rusin (Poland), Terry Cloke (Great Britain), Chris Hormann (New Zealand) has decided to grant the Don Quixote Award to the film Innocence directed by Ben Reid (Great Britain).
This was a unanimous decision by the jury for a film that stood out amongst an impressively strong selection of films. The film is on the surface a tense crime film but it uses this as a starting point to explore an often ignored section of society and in cinema, those who are born with Down syndrome. The jury commented on the lead actor Tommy Jessop, who has Down syndrome, with his presence and central performance rising above the traditional cliché to be the proactive force that propels the film forward, not as a victim but as a fully formed and rounded character. We wish to commend the filmmakers for their resolve in bringing a marginalised group of people to the fore, displaying a decidedly humanistic outlook which is very much in keeping with the spirit of this award.
and the Special Mention to the film: I Need the Handshakes directed by Andriej Kuciła (Poland).
This film also stood out for the jury in showing the central relationship of a mother (Valiantsina) and daughter (Taссiana) living in extraordinary and trying circumstances. Taссiana has been paralysed since birth but has been cared for all her life by Valiantsina, now in her 90’s. It’s a startling expression of unconditional love and devotion by a mother for her child despite a life of sacrifice. The beautiful cinematography of the filmmaker brings the story to life, as does Taссiana’s moving poetry which she has created despite her physical disability.
INTERNATIONAL DocFilmMusic COMPETITION
Having watched all the competition films, the International DocFilmMusic Jury, consisting of: Stephen Nomura Schible – chairman (USA), Rachel Leah Jones (USA / Israel), Leszek Możdżer (Poland) has decided to award the following prize:
GOLDEN HEYNAL for the director of the best film – Pushpendra Singh for Pearl of the Desert (India, South Korea)
For its lyrical, cinematic celebration of musical heritage and the human voice. With conscientious camerawork and deliberate directing the film, which combines raw observational footage with highly dramatized scenes, reads like a coming-of-age fairy tale about a young man blessed with desire, determination, and vocal depth and dexterity.
SPECIAL MENTION – Rubika Shah for White Riot (Great Britain)
For capturing a fan-based movement’s success in harnessing the potential of music (and musicians) to impress social awareness upon listeners, and for its precise, crafty interplay between form and content. By highlighting a certain moment in history, the film calls attention to present-day political and cultural crises wherein we could all learn a thing or two about audience-performer dialectics and racial/ethnic justice — in art and in life.
NATIONAL COMPETITION
Having watched all the competition films, the National Competition Jury consisting of: Magdalena Łazarkiewicz – chairwoman, Joanna Szymańska, Elwira Niewiera, Izabela Plucińska, Paweł Dyllus has decided to award the following prizes:
GOLDEN HOBBY-HORSE for the director of the best film funded by the President of the Polish Filmmakers Association – Tomasz Wolski for An Ordinary Country (Poland)
For the technical excellence of the film that – avoiding the trap of opinion journalism – shows how imperceptibly evil can creep into our everyday life and how observation can become the invigilation of citizens living in an authoritarian state.
SILVER HOBBY-HORSE for the director of the best documentary film – Paweł Chorzępa for Sonny (Poland)
For a poignant story about the relationship between the father and the son captured with extraordinary visual sensitivity.
SILVER HOBBY-HORSE for the director of the best animated film – Daria Kopiec for Your Own Bullshit (Poland)
For the courageous, full of meaning and expression, combination of various techniques as well as the world of theatre and animation.
SILVER HOBBY-HORSE for the director of the best fiction film – Damian Kocur for Beyond Is the Day (Poland)
For the mastery of the short form, which – at the human microscale – presents global problems blurring the boundary between fiction and documentary.
The Award of the Polish Filmmakers Association for the best film editing – Katarzyna Orzechowska for The Whale from Lorino
Maciej Szumowski Award for remarkable social awareness – Aleksandra Potoczek for xABo: Father Boniecki (Poland)
The Award for the best short and documentary film producer in Poland funded by the Polish Producers Alliance – KIPA – Mikołaj Pokromski i Aldona Pokromska from Pokromski Studio for The Whale from Lorino (Poland)
Best Cinematography Award under the patronage of the Polish Society of Cinematographers funded by Coloroffon Film and Naima Film – Kamil Małecki for Last Days of Summer (Poland)
SPECIAL MENTION for documentary film – Pollywood directed by Paweł Ferdek
For a multi-colour journey into the world of film dreams and the hope that everything is possible.
SPECIAL MENTION for animated film – I’m Here directed by Julia Orlik
For the creative idea of capturing the final minutes of life, for tenderness and subtlety.
SPECIAL MENTION for feature film – Noamia directed by Antonio Galdamez
For a successful attempt at genre cinema
SPECIAL MENTION for acting – Julia Kuzka for Last Days of Summer and Alice and the Frog
THE AWARD OF THE STUDENT JURY
Having watched all the competitive films, the Student Jury consisting of Karolina Hołub, Paweł Kędziora, Jędrzej Kościński, Dominika Laszczyk-Hołyńska, Mateusz Leśniak, Małgorzata Mączko, Marta Pęcak, Monika Pietras, Krzysztof Strumiński, Bartek Tesarz, Wojciech Tutaj, Dorota Żak decided to award film Sunless Shadows directed by Mehrdad Oskouei (Iran, Norway)
For bringing us closer to the world, in which religious fundamentalism and male culture lead to the crime and regulate its punishment; the world that is a worse prison for multidimensional women than a correctional institution, student jury decided to award the film “Shadows without the Sun” directed by Mehrdad Oskouei.
AUDIENCE AWARD
The Self Portrait, dir. Margreth Olin, Katja Hogset, Espen Wallin (Norway)
KFF INDUSTRY AND DOC LAB POLAND AWARDS
ANIMATED IN POLAND
Animated in Poland Best Pitch Award – a coupon for 10 days of sound post production in Sound Mind studio run by Michał Fojcik – „Gonâve”, dir. Róża Duda and Michał Soja, prod. Krakow Film Klaster
Animated In Poland Special Mention – founded by CeTA, which is 30 000 PLN non-cash contribution to the winner director/producer’s project – „Slow Light”, dir. Kijek/Adamski, prod. Animoon
DOC LAB POLAND AWARDS 2020 FOR THE PROJECTS
PRESENTED AT DOCS TO START
HBO Award – 10 000 PLN in cash – „Debut”, dir. Aleksandra Maciejczyk, prod. Marta Gmosińska, Lava Films
ColorOffOn Award – image post-production services worth of 25 000 PLN – „Don’t Mess with Gienek”, dir. Grzegorz Szczepaniak, prod. Joanna Popowicz WF Anagram
DOK Leipzig Special Mention – invitation to Co-pro Meetings in Leipzig – „Gypsy Gadji”, dir. Dasa Raimanova, prod. Rafał Sakowski, Story Vehicle
FIPADOC Special Mention – invitation to pitch the project at FIPADOC Industry Days – „Easy Rider Behind the Iron Curtain”, reż. Andrzej Miękus, prod. Olga Bieniek, FilmIcon
Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation Special Mention – invitation to key European documentary industry event – „Nina Gets Married”, dir. Andrzej Szypulski, prod. Anna Reichel, Fine Day Promotion
Polish Docs Pro Special Mention – support of international promotion and invitation to one of the key world documentary industry event – „When Harmattan Blows”, dir. Edyta Wróblewska, prod. Marta Dużbabel, With Passion Production
DOC LAB POLAND AWARDS 2020 FOR THE PROJECTS
PRESENTED AT DOCS TO GO!
ColorOffOn Award – image post production services worth of 25 000 PLN – „Until the Wedding”, dir. Daniel Stopa, prod. Małgorzata Staroń, Joanna Tatko, Staron-Film
Institute of Documentary Film Special Mention – invitation to East Doc Platform – „Workcenter”, dir. Aniela Gabryel, prod. Agnieszka Dziedzic (Koi Studio)
Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation Special Mentions – invitations to key European documentary industry events –
„I am one of them”, dir. Nadim Suleiman, prod. Jacek Bławut, Luiza Pietrzak, Palmyra Films
„Lesson of Freedom”, dir. Tadeusz Chudy, Bartosz Łuniewski, prod. Rafał Sakowski, Story Vehicle