62nd KFF – 2022

199 films

Database of films presented at the 62nd Krakow Film Festival May 29 – June 2, 2022.

  • 10:45

    dir. Giorgi Gogichaishvili
    fab2021

    On an ordinary, lazy and warm, day, in an ordinary flat in an ordinary city, there are two ordinary women on two sides of the telephone. They can dream about everything, confide in each other, complain a little, joke and dance, curl up in an armchair and listen to music. It is just an ordinary film, or maybe it is not?

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    film still 10:45
  • 1341 Frames of Love & War (1341 fotosów o miłości i wojnie)

    dir. Ran Tal
    dok2022

    ‘Sometimes the most horrible things can be aesthetic’ – says Micha Bar-Am, a legendary photographer. His work was mostly a chronicle of 60 years of Israel’s history, in particular local ethnic tensions and armed conflicts. The artist tells us his story remaining outside the frame, while the film adopts the form of a collage of his iconic photos.

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    film still 1341 Frames of  Love & War
  • 19.91

    dir. Emilia Śniegoska
    dok2019
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    film still 19.91
  • 30 Years of Excuses (30 lat wymówek)

    dir. Armand Urbaniak
    dok2022

    Michał ‘Gier’ Giercuszkiewicz is a master of percussion, primarily known for his membership in the legendary band Dżem. Soon after the front man’s death, he isolated himself in the mountains of Bieszczady to live on a raft. Despite the passage of time, his drums and plates did not become covered with dust and the artist is planning to record an album.

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    film still 30 Years of Excuses
  • 7 Words About Passing Away (7 słów o przemijaniu)

    dir. Łukasz Iwanicz
    dok2022

    Who is closer to the truth about the end of life: cold faces from tombstones or eyes and hands of the living sharing their reflections and fears with us? Will the eponymous seven words bring us closer to the truth?

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    film still 7 Words About Passing Away
  • Adamiani

    dir. Hirotoshi Takeoka
    dok2021

    The Kists are Georgian Chechens who live in the Pankisi Gorge. The local men are known for their bravery but also infamous for being ‘terrorists’. The documentary is a multi-threaded story of inhabitants of a little known place in the Caucasus.

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    film still Adamiani
    Awards:Special Award
  • All That Breathes (Wszystko, co żyje)

    dir. Shaunak Sen
    dok2022

    Against the darkening backdrop of New Delhi's apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protecting one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the black kite.

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    film still All That Breathes
    Awards:Silver Horn
  • Anna

    dir. Julia Roesler
    dok2022

    Self-therapeutic and soothing, the film is a portrayal of Anna. As a child she experienced violence and resentment from her peers and her own father because of her excess weight. After years of fighting for herself, she became a self-aware woman who accepts her body and is not afraid to expose it.

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    film still Anna
  • Anny

    dir. Helena Třeštíková
    dok2021

    During the day Anna works in a public toilet and at night – in the street. The viewer meets her when she is 47 and then the camera accompanies her for the next 16 years. Helena Třeštíková, a laureate of Krakow’s Dragon of Dragons in 2012, is faithful to her method of the long-term observation of her characters.

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    film still Anny
  • Are You Among Them? (Czy jesteś wśród nich?)

    dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski
    dok1954

    "Are you among them?!" It is a snappy satire on the tendencies of polish people to disrespect the common good and disregard general rules. The dire consequences of these vices are depicted in humorously staged episodes accompanied by a harsh commentary. Background – 1950s Warsaw.

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    film still Are You Among Them?
  • Atonal Glow (Atonaluri gabrzkineba)

    dir. Alexander Koridze
    dok2021

    Tsotne Zedginidze, a 10-year-old piano genius from Georgia, is sometimes compared to Mozart. Bestowed with an extraordinary talent, he seems as if he played with music. His grandmother, who is his teacher, carer and international career manager, keeps an eye on all this.

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    film still Atonal Glow
  • At Full Throttle (Láska pod kapotou)

    dir. Miro Remo
    dok2021

    Jaroslav seems to be an antihero: he failed to fulfil his dream of becoming a racing driver or achieve a financial success. In front of the camera, he becomes the hero of our times – funny and tragic at the same time, led astray by various, sometimes populist, forces.

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    film still At Full Throttle
  • A Brief History of Us

    dir. Etgar Keret
    anim2021

    When you are in a relationship, you do many things together. You know each other as well as if you were one organism. But what happens when, instead of ‘we’, you have to say ‘I’. Drawn in a comic book style, the animation asks an important question about the sense of individuality in relationships.

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    film still A Brief History of Us
  • A Dead Marriage (Martwe małżeństwo)

    dir. Michał Toczek
    fab2022

    Sometimes we get beguiled the most by simple unassuming stories, little gestures and timid words. A man and a woman meet on a film set. Filip is a middle-aged man and Łucja is a woman who runs a café and is renovating her flat. Together, they are playing a dead couple.

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    film still A Dead Marriage
    Awards:Silver Hobby-Horse
  • A Goat's Spell

    dir. Gerhard Funk
    anim2022

    The plot starts out perfectly normal: a boy eats breakfast and goes to school. When the kid returns home and smashes the sky into a million glass pieces using a goat’s milk, we already know that nothing will be predictable from now on. This surreal, twisted animation takes us on a psychedelic journey through the author’s imagination.

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    film still A Goat
    Awards:Special Mention
  • A New Shift (Nová šichta)

    dir. Jindřich Andrš
    dok2020

    The eponymous New Shift is a programme supporting employees of mines in liquidation. Tomáš is 44. He has 3 children, lives alone, supports the Baník football club from Ostrava and likes beer. He worked over half of his life underground and can use Excel. Therefore, he signs up for a 4-month programming course.

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    film still A New Shift
  • A Souvenir from Kalwaria (Pamiątka z Kalwarii)

    dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski
    dok1958

    A lot of believers attend the celebration of the Mystery of the Lord's Passion in the sanctuary of the Bernardines in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, known as the Polish Jerusalem. The filmmakers managed to capture the moment of ecstasy of the pilgrims and the social phenomenon of the celebration.

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    film still A Souvenir from Kalwaria
  • A Tunnel (Tunel)

    dir. Nino Orjonikidze, Vano Arsenishvili
    dok2019

    In a Georgian village hidden in the forest-covered mountains, time has come to a halt and modernity has only rarely made a stop at the tiny railway station. Can such a place unexpectedly become the centre of a new world because of the eponymous tunnel?

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    film still A Tunnel
  • Bella

    dir. Thelyia Petraki
    fab2020

    Greece 1986-1987, a little before the fall of State Socialism and just at the end of the Cold War. In front of Anthi’s eyes the country is changing, the world is changing and with them Christos seems to be changing too.

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    film still Bella
  • Beneath the Surface (Pod powierzchnią)

    dir. Alexander Niakaris Irvine-Cox
    dok2022

    This film is like a top-quality Scandinavian crime story set in the landscapes of the Far North. Despite reports about acts of paedophilia in the Norwegian town of Tysfjord for many years, it was not until a thorough journalistic investigation that the enormous scale of the crime and its racist context was revealed.

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    film still Beneath the Surface
  • Beyond Is the Day (Dalej jest dzień)

    dir. Damian Kocur
    fab2020

    Black and white photographs, amateurs in leading parts and the small realism of Poland’s provinces. Paweł is a single man who works on a small river ferry. Day by day he keeps doing the same things until he meets Mohammad, an illegal immigrant. Paweł decides to help him. Finally, there is someone he can talk to.

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    film still Beyond Is the Day
  • Black Mambas

    dir. Lena Karbe
    dok2022

    Black Mambas is the first such all-female unit protecting rhinos and other animals from poachers in South Africa. The fearless rangers are tasked with patrolling the edges of the Kruger National Park day and night.

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    film still Black Mambas
  • Blooming Brain (Kwitnący mózg)

    dir. Edyta Adamczak
    anim2022

    You are sitting on a train, your thoughts are running away somewhere. You have the impression that your head is falling off and your hand is no longer in its place. Have the other passengers noticed this? Relax, it is only happening in your head... The animation raises awareness about multiple sclerosis.

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    film still Blooming Brain
  • Boney Piles (Terykony)

    dir. Taras Tomenko
    dok2022

    A moving picture of growing up in a country ravaged by war. Empty windows of houses, factory halls destroyed by artillery fire and omnipresent spoil tips, just like freshly heaped up graves increasingly filling the space in local cemeteries.

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    film still Boney Piles
  • Boulevard (Deptak)

    dir. Artur Wierzbicki
    dok2022

    The Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy) in Warsaw is a tourist attraction for some, a place of individual and collective manifestations of opinions or skills for others or just a workplace for yet another group. Artur Wierzbicki’s camera captures changing seasons, clothes and moods of the street, national victories and personal dramas.

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    film still Boulevard
  • Boulevard (Deptak [AD+napisy])

    dir. Artur Wierzbicki
    dok2022

    The Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy) in Warsaw is a tourist attraction for some, a place of individual and collective manifestations of opinions or skills for others or just a workplace for yet another group. Artur Wierzbicki’s camera captures changing seasons, clothes and moods of the street, national victories and personal dramas.

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    film still Boulevard
  • Boylesque

    dir. Bogna Kowalczyk
    dok2022

    Lulla la Polaca is the oldest Polish drag queen, fighting for the right to individual expression. The film shows Lulla’s more private side: the one of a sensitive dreamer treating his presence in front of the camera like another virtuoso performance.

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    film still Boylesque
    Awards:Silver Hobby-Horse / Special Award
  • Call Me Mommy

    dir. Tara O'Callaghan
    dok2022

    Sinead is a sex worker. It would be easy to pigeonhole her and label her as a bad mother or a slut. Meanwhile, she is a tough woman who has not been spared by life. Difficult, violent relationships, her mother’s alcoholic disease and her death, with four children and several pets to support. She could have given up, but she fought for herself and her loved ones.

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    film still Call Me Mommy
  • Cat (Kot)

    dir. Zofia Kowalewska
    fab2022

    A simple and honest story about teenage rebellion, loneliness and the need of closeness. The daughter comes to her father’s flat to feed the cat during his absence. However, the cat makes a fuss and the teenager discovers a long-hidden secret. This secret will change her life.

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    film still Cat
  • Caterpillar (Sâu Bướm)

    dir. Marcus Anthony Thomas‭
    fab2021

    A failed escape reveals the hell of modern slavery. For a group of teenagers, the British street is a sports field, playground and a place of joy where they can spend time together. For the Vietnamese boy watching them from his window, it is an unattainable dream.

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    film still Caterpillar
  • Cesária Évora

    dir. Ana Sofia Fonseca
    dok2022

    In the mid-1990s, she became a singer recognized in different parts of the world. In Cape Verde, where she came from, she still enjoys the status of a queen. The films portrays a woman painfully treated by fate and an artist paving the way for other female musicians.

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    film still Cesária Évora
    Awards:Special Mention
  • Cherry Bone (Kirschknochen)

    dir. Evgenia Gostrer
    anim2021

    Parents always want to give their children the best possible future. For this reason, a Russian-Jewish family emigrated from Russia to Germany in the mid-1990s. Did they really have a better life in a foreign country? A vivid story of a family who, searching for better prospects, started all over again.

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    film still Cherry Bone
  • Chiatura

    dir. Toby Andris
    fab2021

    An elderly woman, Eliso, lives in desolate Chiatura, a desolate and run-down mining town in Georgia, famous for its manganese extraction. This time her working day will be different from the previous ones. Hearing on the radio that the miners’ strike has ended, she takes her gun and sets off on a private protest. What are the motivations behind this dramatic decision?

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    film still Chiatura
  • Chickens, Virus and Us (Slepice, virus a my)

    dir. Filip Remunda
    dok2021
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    film still Chickens, Virus and Us
  • Coronation (Kruunaus)

    dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen
    dok1979

    Father Franciszek Dźwigoński, a parish priest in Maków Podhalański, is preparing his parishioners for the celebratory crowning of the painting of Our Lady of Maków Podhalański by Pope John Paul II.

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    film still Coronation
  • Crazy Days - or Making an Opera in Pandemic Times (Crazy Days - of opera in tijden van pandemie)

    dir. Sanne Rovers
    dok2021

    For three years the Dutch National Opera had been preparing the performance of ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ with an international cast until the coronavirus arrived. The film is a recording of the special time when, despite the strict sanitary regime and the pandemic absurdities, the project was brought to a grand finale.

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    film still Crazy Days - or Making an Opera in Pandemic Times
  • Crumbs of Life (Okruszki życia)

    dir. Katarzyna Miechowicz
    anim2021

    Imagine a herd of chubby ponies and a presenter who has to interview them. All this is watched on TV by a peculiar couple - a young girl and her Chewbacca-like partner. Can you keep up? Don’t forget about the Faceless Man prowling the neighbourhood, who seems to know the ponies. But this is not the end!

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    film still Crumbs of Life
  • Daughter (Dcera)

    dir. Daria Kashcheeva
    anim2019

    In a hospital room, the Daughter recalls a childhood moment when as a little girl she tried to share her experience with an injured bird with her Father.

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    film still Daughter
  • December 1970. Monument (Muistomerkki)

    dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen
    dok1982

    On December 16, 1980, the Fallen Shipyard Workers Monument was unveiled at the second gate of the Gdańsk Shipyard. The director, thanks to Anna Walentynowicz, manages to meet with shipyard workers who participated in those events. They recall the days leading up to the tragic date of December 16, 1970, the massacre and its victims.

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    film still December 1970. Monument
  • Dessert Dachshund (Deserowy jamnik)

    dir. Betina Bożek
    anim2022

    Do you dream of an unforgettable wedding? The current fad is... a dessert dachshund hidden inside the cake! The dachshund will not only surprise and amuse the guests, but also bring luck to the newlyweds for many years. A funny and tongue-in-cheek take on superstitions, rituals and traditions.

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    film still Dessert Dachshund
  • Dessert Dachshund (Deserowy jamnik [PL AD+napisy])

    dir. Betina Bożek
    anim2022
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    film still Dessert Dachshund
  • Displaced (Pa Vend)

    dir. Samir Karahoda
    dok2021

    In post-war Kosovo, driven by the ambition of keeping their beloved sport alive, two local players wander from one obscure location to another carrying with them the only possession of the club: their tables.

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    film still Displaced
  • Doubting, Puddles (Nevím, kaluže)

    dir. Anna Petruželová
    dok2018

    We are waiting for a puddle: no rain, cracked soil, withered flowers, grass rustling. The city without puddles, people are putting little plastic bowls with water for animals on their balconies. It’s raining, gladness. Different puddles on different places have different shapes. Puddle: something nonpractical: dirty shoes. Puddles and water pleasure.

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    film still Doubting, Puddles
  • Easter Eggs

    dir. Nicolas Keppens
    anim2021

    The Chinese restaurant is empty. The exotic bird’s cage stands wide open. Two friends, Jason and Kevin, see this as an opportunity to catch and sell them. Catching the birds ain’t as simple as it seems.

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    film still Easter Eggs
  • Edge of Light (Ukos światła)

    dir. Wojciech Szumowski
    dok2021

    The protagonist of Wojciech Szumowski’s film is Bogusław Popiela - a Polish white-water canoeist, four-time World Championship medallist, two-time European Champion. On this occasion, he plays a completely different role – the one of an activist restoring the memory of neglected Jewish cemeteries.

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    film still Edge of Light
  • En mis zapatos

    dir. Pedro Morato
    dok2021

    Paco Mora, a distinguished flamenco dancer and choreographer, gave up his career to take care of his mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and fulfil her dream of dancing. We can observe closeness and everyday care that undermine stereotypes about a man’s role in a family.

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    film still En mis zapatos
  • Eternal Spring (Eternal Spring (長春))

    dir. Jason Loftus
    dok2022

    In March 2002 members of the group Falun Gong, outlawed in China, took control of a state television station. They wanted to express their disapproval of persecution by the communist authorities, but as a result repressions grew only worse. Animating drawings by Daxiong, one of the victims, the film recreates the atmosphere of the events.

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    film still Eternal Spring
  • Ethiopiques - Revolt of the Soul (Ethiopiques - muzyka duszy)

    dir. Maciej Bochniak
    dok2017

    Thirty years ago, Francis Falceto, a French musicologist, discovered and promoted the phenomenon of Ethiopian music – a unique fusion of traditional music with jazz, soul or rock’n’roll. The film tells the story of a passion for music that survived despite any political or social changes.

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    film still Ethiopiques - Revolt of the Soul
  • Even Mice Belong in Heaven (Myši patří do nebe)

    dir. Jan Bubeníček, Denisa Grimmová
    anim2021
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    film still Even Mice Belong in Heaven
  • Every Single Minute (Každá minuta života)

    dir. Erika Hníková
    dok2021

    Deciding to have this baby, Lenka and Michal knew they wanted to dedicate themselves unconditionally to him. The Kamevéda method, which involves comprehensive physical and intellectual development as well as on-going competition, is a model for them. Their son Miško has no time to get bored. His parents devote every minute of their life to him.

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    film still Every Single Minute
  • Famine Disease (Nälkäsairaus)

    dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen
    dok1983

    A shocking picture of the reality of the Warsaw Ghetto. Typhus, lice and other diseases were nothing compared to the epidemic of hunger that reigned behind its walls. Thanks to archival photographs and recordings, we may see a sample of the nightmare that befell a thousand people.

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    film still Famine Disease
    Awards:Silver Hobby-Horse
  • Feels Good Man

    dir. Arthur Jones
    dok2020

    Artist Matt Furie, creator of the controversial comic character Pepe the Frog, begins an uphill battle to reclaim his iconic cartoon image from those who turned it into a symbol of hate.

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    film still Feels Good Man
  • Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen

    dir. Daniel Raim
    dok2022

    Last year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the screening of a famous musical made by Norman Jewison. With the participation of the film creators, the documentary tries to explore the phenomenon of ‘The Fiddler of the Roof’. It presents a variety of contexts related to its development, including literature, film, politics, history and obviously music.

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    film still Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen
  • Film, the Living Record of Our Memory

    dir. Inés Toharia
    dok2021

    Orson Welles once said, ‘Film has a personality, and that personality is self-destructive. The job of the archivist is to anticipate what the film may do — and prevent it.’ The Spanish director’s documentary portrays attempts of saving even just a fraction of the multitude of stories registered on celluloid film.

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    film still Film, the Living Record of Our Memory
  • Finding Fela! (Fela odnaleziony)

    dir. Alex Gibney
    dok2014
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    film still Finding Fela!
  • First Class Citizen

    dir. Diana Maria Olsson
    dok2021

    In the film, Diana Maria Olsson shares her most intimate experiences from a violent relationship and at the same time challenges the image of Sweden as a country that respects gender equality. The story of a husband who turns out to be the eponymous ‘first-class citizen’ exposes the mechanisms of hypocrisy.

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    film still First Class Citizen
  • Flight (Lot)

    dir. Anna Zakrzewska, Łukasz Ronduda
    dok2022

    When at the Venice Biennale in 2019 Roman Stańczak showed an aircraft turned inside out, some saw it as a reference to the Smolensk air crash. Capturing the creation process of ‘Flight’ and presenting his earlier works, the film authors portray the artist who finally ‘rose from the dead’.

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    film still Flight
  • Followers. Live Shooting (Followers. Odpalaj lajwa)

    dir. Jakub Radej
    fab2022

    A Polish school becomes the arena of events that seem unlikely, albeit not impossible, in Poland. Is a Polish student in the time of globalisation, so much different from a student in America, Asia or another European country? What did Adam plan for a school event attended by Olga Tokarczuk at a prestigious high school?

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    film still Followers. Live Shooting
  • Forests (Forêts)

    dir. Simon Plouffe
    dok2022

    The underwater world of a Canadian river hides the history of the Innu, the indigenous inhabitants of this land. Shots of the river, from the darkness of which the polyphonic narration of witnesses emerges, form the background for scraps of memories and traces of oral history preserved to this day.

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    film still Forests
  • Fortress (Twierdza)

    dir. Sławek Zalewski
    anim2021

    The town is preparing for an enemy attack but no enemy has arrived yet. The inhabitants, ready for inevitable death, are frustrated by the prolonged state of emergency. However, the culprit for the situation has to be found. A parody of an authoritarian state and the ineptitude of those in power with a bitter reflection on the status of the individual in a clash with the system.

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    film still Fortress
  • For Eunice (Voor Eunice)

    dir. Jaan Stevens
    dok2021
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    film still For Eunice
  • Fragile Memory (Крихка Пам'ять)

    dir. Igor Ivanko
    dok2022

    In a dacha near Odessa, the film’s director has found old photographic films that belonged to his grandfather Leonid Burlaka, a Ukrainian filmmaker. Using the photos and footage shot by Burlaka throughout several decades, the documentary aims to save his life from oblivion.

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    film still Fragile Memory
    Awards:Special Award
  • Friendly Sport Meeting (Přátelské setkání nad sportem)

    dir. Adam Koloman Rybanský
    fab2017

    It's saturday, beautiful summer weather and the tournament begins in a small village. Futnet is played, rump is being roasted and everybody is drinking beer. Monday is still far away so no one has to worry about anything. At least until the moment when gypsy team called Jamaicas appears.

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    film still Friendly Sport Meeting
  • From the Wild Sea (Fra Det vilde Hav)

    dir. Robin Petré
    dok2021

    Visually sophisticated and poignant, this documentary, or rather poem, honours the silent witnesses of our planet’s past entangled in the network of civilisations of migrants from the primeval ocean. The film is for adult viewers only.

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    film still From the Wild Sea
  • Gila Who Walks Alone

    dir. Yuval Shapira
    fab2021

    A group of girls of different ages freeze motionless. They are playing the game of statues. Gila is the eldest in this family of Orthodox Jews, and she is responsible for looking after her younger siblings. It is clear that the teenager would like to get out of her crowded flat.

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    film still Gila Who Walks Alone
  • God and Lunaparks' Warriors (Bóg i Wojownicy Lunaparków)

    dir. Bartłomiej Żmuda
    dok2022

    A son, overwhelmed by a religious zeal, embarks upon a crusade to convert his father. The neophyte’s fervour will be put to a test by the unapologetic, sharp-tongued anticlerical.

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    film still God and Lunaparks
    Awards:Special Award
  • God and Lunaparks' Warriors (Bóg i Wojownicy Lunaparków [PL AD + napisy])

    dir. Bartłomiej Żmuda
    dok2022

    A son, overwhelmed by a religious zeal, embarks upon a crusade to convert his father. The neophyte’s fervour will be put to a test by the unapologetic, sharp-tongued anticlerical.

    Read more
    film still God and Lunaparks
    Awards:Special Award
  • Hardcore

    dir. Adán Aliaga
    dok2022

    ‘Pass me a joint’, says Rafa to his mother. The man has been bedridden for over 15 years, which has not stopped him from skydiving, making music or watching pornography. Rafa seems to be doing very well despite his paralysis, but chronic pain is increasingly getting to him.

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    film still Hardcore
    Awards:Special Mention
  • Henry Glassie: Fieldwork (Henry Glassie: Badania terenowe)

    dir. Pat Collins
    dok2021

    In this hypnotising documentary devoted to Henry Glassie, the director adopts the perspective of the eminent anthropologist, while the viewer unites with the researcher becoming his eyes and ears.

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    film still Henry Glassie: Fieldwork
  • Heroes and Martys (Sankarit ja marttyyrit)

    dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen
    dok1990

    San Francisco, Sydney and New Korczyn are three locations with links to the Macugowskis. Józef and Stefania Macugowski saved nine Jews. Modest and meek, they kept silent about their heroism after the end of the war. They were afraid of the reaction of their neighbours.

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    film still Heroes and Martys
  • Hide

    dir. Daniel Gray
    anim2020

    One, two, three – let’s play hide-and-seek! What if you hid so well that no one would ever find you? One of the brothers comes up with such an idea during a hide-and-seek at home. Closed in a wardrobe, he has been observing the life of his family through a crack in the door for years.

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    film still Hide
  • Holy Holocaust

    dir. Osi Wald, Noa Berman-Herzberg
    anim2021

    Jennifer is black German with German, Austrian and Nigerian roots. Noa is an Israeli from Tel Aviv. They meet in Paris during a drawing class and quickly become friends. They keep in touch until Jennifer finds out that she is a granddaughter of a Nazi criminal, Amon Goeth.

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    film still Holy Holocaust
  • Home of the Heart (A coeur perdu)

    dir. Sarah Saidan
    anim2021

    Omid, who lives in France, was stabbed straight into the heart when he was mugged. Fortunately, it turns out that Omid has no heart. But the lost heart has to be found. So begins a funny story with a criminal plot in the background. A black comedy about home being where your heart is.

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    film still Home of the Heart
  • How Do You Measure A Year?

    dir. Jay Rosenblatt
    dok2021

    Ella is the daughter of Jay Rosenblatt, a director known for his documentary experiments. At the same time, Ella is the protagonist of the film, who answers a few simple questions every year from her second to her eighteenth birthday. How do her answers change over time?

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    film still How Do You Measure A Year?
    Awards:Golden Dragon
  • Identity (Tożsamość)

    dir. Konrad Królikowski
    dok2022

    Three radically different protagonists, with polar opposite political views, try to define their identities against the background of contemporary Poland. Each of them is at the turning point of his or her life.

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    film still Identity
  • Impossible Figures and Other Stories I (Figury niemożliwe i inne historie I)

    dir. Marta Pajek
    anim2021

    The third and final part of Marta Pajek’s series shows the protagonist walking through a deserted city. Empty streets stretching endlessly create a labyrinth of figures and geometric shapes. The city absorbs us, frightens and evokes anxiety and only the wrinkles on the characters’ faces remind us that life once flourished here.

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    film still Impossible Figures and Other Stories I
    Awards:Silver Hobby-Horse
  • Infinity According to Florian (Neskinchennistʹ za Florianom)

    dir. Oleksiy Radynsk
    dok2022

    ‘Architecture is like music - it must have a rhythm’, says the film’s eponymous character Florian Yuriev, an architect, painter, violin maker and all-round artist. The investors who want to build a shopping mall on the site of his legendary building are of a different opinion.

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    film still Infinity According to Florian
  • In Flow of Words

    dir. Eliane Esther Bots
    dok2021
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    film still In Flow of Words
  • In His Mercy (In Seiner Gnade)

    dir. Christoph Büttner
    anim2022

    A prisoner learns that he is to be executed the next day. During the night, unexpectedly, his cell door swings open. The man can escape. Will he manage to regain his freedom? A gloomy animation in black in which the protagonist is trapped in the labyrinth of not only prison corridors but also his own fears and anxieties.

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    film still In His Mercy
  • In The Circle (W kręgu)

    dir. Jan Naszewski
    fab2022

    In winter, a young woman dressed in a fur coat is carrying a stuffed toy in the shape of a frog. She is looking for the address where she will soon run her workshop called the circle. This edition is attended by Kinga, Gosia and Milena. Homeless Ela enters into their common space. How will her presence influence the other participants?

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    film still In The Circle
  • It's the Hooligans! (Uwaga, chuligani!)

    dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski
    dok1955

    "Watch out! Hooligans!" is a documentary showing the phenomenon of hooliganism among young people from the city. It begins the "blacks series" of Polish documentaries. Such films focus on things that weren’t pictured in films of socialist realism during the last five years.

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    film still It
  • It's Time You Died Already (Hegia hazman shetamuti kvar)

    dir. Hadar Morag
    dok2021

    This is Evie - a cheerful and resolute woman of mature age who even sings merrily while cooking sausages. Theoretically, she does not have many reasons to be happy, as she takes care of her sick mother, Rose. The two women share a deep bond, a sharp tongue, an unusual sense of humour and a similar taste in films.

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    film still It
  • I Am Not

    dir. Tomer Heymann
    dok2021

    Oren has Asperger syndrome and the fact that he is an adopted child makes it difficult for him to adapt. Suddenly, his life changes with the help of the camera, which becomes an extraordinary therapy tool assisting him on a long journey in search of his identity.

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    film still I Am Not
  • I Want You If You Dare (Chci tě, jestli to dokážeš)

    dir. Dagmar Smržová
    dok2019

    Jana is 28. She is an outspoken optimist dependent on the assistance of other people. She cannot move, but the world revolves around her. It includes her mother entangled in complicated relationships with men and alcohol, her friend, blind sister, grandma and three sexual assistants.

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    film still I Want You If You Dare
  • Jazz Outsider

    dir. Janusz Majewski
    dok2022

    A charming, nostalgic story, that will take you back to a jazz club in the mid-20th century. You will meet Krzysztof Komeda, Michał Urbaniak, Wojciech Karolak and Zbigniew Namysłowski there. You will have a drink with Miles Davis, learn which Polish musician was popular with the German military and listen to a performance by Sonia Bohosiewicz.

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    film still Jazz Outsider
  • Judges under pressure (Sędziowie pod presją)

    dir. Kacper Lisowski
    dok2021

    One of the most important documentaries of recent years. It presents a crisis of democracy and the people who rebelled against the destruction of the independent judiciary. The protagonists are steadfast judges, with Igor Tuleya among them. We can see them at work, in political fervour, as well as in their private lives.

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    film still Judges under pressure
  • Kapr Code (Kaprkód)

    dir. Lucie Králová
    dok2022

    The biography of this Czechoslovak composer could not be recounted in a good old-fashioned way. Sung by a contemporary choir, it shows off the musical legacy left by Jan Kapr and his abundant private archives. Employing comic means, the film presents the artist navigating his life in a destitute time.

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    film still Kapr Code
    Awards:Golden Heynal
  • Kosher Rehab

    dir. Anna Oliker
    dok2021

    Drug-addicted American teenagers from a Jewish community end up in a rehab centre in Jerusalem. Under the care of charismatic leader Eric, they use their last chance to win with the addiction.

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    film still Kosher Rehab
  • Laboratory No.2 (تاقیگەی ژمارە 2)

    dir. Edris Abdi, Awara Omer
    dok2021

    In an Iranian town, there is a laboratory, in which there is a peculiar bathtub and a corpse in the bathtub - an irreplaceable object of anatomy study for future doctors. The story of these worn-out corpses is known only to their custodian, an elderly laboratory worker.

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    film still Laboratory No.2
  • Little Axel

    dir. Bård Kjøge Rønning, Fabien Greenberg
    dok2021

    His childhood in archival photos and films looks like great Greek holidays with Leonard Cohen, a partner of Axel’s mother, at his side. How did it happen that this sweet, fair-haired boy, went on to spend a big part of his life in psychiatric hospitals?

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    film still Little Axel
  • Little Satchmo

    dir. John C. Alexander
    dok2021

    She was a child who did not exist. A few years ago, Sharon Preston-Folta announced it to the world that she is the biological daughter of the musical genius Louis Armstrong. Almost no one knew about her existence because the famous jazzman was considered to be childless.

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    film still Little Satchmo
  • Live (焦点之外)

    dir. Baggio Jiang
    fab2021

    On a warm evening, a young girl gets into an Uber where the driver informs her that he will be live-streaming during the ride. She does not mind as long as she is not within the range of his phone’s camera. Will the driver treat his passenger fairly?

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    film still Live
  • Love, Dad (Milý tati)

    dir. Diana Cam Van Nguyen
    anim2021

    After 15 years, Diana finds the letters her father used to send her. Will she forgive him for leaving their family? The author uses a collage of old letters, archival films and photographs as well as children’s drawings and cut-outs to recreate the past.

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    film still Love, Dad
    Awards:Silver Dragon / Nagrody specjalne
  • Luce and the Rock (Luce i skała)

    dir. Britt Raes
    anim2022
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    film still Luce and the Rock
  • Maldita. A Love Song to Sarajevo

    dir. Raúl de la Fuente Calle, Amaia Ramirez
    dok2022

    Let yourself be seduced by the timbre of his voice and his extraordinary personality, which defies all categorisation. A beautiful image of a free, talented person who, despite people’s prejudices, is able to look at the world with great kindness and understanding.

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    film still Maldita. A Love Song to Sarajevo
    Awards:Silver Dragon
  • Mama Africa

    dir. Mika Kaurismäki
    dok2011
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    film still Mama Africa
  • Mandatory Presence (Obecność obowiązkowa)

    dir. Adam Ziajski
    fab2021

    Full of irony and sometimes grotesque, the film is a bravado commentary on the social and political reality. The protagonist is a lonely middle-aged man. He has just moved into a claustrophobic flat and voilà... the world ends.

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    film still Mandatory Presence
  • Martin and the Magical Forest (Mazel a tajemství lesa)

    dir. Petr Oukropec
    fab2021
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    film still Martin and the Magical Forest
  • Mass for the Homeland (Messu isänmaan puolesta)

    dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen
    dok1985

    An insightful and poignant recording of a mass at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Warsaw for the intention of the homeland celebrated for the first time without Father Jerzy Popiełuszko.

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    film still Mass for the Homeland
  • Menagerie

    dir. Jack Gray
    anim2022

    An alarm clock goes off. You get up, open the window, feed the hamster, water the plant, go to work and so on and so forth. Your neighbours, their neighbours and the entire city do the same. In a playful way, Menagerie shows that our lives consist of the same actions repeated over and over again. It is Rybczyński’s Tango set in the world of The Simpsons

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    film still Menagerie
  • Mirror (Ayena)

    dir. Siddhant Sarin
    dok2021

    ‘If you don’t love me, I will destroy your face’. Such comments can be found by young Indian women on their social media. It is not uncommon that actions follows threats, which is a well-known fact for the protagonists of the documentary who were mutilated with acid.

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    film still Mirror
  • Moody

    dir. Karolina Karwan, Tomasz Ratter
    dok2022

    Crystal clear water, empty beaches and tall palm trees. This postcard image of the Indonesian island hides the tragedy of its only two inhabitants. Mudi and his elderly mother are isolated from the rest of the world and very lonely. The only escape from the mundane life turns out to be dancing.

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    film still Moody
  • Mountains and Heaven in Between (Між небом та горами)

    dir. Dmytro Hreshko
    dok2021

    An ambulance crew visits hard-to-reach villages in the Ukrainian Carpathians. The camera captures fairy-tale mountain landscapes, neglected roads and ever-falling snow. Just like centuries ago, locals meet for weddings, funerals and Sunday service, which Dmytra Hreshko captures with a truly ethnographic flair.

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    film still Mountains and Heaven in Between
  • Mr. Inkblot in Love & War (Pan Kleks. Wojna i miłość)

    dir. Władysław Jurków
    dok2022

    Jan Brzechwa fell in love with a hairdresser’s wife, but due to his Jewish roots and the wartime conditions, his feelings were put to the test. Not able to pursue his love affair, he lived in solitude, which gave rise to timeless literature. The director employs archival photos, numerous contributions of experts and fictionalised scenes to create a colourful documentary – a fairy tale about a poet in love.

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    film still Mr. Inkblot in Love & War
  • MR LANDSBERGIS

    dir. Sergei Loznitsa
    dok2021

    In March 1990, Lithuania was the first Soviet republic to declare independence, which resulted in economic sanctions and military aggression from the collapsing empire. The film is a detailed chronicle of these events, in which head of the state Vytautas Landsbergis played an instrumental role. Without him, history could have turned out very differently.

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    film still MR LANDSBERGIS
  • Music of Sonny

    dir. Klementyna Margolis, Anna Sałacińska
    anim2022

    Some find it relaxing, others are bored. Repetitive and mundane, work in a CD and DVD factory does not require much concentration or reflection. There are people who have been working there for several decades. A rhythmic, absorbing and hypnotic animation about a routine and finding meaning in it.

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    film still Music of Sonny
  • Must Be Painful (Musí to být bolestivý)

    dir. David Semler
    fab2020

    Danny, a Czech student, and his Spanish boyfriend go on a trip to the Czech countryside. At the railway station they meet a couple of locals who do not know Danny understands them, so they start to make sarcastic comments.

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    film still Must Be Painful
  • My Place Ozerna (Moja Ozerna)

    dir. Karina Będkowska
    dok2022

    For a lonely protagonist, her journey from London to Ozerna, a small village in Ukraine, where she is to meet her relative, unexpectedly becomes the beginning of her way to recover and achieve closeness with another human being.

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    film still My Place Ozerna
  • My Uncle Tudor (Nanu Tudor)

    dir. Olga Lucovnicova
    dok2021

    A starting point for the shocking self-documentary by Olga Lucovnicova is her homecoming to Moldova. The house is filled with memories, yet everyone around her seems to idealise the past which hides a trauma.

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    film still My Uncle Tudor
  • Near and Dear (Las cercanas)

    dir. María Alvarez
    dok2021

    Isabel and Amelia Cavallini, twins from Buenos Aires, are 91 years old and have devoted their entire lives to music. The Steinway grand piano occupies a central place in their cluttered flat. The beautiful and talented sisters once made an exceptional duet. Today, doomed to each other’s company, they reminisce about their past successes.

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    film still Near and Dear
  • No Ghost in the Morgue (Pas de fantôme à la morgue)

    dir. Marilyn Cooke
    fab2022

    The family will either accept the scandal or give their daughter in marriage to the man who raped her. Resolving the matter through the courts means a well-deserved prison sentence for the criminal, but it also dishonours the family of the victim. So provides the tradition. And what about the voice of the woman herself?

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    film still No Ghost in the Morgue
  • No Place for You in Our Town

    dir. Nikolay Stefanov
    dok2022

    Pernik in Bulgaria is considered to be the breeding ground for a radical football fan subculture. The director’s hometown was famous for its mining industry under communism. Now, it is past its prime, which gives rise to high levels of frustration and aggression. The film captures the lives of the protagonists without prejudice, leaving the judgement to the viewer.

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    film still No Place for You in Our Town
  • One Does Not Do It To a Cat (Tego się nie robi kotu)

    dir. Jan Gębski
    dok2022

    Jan Gębski’s camera carefully observes how one of the last remaining heroes of the Warsaw Uprising struggles with the reality. The elderly woman's closest companion is her cat. Even though the person and the cat do not speak, minute gestures reveal the depth of their connection and everyday rituals become imbued with new meanings.

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    film still One Does Not Do It To a Cat
  • Only Until Dawn (Tylko do świtu)

    dir. Eliza Godlewska, Alan Ruczyński
    fab2022

    A well-balanced narrative with a social streak. Roma, who is 50 years old, has found herself at a turning point in her life. She chose freedom, which means an independent life without her husband. But she will no longer have a roof over her head. The money she can make on temporary jobs is not enough to rent her own place. How to escape from such a reality?

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    film still Only Until Dawn
  • On Your Marks! (Na značky!)

    dir. Maria Pincikova
    dok2020

    Every six years in Prague, there is a big get-together of Sokół gymnastic societies. Out of thousands of participants, the director selected two very Forman-esque characters - Mirek, a coach, and Radek, a gymnast - to tell a story about timeless values related to the membership in Sokół societies.

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    film still On Your Marks!
  • Our Tenement (Dom wielopokoleniowy [napisy dla osób niesłyszących])

    dir. Piotr Szczepański
    dok2022

    In a stylish townhouse renovated by the city, carefully selected tenants were supposed to form a truly multigenerational community. Now none of them is willing to cooperate, while mutual accusations, denunciations and insults arise instead. The micro-community, divided just like Poland before the elections, plunges into a conflict.

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    film still Our Tenement
  • Our Tenement (Dom wielopokoleniowy)

    dir. Piotr Szczepański
    dok2022

    In a stylish townhouse renovated by the city, carefully selected tenants were supposed to form a truly multigenerational community. Now none of them is willing to cooperate, while mutual accusations, denunciations and insults arise instead. The micro-community, divided just like Poland before the elections, plunges into a conflict.

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    film still Our Tenement
  • Outtakes From the Life of a Happy Man

    dir. Jonas Mekas
    dok2012

    In this film, the American avant-garde guru takes a journey after 60 years of creative work. The private chronicle from the second half of the 20th century reflects Mekas’ artistic attitude which, as he stated in one of his interviews, always relies on searching for the intensity of the moment that which is important in the incidental and inconspicuous.

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    film still Outtakes From the Life of a Happy Man
  • O, Collecting Eggs Despite the Times (O, Eier sammeln trotz der Zeit)

    dir. Pim Zwier
    dok2021

    Science may be a kind of organised madness. Entire fields of knowledge owe their existence to obsessed scientists, such as Max Schönwetter from Germany. His collection of almost 20 thousand bird eggs is invaluable for Oology.

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    film still O, Collecting Eggs Despite the Times
  • Paraíso

    dir. Sergio Tréfaut
    dok2021

    For a long time, in the gardens of the former Presidential Palace in Rio de Janeiro, older people have been meeting at dusk to sing love songs, accompanied by instruments. But this beautiful world will soon be gone, as the coronavirus pandemic breaks out.

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    film still Paraíso
  • Parizad

    dir. Mehdi Imani Shahmiri
    dok2021

    The element of Mehdi Imani Shahmiri’s film is a story. The story is told by the protagonist, an old woman named Keshvar Jafari, and interwoven with threads of an intricate carpet being made in her hands. It tells about the wind, boundless meadows and mountains of Iran. Its focus is attachment to a place and tradition, which includes customs older than Islam.

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    film still Parizad
    Awards:Special Award
  • Party Poster

    dir. Rishi Chandna
    dok2021

    Without a poster you don’t exist, and certainly not in India. A politician cannot win there without an election banner, a festival cannot take place without the necessary poster, even religious ceremonies or private birthdays require this form of advertising. In his documentary satire, Rishi Chandna looks straight behind the scenes of the local ‘poster industry’.

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    film still Party Poster
  • Peculiarity of Fisherman's Soul (Svéráz českého rybolovu)

    dir. Ivana Pauerová Miloševičová
    dok2021

    Six Czech men leave their favourite pub in Jihlava and go fishing to Norway. For some of them, it is the first time, while others are veterans of such expeditions. They dream about catching the halibut. They are looking forward to a male adventure. Can anything go wrong in this documentary comedy about the individualities of Czech fishing?

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    film still Peculiarity of Fisherman
  • Penelope, My Love (Pénélope, mon amour)

    dir. Claire Doyon
    dok2021

    For eighteen years, director Claire Doyon accompanied her daughter, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, with her camera. It is an extraordinary film diary documenting the story of life before and after the diagnosis and the unique relationship between the mother and the daughter.

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    film still Penelope, My Love
  • Performance

    dir. Michał Edelman
    fab2022

    Karol, a cameraman, takes his girlfriend Emilka and her dog Pucci to a provocative artistic performance which is an expression of objection to the police brutality. Soon, things get out of hand and the young couple’s idealism and relationship are put to the serious test.

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    film still Performance
  • Plai. A Mountain Path (Plai)

    dir. Eva Dzhyshyashvili
    dok2021

    A simple rural life in a village lost among forests acquires an almost magical character in the lens of the filmmakers. But life in the Ukrainian countryside is not a fairy tale - the echoes of the war, like a menacing memento, reappear in in children’s questions and faded photographs from long ago.

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    film still Plai. A Mountain Path
  • Playing (Hra)

    dir. Lun Sevnik
    fab2019

    Boris and Hugo, 16 years old friends bought a gun. They set up livestream video on the internet and announce that in in one hour they will commit suicide. If Boris is sure about decision, Hugo still have some doubt. During the final moments of their life, sadism, homoeroticism and desire to destroy are released.

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    film still Playing
  • Pleistocene Park

    dir. Luke Griswold-Tergis
    dok2022

    There are many documentaries about the boundary between genius and madness, but this one is definitely among the funniest of them. Luke Tergis follows a bravado attempt to restart the primeval ecosystem of remote Siberia, a return to the state recorded in the fossils of Pleistocene.

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    film still Pleistocene Park
  • Postcards from Zakopane (Pocztówki z Zakopanego)

    dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski
    dok1960

    Zakopane is the winter capital of Poland, where Marszałkowska Street smoothly changes into Krupówki. Hitchhiking, views from Gubałówka, mountaineering – all of them, from a male perspective, could be an opportunity to meet a beautiful woman.

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    film still Postcards from Zakopane
  • Prison-Walled Freedom (Vankilan rajattu vapaus)

    dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen
    dok1986

    This most ‘iconographic’ documentary of Jarmo Jääskeläinen is a story based on nearly two hundred photographs taken secretly in several internment camps between May and October 1982.

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    film still Prison-Walled Freedom
  • Pryvoz

    dir. Eva Neymann
    dok2021

    A picturesque slice of life at one of the oldest and largest markets in Europe. The crowded stalls offer product tastings, price negotiations and reflections on the universe and the sense of life. There is something for everyone.

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    film still Pryvoz
  • Push This Button If You Begin to Panic

    dir. Gabriel Böhmer
    anim2020

    Bartholomew Whisper went to the doctor today. There he met administrators keen on experimental surgery, and lonely MRI machines. At least the growing hole in his head was becoming quite beautiful. Selected at Riga International Film Festival

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    film still Push This Button If You Begin to Panic
  • Rain in 2020

    dir. Lee Yong Chao
    dok2021

    The rain does not stop. The water pours into the houses and covers the floors, while the inhabitants become accustomed to its presence. Submerged up to their knees, they cook, pray and look after their children.

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    film still Rain in 2020
  • Reconstruction of Occupation (Rekonstrukce okupace)

    dir. Jan Sikl
    dok2021

    Thanks to archival footage unknown so far the year 1968 in Czechoslovakia is more than history. Many years later, ghostlike images and lip-read words gain new power and make it possible to show the Warsaw Pact invasion from the perspective of ordinary people.

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    film still Reconstruction of Occupation
  • Ruthless

    dir. Matthew McGuigan
    fab2021

    Northern Ireland in the 1970s. The latest album of the band T. Rex is about to be released and the queues will be long, including the teenage protagonist. Unfortunately, his father does not share his passion for music and will not give him £2 for the long-awaited vinyl record. His mom was different, but she is no longer alive.

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    film still Ruthless
  • Shark

    dir. Nash Edgerton
    fab2021

    An all-star cast and a shark. What more could you expect from a holiday comedy short? Maybe a little blood, but rest assured, there is plenty of that, too, in Nash Edgerton’s film. A young couple love to play pranks on each other. Even on their wedding day, Sophie has Jack so fooled that he feels obliged to get back at her on their honeymoon. A cruise with other couples seems to be a perfect opportunity.

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    film still Shark
  • Shlomo Bar – a Musical Documentary

    dir. Gilad Inbar
    dok2021

    Born in Morocco, this Israeli singer and drummer treats his music like a prayer. At the same time, it is a social message drawing attention to the situation of Mizrahi Jews. Shlomo Bar’s art is the space where the East meets the West.

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    film still Shlomo Bar – a Musical Documentary
  • Simona

    dir. Natalia Koryncka-Gruz
    dok2021

    Larger than life and ahead of her time, Simona Kossak was an eminent biologist and ecologist who pursued her passion throughout her lifetime. On the basis of reminiscences and abundant archival materials, a portrayal of this remarkable woman was created.

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    film still Simona
  • Sing and Cry, Cry and Sing

    dir. Manu Luksch
    dok2022

    This harrowing story of Artur Ligęska, a Polish businessman and personal trainer illegally sentenced to life imprisonment in Abu Dhabi, was outlined with minimalist means. It is a film about loneliness, the strength of spirit and an indomitable will to live, which helped the protagonist to survive in hell.

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    film still Sing and Cry, Cry and Sing
  • Sirens (Syreny)

    dir. Rita Baghdadi
    dok2022

    Their music throws down the gauntlet to the Middle Eastern stereotypes related to creativity, gender and sexual orientation. ‘Slave to Sirens’ is the first metal band in this part of the world which is entirely made of women. The director captures up close their musical struggles and emotional perturbations.

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    film still Sirens
  • Slouch

    dir. Michael Bohnenstingl
    anim2022

    We all know what it is like to be a rock star - great. And what is it like to be a perpetual future rock star? The worst. Slouch has been trying unsuccessfully for years to make a name for himself recording drab songs and then even performing in clubs, but failing to generate any interest in his work. Everything changes when his partner announces that he is about to become a father.

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    film still Slouch
  • Slow Light

    dir. Kijek/Adamski
    anim2022

    A boy suffers from a rare visual impairment which causes light to pass through his eyes extremely slowly. What is happening at the moment reaches his consciousness with a delay of seven years! The animation touches on the problem of living in the past, while at the same time suppressing everyday problems.

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    film still Slow Light
  • Snowdrops at the End of the Train (Кокичета в края на влака)

    dir. Galina D. Georgieva
    fab2021

    A surprising eco-post-apocalypse in pastel colours and to the rhythm of a retro tune. In the devastated and sad world, Eva sees no future for herself. She decides to commit government-assisted suicide. In these hopeless circumstances, however, there is a sliver of hope - snowdrops that love music.

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    film still Snowdrops at the End of the Train
  • Sopot'57 (Sopot 1957)

    dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski
    dok1957

    "Sopot 1957" pictures vacationers at different times of the day, in most frequented Sopot places during the summer: on the beach, pier, promenade, in cafes, holiday homes, beauty salons, on the dance floor at the Grand Hotel. Combined with a commentary by Stefania Grodzieńska, read by Jerzy Wasowski, the scenes take on a humorous, kindly ironic approach.

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    film still Sopot
  • Soy Libre

    dir. Laure Portier
    dok2021

    In this intimate portrait, the director follows her younger brother across several countries as he tries to find his place in society. To achieve the freedom he craves the man is ready to make substantial sacrifices.

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    film still Soy Libre
  • Strigov

    dir. Barbora Bereznakova
    dok2022

    Is it a dream or reality, the past or the present, the sacred or the profane? This is one of the most mysterious documentaries of the short film competition. A black and white, whispered by a child, poetic film. An oneiric story about the disappearing world of a small Ruthenian community living in Slovakia.

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    film still Strigov
  • Summer Nights (Leilot Kaitz)

    dir. Ohad Milstein
    dok2021

    An oneiric story about fathers and sons. Alva is 6 years old. He is a curious boy, about to start school. Just before sleep, when the lights fade, he and his father are transported to the land of whispers.

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    film still Summer Nights
  • S p a c e s (M e z e r y)

    dir. Nora Štrbová
    anim2020

    The film explores memory as a container of our identity. It's based on the personal story of the author and her brother who got a brain tumor diagnosis.

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    film still S p a c e s
  • Tell Me My Story (Opowiedz mi o mnie)

    dir. Maciej Miller
    dok2022

    Magda never met her parents. As an adult, she finally decides to look for them. The filmmakers accompany the protagonist in her painstaking search but every attempt to uncover the truth crashes against the wall.

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    film still Tell Me My Story
  • The Boob Fairy (Wróżka cycuszka)

    dir. Léahn Vivier-Chapas
    anim2021

    Vivid colours, sharp, strong lines and very characteristic, expressive characters. This animation is something you will not forget anytime soon. A 4-year-old girl is jealous of her mom’s big breasts and somewhere in the circus arena there is a tiger performance. What connects these characters and who is the eponymous fairy? You will find out by watching this unusual and very telling production by Léahn Vivier-Chapas.

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    film still The Boob Fairy
  • The Cat (Kot)

    dir. Zofia Strzelecka
    anim2022

    The eternal battle between Cat and Dog to the rhythm of hip-hop. Cat is a drug dealer and a neighbourhood hooligan, while Dog is a policeman whose main aim is to catch Cat. Will either of them ever win? An animated music video about Polish tower block housing estates.

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    film still The Cat
  • The Cathedral (Katedra)

    dir. Denis Dobrovoda
    dok2022

    An idealist driven by his faith for some and a madman full of sinful pride for others, Justo Gallego started erecting a huge cathedral 60 years ago. He invested his own funds and built it almost entirely with his own hands. But what will happen to it after the builder’s death?

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    film still The Cathedral
    Awards:Golden Horn
  • The Children Accuse (Dzieci oskarżają)

    dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski
    dok1956

    One of several films by the Hoffman-Skorzewski duo made as a part of the "black series" of Polish documentaries. It shows social problems hidden from viewers until the mid-1950s. The problems were masked with typical productions of socialist realism. The effects of alcoholism are the theme of the film. Unfortunately, children become innocent victims of that addiction.

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    film still The Children Accuse
  • The Death of a Student (Ylioppilaan kuolema)

    dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen
    dok1977

    The film presents the events surrounding the tragic death of Stanisław Pyjas, a student from Krakow. The director tries to explain the circumstances of the incident.

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    film still The Death of a Student
  • The Dream of a Horse

    dir. Marjan Khosravi
    dok2021

    In a mountainous but extremely green landscape goats jump over the rocks and laughing children run after them. In this paradise on earth, nomadic families have found their temporary home. From one of these families comes a teenage girl, Shahnaz. The girl should be getting married soon, but her thoughts are focused on the world of literature.

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    film still The Dream of a Horse
  • The el Masri Case (Der Fall el Masri)

    dir. Stefan Eberlein
    dok2021

    In this brilliantly directed and documented story of a man who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, agents, terrorists and secret CIA prisons play the main part alongside chance. The filmmakers have exposed operation mechanisms of the secret service showing how easy it is to lose sight of human rights in a conflict situation.

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    film still The el Masri Case
  • The Fence (Płot)

    dir. Tomasz Wolski
    fab2022

    In subtle semi-darkness, somewhere in the provinces, a drama between tenderness and enmity, understatement and the absence of acceptance unravels. Since his father’s death Michał has been running a small stud farm on his own. But he is visited by a guest who destroys the fence at night. Are these wild bores or the wind? Neither can walk with torches.

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    film still The Fence
  • The Hamlet Syndrome (Syndrom Hamleta)

    dir. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski
    dok2022

    ‘To be or not to be’ – these words take on new meanings in wartime conditions. A few months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a group of young people prepare a play in which Shakespeare will voice their own doubts, fears and dreams. Life, theatre and cinema blend into one for a moment turning into a thrilling psychodrama.

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    film still The Hamlet Syndrome
    Awards:Golden Hobby-Horse / Special Mention / Nagrody specjalne
  • The Long Goodbye

    dir. Aneil Karia
    fab2020

    Riz Ahmed delivers a standout performance in this overwhelming and explosive experience which places us in the frontline as witnesses to the extreme consequences of what hate speech and racism can ultimately lead to. A visually arresting, rhythmically powerful and thought-provoking slice of dystopia.

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    film still The Long Goodbye
  • The Miracle Fair (Jarmark cudów)

    dir. Jerzy Hoffman
    dok1966

    A beautiful, ethnographic documentary that shows traders of small goods at fairs. Traders advertise their goods in such a way, that professional artists would envy them. They do it in a humorous, creative manner.

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  • The News

    dir. Lorin Terezi
    fab2020

    A newly married woman lives with her in-laws while her husband works in the neighboring country, Greece. One day he discovers a corpse and the whole small town faces in a battle to get coverage on national television.

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    film still The News
  • The Pack (Sfora)

    dir. Tadeusz Chudy
    dok2022

    A story of a remarkable relationship between troublesome dogs from a shelter and inmates who take care of them. The prisoners are supposed to train the dogs so that they are fit for adoption. The stakes are high because if they fail, the dogs will be put down.

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    film still The Pack
  • The Pawnshop (Lombard)

    dir. Łukasz Kowalski
    dok2022

    Grey streets, poor district and a pair of colourful birds in the midst. Jola and Wiesiek have been running one of the biggest pawnshops in Europe for years. The business, so prosperous in the past, is now in decline. Can the increasingly conflicted couple avoid bankruptcy?

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    film still The Pawnshop
  • The Repeater

    dir. Grete Suarez
    fab2021

    A radio repairman hikes up a mountain to fix the repeater tower. A simple task turns into an arduous journey when he encounters a string of strange occurrences that forces him to face a painful truth in his life.A radio repairman hikes up a mountain to fix the repeater tower.

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    film still The Repeater
  • The Rocking Horses (Koniki na biegunach)

    dir. Marcin Lesisz
    dok2022

    A touching, warm and painfully accurate portrait of a person with mental disability. Animation brings Ewa’s drawings to life and helps us to see the world though her eyes. We may realise what kind of problems she faces and notice the person, not the illness; the person who has the right to be who she wants to be.

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    film still The Rocking Horses
    Awards:Silver Hobby-Horse
  • The Scent of Fear

    dir. Mirjam von Arx
    dok2021

    Mirjam von Arx takes viewers upon a journey to the heart of fear – the underlying cause of all fears. She combines the subjective and objective order to look for answers to the question about what drives human behaviour: humans or their fears?

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    film still The Scent of Fear
  • The Sea Bride (عروس البحر)

    dir. Mohammed Ateeq
    fab2021

    The family will either accept the scandal or give their daughter in marriage to the man who raped her. Resolving the matter through the courts means a well-deserved prison sentence for the criminal, but it also dishonours the family of the victim. So provides the tradition. And what about the voice of the woman herself?

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    film still The Sea Bride
  • The Soul of a Piano (Dusza zaklęta w Fortepianie)

    dir. Judyta Fibiger
    dok2022

    At the end of the 19th century, Gustaw Arnold Fibiger set up a dynamically developing piano factory in Kalisz. Although today the factory no longer operates as it used to, the memory about it is still alive among contemporary musicians, craftsmen and former employees.

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    film still The Soul of a Piano
  • The Swarmers (Schwarmtiere)

    dir. Alison Kuhn
    fab2022

    A prestigious boarding school, the anxieties of adolescence, competition and a teenager who refuses to be a victim. At the Sankt Severin school, even more problems are hiding under the surface and the game of appearances keeps going on. This non-obvious film was inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s short story ‘Die Turnstunde’.

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    film still The Swarmers
    Awards:Special Mention
  • The Voice (Głos)

    dir. Dominika Montean-Pańków
    dok2022

    The Jesuit Order novitiate is a severe form of a trial. During two years of isolation from society and the comforts of civilisation, young men have enough time to ponder the question: Is the religious life for me?

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    film still The Voice
    Awards:Nagrody specjalne
  • This Will Not Be a Festival Film (To nie będzie film festiwalowy)

    dir. Julia Orlik
    anim2022

    This time, Julita decided to make a film not for the festival laurels, but for her family. Although the task seemed simple, something went wrong. This funny animation about the creation of animation, with a rhyming narration, is a touching story about cherishing family relations.

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    film still This Will Not Be a Festival Film
  • Til We Meet Again (Taaskohtumine)

    dir. Ülo Pikkov
    anim2022

    The Estonian island of Ruhnu is less than 12 km2 in size. During World War II, all the inhabitants had to evacuate for fear of an attack. Now, some of them are returning to the island to find fragments of their former lives in the scraps of nature, small objects and surviving houses.

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    film still Til We Meet Again
  • Tolyatti Adrift

    dir. Laura Sistero
    dok2022

    Bojewaja Klassika is a group of young people who practice illegal drifting. They drift in old cars, Ladas, which once made their hometown of Tolyatti famous. We can see another lost generation of Russians in the city in ruins.

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    film still Tolyatti Adrift
    Awards:Silver Horn
  • To the Sea (看海)

    dir. Lin Po-Yu
    fab2021

    Every day a single mother takes the hardest test of love. Taking care of a disabled son is a challenge for her heart and her head, but above all for her fragile body. When the boy becomes a man and the woman grows old, both need to face the most painful decision of their journey together.

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    film still To the Sea
  • Two Faces of God (Dwa oblicza Boga)

    dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski
    dok1960

    This documentary is focused on Stolica Boża i Barankowa, a Polish religious movement. The members had their own interpretation of the Bible, they also supported the socialist system.

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    film still Two Faces of God
    Awards:Silver Dragon
  • Umschlagplatz (Lastauspaikka - Umschlagplatz)

    dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen
    dok1987

    What happened there is impossible to believe. Archival photographs and, above all, a conversation with a witness and participant of those events, Marek Edelman, help us to understand it. This remarkable and modest man patiently answers the director’s questions, reconstructing the image of a terrifying, borderland place.

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    film still Umschlagplatz
  • Unburial (Odgrzeb)

    dir. Artur Wyrzykowski
    fab2022

    When your life plans fall apart and everything goes wrong, the best way is to escape, wrap yourself in a few layers of clothing and hide under a blanket. Or maybe it is not? Maybe you need an unburial, a mysterious ritual organized for his adult daughter Berka by her concerned father?

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    film still Unburial
  • Under African Skies (Pod niebem Afryki)

    dir. Joe Berlinger
    dok2012
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    film still Under African Skies
  • Victoria

    dir. Karolina Porcari
    fab2022

    Amelia feels that her marriage of almost 30 years lacks passion. Her husband is more fascinated by armour and reconstructions of medieval battles than by her body. One day, tired of her daily routine, she finds a pink parcel at the door of her flat with the contents that will change her life.

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    film still Victoria
    Awards:Silver Dragon
  • Victoria, 15 (Viktorija, 15)

    dir. Mina Petrović
    dok2020
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    film still Victoria, 15
  • Warrawong... the Windy Place on the Hill

    dir. Simon Target
    dok2022

    Sue and Brian, an elderly couple, live among lots of dogs and even more sheep, cows, goats, and sometimes even a kangaroo in the Australian Outback. Although the world is engulfed in pandemic turmoil, hardly anything changes in their everyday life on the farm.

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    film still Warrawong... the Windy Place on the Hill
  • Way of Sylvie (Podle Sylvie)

    dir. Verica Pospíšilová Kordić
    anim2019

    Sylvie´s life beats in a rhythm of responsibilities. And she is efficient, flawless, wonderful and - tired. A small accident happens and everything changes... or maybe not.

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    film still Way of Sylvie
  • When I'll Be... (Kiedy będę...)

    dir. Tymoteusz Kałużewski
    dok2022

    Adam does not say much. He comes alive at the shooting range and at the Equality March, proudly holding a blue, pink and white flag. He knows who he really is and will do anything to finally be able to feel truly himself.

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    film still When I
  • Without Us (Uten Oss)

    dir. Julie Engaas
    anim2022

    Imagine a world from which human beings have suddenly disappeared. The wind rumbles in deserted cafes and empty shopping malls are haunted by creaking staircases. Unexpectedly, vegetation starts to come to life planting a seed of hope in this apocalyptic vision of the world.

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    film still Without Us
  • Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched

    dir. Kier-La Janisse
    dok2021

    A cinematic odyssey through the dark alleys of folk horror, from its origins in 1960s Britain to its contemporary revival in such works as Midsommar or The Witch. Director Kier-La Janisse takes us through every possible context of the genre in this over three-hour-long compendium of film studies.

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    film still Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched
  • You Are Ceausescu to Me (Pentru mine tu ești Ceaușescu)

    dir. Sebastian Mihăilescu
    dok2021

    In austere industrial interiors, young people re-enact scenes from Nicolae Ceauşescu’s life from the time when he was still a young and power-hungry conspirator. The drama turns smoothly into a pastiche and the snappy combination of history, improvisation and self-reflection unexpectedly brings us closer to the truth about the essence of ideas, sacrifice and power.

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    film still You Are Ceausescu to Me
  • Zasada

    dir. Michał Bolland
    dok2022

    A legendary Polish driver returns to take part in one of the most difficult car races in the world. Will Sobiesław Zasada win the next car race at 91?

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    film still Zasada
  • Zbigniew Seifert. Interrupted Journey (Zbigniew Seifert. Przerwana podróż)

    dir. Robert Kaczmarek
    dok2021

    He died just before his 33rd birthday, at the top of his musical abilities and the start of his international career. An inspiring person, he left a mark in many people’s lives. The Krakow-born virtuoso is now remembered by both his family members and jazz stars.

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    film still Zbigniew Seifert. Interrupted Journey
  • Zbigniew Seifert. Interrupted Journey (Zbigniew Seifert. Przerwana podróż [PL AD+napisy])

    dir. Robert Kaczmarek
    dok2022

    He died just before his 33rd birthday, at the top of his musical abilities and the start of his international career. An inspiring person, he left a mark in many people’s lives. The Krakow-born virtuoso is now remembered by both his family members and jazz stars.

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    film still Zbigniew Seifert. Interrupted Journey
  • Zoon

    dir. Jonatan Schwenk
    anim2021

    If you can spend hours watching videos of cute animals on the internet, then we definitely have something for you. Director Jonatan Schwenk decided to show the night life of axolotls in his animation. Feel free to find out more about the peculiar habits of these extraordinary amphibians!

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    film still Zoon
  • (Říkání o víle Amálce. Jak přetancovala obra Hrompace)

    dir. Václav Bedřich
    anim1973
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    film still
  • (Rákosníček a hvězdy. Jak Rákosníček zachraňoval raka, až se mu zatočila hlava)

    dir. Zdeněk Smetana
    anim1975
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  • (Pohádky z mechu a kapradí. Kterak pekli kaštany)

    dir. Zdeněk Smetana
    anim1968
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    film still
  • (Pat a Mat. Tapety)

    dir. Lubomír Beneš
    anim1981
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  • (O makové panence. O makové panence a veverce Barče)

    dir. Václav Bedřich
    anim1971
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    film still
  • (O loupežníku Rumcajsovi. Jak Rumcajs vysadil duhu na nebe)

    dir. Ladislav Čapek
    anim1982
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    film still
  • (O Sazinkovi. Jak Sazinka s dětmi chytal zloděje)

    dir. Václav Bedřich
    anim1976
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  • (Bob a Bobek – králíci z klobouku. Na koncertě)

    dir. Václav Bedřich
    anim1978
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    film still
  • (Štaflík a Špagetka. Jak Štaflík a Špagetka nemohli usnout)

    dir. Václav Bedřich
    anim1969
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    film still