63rd KFF – 2023

191 films

Baza filmów z 2023 roku prezentowanych na 63. Krakowskim Festiwalu Filmowym od 28 maja do 4 czerwca.

  • 250 km

    dir. Hasmik Movsisyan
    fab2022

    ‘The most difficult and the most important thing in life is to make a decision. The present depends on it and, what is more, it will always influence the future’, is what a father tells a teenage boy. When the first bombs fall, he will be faced with the choices determining the life of his family, friends, some completely unknown people and a turtle.

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    film still 250 km
  • Affairs of the Art

    dir. Joanna Quinn
    anim2021

    In ‘Affairs of the Art’ everyone seems to be a freak of a kind. The narrator thinks she is the only normal person in her crazy family. Is that really true? The animation uses black humour to show, in an exaggerated way, our obsessions and persistent pursuit of our dreams.

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    film still Affairs of the Art
  • Air (Aire)

    dir. Ricardo Íscar
    dok2022

    For the protagonist, breathing therapy and anti-stress techniques become a starting point for a life change. He enters the world of freediving, i.e. diving while breadth-holding. Risking his life, he starts practicing holding his breath for increasingly longer periods of time. Where is the boundary of his capabilities?

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    film still Air
  • Ambulance (Ambulans)

    dir. Janusz Morgenstern
    fab1961

    Janusz Morgenstern's short film touches on a rarely addressed and tabooed theme from World War II - the extermination of Jewish children.

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    film still Ambulance
  • Amy

    dir. Asif Kapadia
    dok2015
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    film still Amy
  • Apolonia, Apolonia

    dir. Lea Glob
    dok2022

    Over the years, Lea Glob kept filming the charismatic artist Apolonia Sokol. The result is a fascinating portrait, spanning 13 years, of a young woman trying to find her place in the art world.

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    film still Apolonia, Apolonia
  • A Compassionate Spy (Szpieg, który współczuł)

    dir. Steve James
    dok2022

    Ted Hall did not partake in the joy of other scientists participating in the Manhattan Project. He was not delighted to see the artificial Sun burning over the New Mexican desert. He was concerned about the American monopoly on such a powerful weapon as a nuclear bomb. He thought the world would be safer if he shared what he knew with Russians. He was a fool, madman and enemy of the state. People spoke about him. His daughter refers to him as a designer of a better world. For Hall, compassion for humanity signified an ethically ambiguous act of rebellion.

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    film still A Compassionate Spy
  • A Short Walk (Spacer)

    dir. Jagoda Szelc
    dok2015

    The film was shot during a 40 min hectic interview in which the filmmakers are looking for a safe place to talk. Crossing the city they talk to a young man who fought for the pro-russian armed forces in the Dombass conflict. They learn a few simple facts about his life and how he become who he is.

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    film still A Short Walk
  • Ballad of Kychiev (Ballada Kyczejewska)

    dir. Piotr Krzysztof Kamiński
    fab2023

    Ukraine, 2022. Russian soldiers are committing war crimes on the civilian population. The occupied areas are cut off from the rest of the country and the residents face death if they try to escape. Volunteers, risking their lives, provide them with food supplies. One of them is Dmytro.

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    film still Ballad of Kychiev
  • Bard

    dir. Katarzyna Kościelak
    dok2013

    How well, if at all, did we know Jacek Kaczmarski, an outstanding Polish poet and singer? The documentary makes an attempt to draw a complex, multi-dimensional portrait of a singer-songwriter which reveals a tragic figure torn between the passion of creation, perfectionism and his own weaknesses. It also tries to confront the myth of the bard of the Solidarity movement, the moniker that tired the charismatic author of ‘Walls’, a protest song, and became a reason for later alienation.

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    film still Bard
  • Basia: Three Short Stories (Trzy opowiadania o Basi)

    dir. Mateusz Pietrak
    dok2023

    ‘I have decided to die this year,’ - jokes Basia, who does not look like someone who turned 80. She fulfils herself in her role of a grandmother, mother and sister as well as on stage. The camera captures her preparations to the performance of her life.

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    film still Basia: Three Short Stories
    Awards:Golden Hobby-Horse / Special Award
  • Battu’s Bioscope (Kiniarze z Kalkuty)

    dir. Andrzej Fidyk
    dok1998

    Mr. Battu, the film-loving owner of a travelling cinema, and his 80-year-old assistant Mama embark on another journey to show films in areas of India where there are no cinemas, no television, no electricity.

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    film still Battu’s Bioscope
  • Before Bedtime (Regaim Lifney Hashena)

    dir. Fábio Zilberman Iuchno
    dok2022

    Michal has been bed-ridden for over three years. She suffers from an uncurable disease which prevents her from normal functioning. Between hospital stays, the woman is also a wife and mother of two children. Her son is just 7 and although he does not understand much, he becomes her most important companion.

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    film still Before Bedtime
  • Belay (Asekuracja)

    dir. Julian Tałandziewicz
    fab2023

    Tomek is a psychotherapist who requires help himself. His professional and personal life is in disarray and he needs to put it together again from scratch. His frustration is intensified by renovation work next door, an excessively difficult climbing route and an exceptionally well-informed patient - a stand-up comedian who approaches him with a surprising request.

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    film still Belay
  • Between Picture and Sound. Jerzy Kucia (Między obrazem a dźwiękiem. Jerzy Kucia)

    dir. Maria Pisarek
    dok2022

    His name must be mentioned in any conversation about animated film. Jerzy Kucia is a film director, pedagogue and a total artist. He has received numerous international awards including the Dragon of Dragons for his contribution to the development of international animation.

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    film still Between Picture and Sound. Jerzy Kucia
  • Between Revolutions (Între revoluții)

    dir. Vlad Petri
    dok2023

    Illustrated with fascinating archival footage, the correspondence between two friends who studied in Bucharest in the late 1970s serves as an excuse to go on a unique journey in time. What connects Iran in a revolutionary frenzy and socialist Romania where the society’s malaise is concealed by enthusiastic propaganda? In both countries, any hopes for a better future vanish in the shadow of ideological dogmas, always guarded by very much alike sad men in dark coats.

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    film still Between Revolutions
  • Be Somebody (Być kimś)

    dir. Michał Toczek
    fab2023

    Together with his family, Wiktor moves into a recently bought flat, which turns out to have belonged to Lech Wałęsa, an ordinary electrician who became Poland’s president many years ago. When his wife learns about it, she comes up with a crazy idea. Suspended between a drama and a comedy, this perverse story shows what it means to ‘be someone’ or just yourself.

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    film still Be Somebody
    Awards:Golden Hobby-Horse
  • Bgirl Badli

    dir. Charlotte De Cort
    dok2022

    Dancing is everything for her. At the young age of 14, Mali leaves her family home and moves to a bigger city to live with her older sister and be closer to her dream school. The teenage girl is ready to make sacrifices but her body does not always want to follow her dreams.

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    film still Bgirl Badli
  • Bread (Khlib)

    dir. Mykola Shpykovskyi
    dok1929

    Not well-known Ukrainian silent film, resplendent in its avant-garde manner of production. Shot for propaganda purposes, it was formally ahead of its time, turning an agricultural tale into an epic poem.

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    film still Bread
  • Budding Humans

    dir. Gunhild Westhagen Magnor
    dok2022

    Balder and Haakon arrived at our planet just two years ago. They find it difficult to move around it. The social norms applied are not clear for them and the place has been beset by waves of emotions which are hard to express. These two creatures have a long way to go. A Norwegian documentarian spent one year observing them.

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    film still Budding Humans
  • Cataract (Katarakta)

    dir. Łukasz Iwanicz
    dok2023

    How much do you need to be happy? Three different characters from three different communities share their experiences of sadness, loss and unfulfillment. A poignant story about searching for sense when one thinks that nothing more will happen in one’s life.

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    film still Cataract
  • Cherries (Uogos)

    dir. Vytautas Katkus
    fab2022

    A recently retired father invites his son to help him with the cherry picking in the garden. The father is in no hurry to finish the cherry job though, as he tries to catch up with his son. The cherries remain in the background. EFA nominee at the Cannes Film Festival.

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    film still Cherries
  • Chornobyl 22 (Chornobylʹ 22)

    dir. Oleksiy Radynski
    dok2023

    In 1986 there was an enormous nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. Another one could have happened in 2022 when Russian soldiers entered the site of the power plant. Their presence was recorded by an anonymous cameraman. The memories became revived.

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    film still Chornobyl 22
  • Clinging (Hitzamdoot)

    dir. Liat Glick
    fab2022

    Life is made of repeatable stories, accounts and questions. Birth and death, joy and sickness, youth and old age. In ‘Clinging’, Liat Glick focuses the camera on herself to tell a tender story about a trio made of a mature 47-year-old daughter, her mother and beloved aging dog.

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    film still Clinging
  • Close (Przestrzeń zamknięta)

    dir. Hana Umeda
    fab2022

    Watch VR from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm. "Close" is an attempt to confront the ambiguous position of contemporary traditional Japanese jiutamai dance. By creating an effect of intimate intimacy and giving the dancer / dance protagonist a voice, Hana Umeda attempts to reclaim both for herself and for the entire multi-generational community of jiutamai dancers, agency and subjectivity.

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    film still Close
  • Cobain: Montage of Heck (Kurt Cobain: Życie bez cenzury)

    dir. Brett Morgen
    dok2015

    On 5 April 1994 the leader of Nirvana joined the ‘27 Club’, i.e. the group of rock artists who lived too fast and died too young. The film directors, who first reached mementoes left by Cobain, try to confront his dark legend. The executive producer is the musician’s daughter who was just 18 months old when her father committed suicide. The film was also approved by the widow after the artist, Courtney Love, who has been hostile to this kind of projects so far.

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    film still Cobain: Montage of Heck
    Awards:Golden Heynal
  • Connoisseur's Feast (Uczta konesera)

    dir. Sławomir Shuty
    fab2022

    Kaja, a young and promising artist, is stuck in a creativity crisis. Overwhelmed by the pressure of the art market, with no support of her faithless partner, she organises a diabolic performance. A macabre jibe at the world of art brings her great success. Kaja overcomes her helplessness and confirms her artistic position.

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    film still Connoisseur
  • Cosmogonic (Kosmogonik)

    dir. Paweł Szarzyński
    fab2021

    Watch VR from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm. "Cosmogonic" is the first VR experience inspired by the Polish science-fiction writer Stanisław Lem—known for investigating humanity and social justice through visions of faraway planets and mechanical beings.

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    film still Cosmogonic
  • Daughter

    dir. Yaser Talebi
    dok2022

    A father and daughter in a conservative Iranian town. She is expected to be obedient, take care of the aging man, give up her university plans in exchange for a quick marriage, while a new wife is being sought for him. Sarah is not very fond of the idea as no one can replace her late mom.

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    film still Daughter
    Awards:Silver Dragon
  • Day In, Day Out (Jak co dzień...)

    dir. Kazimierz Karabasz
    dok1955

    Rhythmic and indicative documentary that shows how every day 150 000 people hurry to work by public transport from their homes in the suburbs of Warsaw, Poland in the fifties.

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    film still Day In, Day Out
  • Dead Birds Flying High (Die toten Vögel sind oben)

    dir. Sönje Storm
    dok2022

    A story of birds, butterflies, fungi, moss and people. All these creatures, both dead and alive, were photographed by Jürgen F. Mahrt (1882–1940) with the same degree of attention. The former were captured for eternity, while the latter were depicted motionless but as if in a death-defying manner. The photographer was possessed by an obsession to act against the chaos of wars and the disaster of an abruptly changing landscape.

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    film still Dead Birds Flying High
  • Dead City (Umarłe miasto)

    dir. Krzysztof Grudziński
    fab2020

    Watch VR from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm. "Dead City" is a narrative experience with elements of singing, contemporary and operatic music, based on the eponymous poetic libretto by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

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    film still Dead City
  • Description Found Years Later (Rysopis znaleziony po latach)

    dir. Sławomir Rogowski, Stanisław Zawiśliński
    dok2023

    A multi-dimensional portrait of one of the most distinctive artists in the history of Polish cinematography. Wojciech Jerzy Has always hovered over the line where the mainstream met the avant-garde and his biography was marked by moments of artistic triumphs and personal tragedies.

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    film still Description Found Years Later
  • Dreaming Arizona

    dir. Jon Bang Carlsen
    dok2022

    ‘A documentary fantasy played out by real people,’ – is how the director described his film bordering on observation and creation, cinema and theatre. The protagonists are five secondary school students from a town in Arizona and the main theme involves feelings, traumas and dreams of these young people.

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    film still Dreaming Arizona
  • Dziwny świat kota Filemona

    dir.
    anim1972
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    film still Dziwny świat kota Filemona
  • Early Apex (Wiraż)

    dir. Paweł Hejbudzki
    dok2022

    The world of kid karting is fascinating and at the same time raises many questions. This little-known extreme sport is governed by the same rules as competitions for adults – what matters is rivalry, a place on the podium and regular training. Not all children are ready for such a sacrifice.

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    film still Early Apex
    Awards:Special Mention / Special Award
  • Eeva

    dir. Lucija Mrzljak, Morten Tšinakov
    anim2022

    In the sea of crying funeral attendees and pouring rain, a woman who is bidding farewell to her husband seems unmoved. Only after successive glasses of wine when memories return, does she burst out with emotions and is provoked to demonstrate surprising behaviour. The absurd situation is intensified by a visit of a mysterious woodpecker.

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    film still Eeva
  • Ellis

    dir. Sascha Just
    dok2022

    The Marsalis clan is considered the ‘first jazz family’. It was headed by legendary Ellis, who died of Covid three years ago. Brace yourself for a musical and biographical journey that starts in New Orleans and runs through a large part of the history of jazz music as well as America.

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    film still Ellis
  • El Drogas

    dir. Natxo Leuza
    dok2022

    Natxo Leuza’s music documentary can be best described using the words transformation, counterculture and music. The director allows the eponymous protagonist to take the audience on a journey through the underground world of the political transformation era in Spain. One of its symbols was El Drogas, the icon of the 1980s music counterculture.

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    film still El Drogas
  • End of Natalka's World (Koniec świata Natalki)

    dir. Anna Urbańczyk
    dok2023

    Natalka is a bright nine-year old narrator of this Silesian story. She lives with her family in the little village of Nieboczowy, which in fact disappeared in 2020 – all the residents were resettled as the area was to be used as a construction site for a retention reservoir.

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    film still End of Natalka
  • Faces of Agata (Twarze Agaty)

    dir. Małgorzata Kozera
    dok2023

    When she was 16, Agata heard that she would most likely bleed herself to death within 2 years. On that day she was born anew. After 20 years and over 30 face surgeries, she lives in London and works as an artist who turned her struggle with a lethal disease into art.

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    film still Faces of Agata
  • Faces of Agata (Twarze Agaty)

    dir. Małgorzata Kozera
    dok2023

    When she was 16, Agata heard that she would most likely bleed herself to death within 2 years. On that day she was born anew. After 20 years and over 30 face surgeries, she lives in London and works as an artist who turned her struggle with a lethal disease into art.

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    film still Faces of Agata
    Awards:Golden Hobby-Horse
  • Family²

    dir. Yifan Sun
    dok2019

    Lola was adopted into a Belgian family eleven years ago when she was an infant. Over the years, she has been imagining the reunion with her birth family in China. This summer, her dream finally comes true. When Lola's two families finally meet for the first time, how will they spend the time together? What will Lola's birth parents tell her?

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    film still Family²
  • Fantastic Matt Parey (Fantastyczny Matt Parey)

    dir. Bartosz Paduch
    dok2023

    It is hard to imagine Polish science fiction without Maciej Parowski. He was the editor-in-chief of the Polish iconic monthly Fantastyka who stood behind the success of several generations of authors. People from across Poland were sending their texts to him. If it had not been for him, no one knows what would have happened to "The Witcher" or "The Cathedral", an Oscar-winning film by Tomasz Bagiński.

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    film still Fantastic Matt Parey
  • Father and Daughter

    dir. Michael Dudok de Wit
    anim2000

    A bike leaning against a tree, the memory of the last hug and the image of a boat sailing into the expanse of a lake are everything that a little girl was left with after her father, who he disappeared without a trace one day. The daughter continues to return to the lake hoping to hug her father again one day. Oscar-winning animation about longing and the passing of time.

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    film still Father and Daughter
  • Fauna

    dir. Pau Faus
    dok2023

    The world of ‘Fauna’ is a reality of contrasts and contradictions. In Barcelona’s suburbs, two apparently unrelated stories are taking place – one in nature, while the other one – behind closed doors of a scientific lab. Can these worlds remain independent of each other?

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    film still Fauna
  • Fighting the Shadow (Walka z cieniem)

    dir. Nadiya Rodkina
    dok2022

    The political situation in Belarus forced Dima to flee the country. Fearing for his loved ones, he constantly maintains contact with those who had to stay there. Despite his various efforts to start a new life in Poland, he keeps fighting the shadow of his pas

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    film still Fighting the Shadow
  • Free Cow (Wolna krowa)

    dir. Marek Głuszczak
    fab2023

    A mother, activist daughter and a free cow meet somewhere in the forest. The latter decided, together with its herd, to start a new life on its own account. But now, cows are to be caught and sentenced to death. Sara refuses to accept it. The girl escapes from home to defend the herd. Her mother Alicia follows the daughter.

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    film still Free Cow
  • Girls of 1960 (1960.gada meotenes)

    dir. Una Celma
    dok2022

    A poignant and painfully honest film about the generation of 60-year-old Latvian women, friends from secondary school born in the era of communism. Contrasting sentimental archival footage with the interviews conducted over the years, the documentary author reveals the divide between the official image of gender equality and the crude reality.

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    film still Girls of 1960
  • Globus (No Elephant in the Room)

    dir. Clara Kleininger-Wanik
    dok2022

    When a new law banning circus shows featuring animals enters into force, Adi and Mioara, animal trainers in a Bucharest circus, must come up with an idea of how to make their shows more attractive so that they do not lose their audience. A world-famous circus director arrives at Romania from as far as Las Vegas in order to help.

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    film still Globus
  • God Is Born (Bóg się rodzi)

    dir. Piotr Szczepański
    dok2023

    It is a hot summer day in August 2022. Harvesting is in progress in the Polish countryside. It follows the same routine as every year until is it interrupted by an unexpected aberration. A surprising take on the multi-layer crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.

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    film still God Is Born
  • Goodbye My Wonderful World (Żegnam cię, mój świecie wesoły)

    dir. Joo Joostberens
    dok2023

    The film title alludes to a traditional Polish mourning song, which was included on the album ‘Rzeczy ostatnie’ recorded by the band Polskie Znaki. The project aimed to dust off folk music, which for centuries had put people at ease with regard to death before it became a taboo in modern culture. The story of the album is at the same time an essay on passing away.

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    film still Goodbye My Wonderful World
  • Good News

    dir. Zuzanna Solakiewicz, Zvika Gregory Portnoy
    dok2023

    A shocking testimony to the events which occurred on the Polish-Belarusian border in 2021. Under the guise of a ‘forest trip’ activists venture into the Białowieża Primeval Forest to deliver necessary items to the refugees from the Middle East and Africa hiding there.

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    film still Good News
  • Grandpa's Orchard (Sad dziadka)

    dir. Karol Starnawski
    dok2023

    The Volhynian massacre remains a taboo subject for the next generations of Poles and Ukrainians. Karolina’s family spoke about the events in which their relatives were murdered behind a closed door only. To discover the truth about her ancestors, Karolina sets off on a journey to Volhynia.

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    film still Grandpa
  • Granny's Sexual Life (Babičino seksualno življenje)

    dir. Urška Djukić, Émilie Pigeard
    anim2021

    Four old women, reflect on their memories of old times when they were young and how different the relationships between men and women were back then. Their voices merge into one single voice, that of the grandmother Vera, who tells her story in proper detail. A trip into grandmother’s youth and the memories of her intimate life illustrate the status of Slovenian women in the first half of the 20th century.

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    film still Granny
  • Handbook (Handbuch)

    dir. Pavel Mozhar
    dok2021

    In the days following the presidential election in Belarus in August 2020, numerous protests erupt throughout the country. The special police, OMON, take particularly brutal action against demonstrators, which even spills over onto passers-by. In total, almost 7000 people are arrested throughout Belarus. Hundreds of victims recount their experiences in interviews. Their reports reveal a system of repression, which is reconstructed in detail in the director’s room in Berlin Neukölln in the form of a cinematic guide.

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    film still Handbook
  • Happy Ending

    dir. Élodie Yung
    fab2022

    A secret from the past combined with the drudgery of everyday life in the company of sweating machos and patronising managers may turn out to be an explosive mixture worthy of Park Chan-wook’s cinema of vengeance and passion. But the film was made by young debutante Élodie Yung, who invites us to a massage parlour where a young immigrant from Cambodia offers her services.

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    film still Happy Ending
  • Here Lions Once Roared (Ici rugissaient les lions)

    dir. Jean-Baptiste Bonnet, Laurine Estrade
    dok2022

    Everywhere where human and non-human lives met, the reality needed to become the subject of never-ending negotiations. The vectors of interests pointed to very different directions. With an anthropological insight, French documentarians capture the reconstruction of events from almost half a million years ago being acted out over a river near Tautavel.

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    film still Here Lions Once Roared
  • Her Own Truth (Własna prawda)

    dir. Agnieszka Kruczek
    anim2023

    They planned to spend only three months in Germany. Unexpectedly, the imposition of martial law forced the mother and the daughter to change their plans. A nostalgic story about loneliness, longing and unpredictability around which the audience is guided by a little girl and Barnaby the bear.

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    film still Her Own Truth
  • Home (Dom)

    dir. Kinga Kociarz
    anim2023

    ‘Hail Mary, full of grace,’ – repeats a woman praying on her knees. A man recites a rhyme about a shelter he could have built. A grandfather is coughing while painting a picture and a child is running carefree in between them holding a paper plane. Only the little boy cannot feel the atmosphere of anxiety and seems unaffected by generational trauma.

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    film still Home
  • Hotel Centaur

    dir. Lino Kafidas, Dimitrios Kafidas
    fab2022

    Centaurs are creatures from the Greek mythology with a head and torso of a man on the body of a horse. Supposedly, they lived in Greek forests. Some people who believe they really exist are willing to pay large sums for a meeting with them. In Hotel Centaur, located in picturesque surroundings, a group of colourful eccentrics organise a get-together.

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    film still Hotel Centaur
  • Hug Me. The Honey Seekers (Przytul mnie. Poszukiwacze miodu)

    dir. Anna Błaszczyk
    anim2022

    There was a tragedy in the forest. The entire stock of honey is gone. Without this sticky delicacy no dream birthday cake can be made. Little Bear decides to go with his dad to Golden Land to search for the irreplaceable golden ingredient. Their expedition turns out to be an incredible adventure.

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    film still Hug Me. The Honey Seekers
  • Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary

    dir. Robert Schwartzman
    dok2023

    The Zombies are a true legend that began 60 years ago in the British provinces. A group of teenagers soon proved it to the world that the Beatles were not everything. Today, these rock veterans have not lost any vigour, either.

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    film still Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary
  • Ice Merchants

    dir. João Gonzalez
    anim2022

    Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house, attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they produce daily.

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    film still Ice Merchants
  • I'll Come to You Tomorrow (Jutro do Ciebie przyjdę)

    dir. Paulina Ibek
    dok2023

    A group of Roma people meet at a bonfire in the evening to say their farewells to one of the senior members of their Tarnów clan. Some of them have not seen each other for many years, others came from abroad for this particular occasion. An intimate story about the changes in the life of the Roma community in Poland over the years.

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    film still I
  • Image liberation! Remu Cemetery (Cmentarz Remu)

    dir. Edward Etler
    dok1961

    A semi-documentary impression of the historic interiors of the Remu Synagogue in Krakow and the surrounding cemetery.

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    film still Image liberation! Remu Cemetery
  • Imperial (Impériale)

    dir. Coline Confort
    dok2022

    Eva is passionate about history and dreams about taking part in an enormous and prestigious historical reconstruction. Unfortunately, to join the Napoleonic army she needs to be a man. The girl decides to outsmart 200-year-old rules and regulations and join the army doubly dressed up – as a male soldier.

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    film still Imperial
  • Infinity. The Universe of Luigi Ghirri (Infinito. L'universo di Luigi Ghirri)

    dir. Matteo Parsini
    dok2022

    In this poetic portrayal of Luigi Ghirri (1943–1992), a master of contemporary photography, the director gives voice and, in particular the image, to the protagonist. The photographer takes the audience on a tour of the outskirts of daily life as seen from the corner of his eye, the area in between what is artificial and authentic or grand and small – the meso-scale.

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    film still Infinity. The Universe of Luigi Ghirri
  • Inside Kabul

    dir. Caroline Gillet, Denis Walgenwitz
    dok2023

    A simple animated line and a powerful documentary story. Journalist Caroline Gillet receives unique recordings from two Afghan women she knows. In short messages, Marwa and Raha report the brutal takeover of the country by the armed Taliban. Very soon, one of the women flees her homeland.

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    film still Inside Kabul
  • In My Skin (En Mi Piel)

    dir. Sándor M. Salas
    dok2023

    Lace, taffeta and subtle elegant adornments. Wide sleeves, frills, deep necklines and long colourful earrings. Canes, crutches and wheelchairs. This hypnotic dance show is a flamenco performance created by persons with disabilities who feel free and fulfilled while dancing.

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    film still In My Skin
  • Iriy (Wyraj)

    dir. Jakub Stoszek, Magdalena Mistygacz
    dok2023

    War is never far away, as Wojciech Młynarski wrote. The residents of Shestovitcha, a village liberated from under the Russian occupation, are trying to move on with their lives. Nevertheless, it is difficult to live in peace when danger is lurking just behind the corner. A terrifyingly true portrayal of people who are trying to remain normal in abnormal times.

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    film still Iriy
    Awards:Special Mention
  • Is There Anybody Out There? (Czy jest tam ktoś?)

    dir. Ella Glendining
    dok2023

    The film director and protagonist in one defies stereotypes related to otherness and disability. Despite a severe body deformity, she lives her life to the fullest and finds fulfilment as a woman and artist. To find out whether there are people with a similar affliction elsewhere in the world, she sets off on a journey.

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    film still Is There Anybody Out There?
    Awards:Silver Horn / Special Award
  • It's Only/Not Only A Body... Or A Short Film About Freedom (To tylko/aż ciało... albo krótki film o wolności)

    dir. Michał Hytroś
    dok2023

    Love thyself. This is the life credo of Zosia - a photographer, traveller and free spirit. Going round the world in her camper, she uses photography to make other women comfortable with nakedness and teaches them to love their own bodies.

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    film still It
  • I Know You’re Afraid Too (Wiem, że ty też się boisz)

    dir. Pola Włodarczyk
    anim2023

    A woman is afraid of a big black bird she keeps in her flat locked in a cage. She decides to take it to the Office of Weights and Measures to have it measured. Hovering over the border between the absurd and grotesque, the animation shows our hidden fears, loneliness and cages we create for ourselves.

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    film still I Know You’re Afraid Too
  • Katarynka

    dir.
    anim1956
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    film still Katarynka
  • Kinior

    dir. Kacper Kiniorski
    dok2022

    An oneiric impression about Włodzimierz "Kinior" Kiniorski - a composer and multi-instrumentalist from the Polish jazz scene. It is an intimate and uncompromising film made by his son.

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    film still Kinior
  • Knowing the Score

    dir. Janine Hosking
    dok2022

    Not until recently was the world ready to accept a female orchestra conductor. Simone Young, an Australian with a baton, is one of the first women who paved the way. The document was produced by Cate Blanchett, the star of ‘Tár’, who takes the role of the renowned maestra this time.

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    film still Knowing the Score
  • Lack (Brak)

    dir. Paweł Prewencki
    anim2023

    An intimate take on the emotions related to awaiting a baby and the grief after the infant’s loss. The pain accompanying the parents was depicted by means of visual symbols and metaphors. An economical, surreal story about a personal tragedy which, at the same time, is a remarkably beautiful observation of the love between two people who are trying to overcome a trauma together.

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    film still Lack
  • Last Days of Summer

    dir. Stenzin Tankong
    fab2023

    A small community lives in a village isolated from the world by a Himalayan mountain range. A mysterious sound, a thunder or rumble, can be heard from afar but only by two young shepherds. What does it bode? Why cannot others notice it? The young men decide to solve this mystery and go to the mountains regardless of danger.

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    film still Last Days of Summer
  • Lazaro and the Shark. Cuba under the Surface

    dir. William Sabourin O´Reilly
    dok2022

    Even a carnival is a political issue in Cuba. Organised in Santiago de Cuba, a fiesta in the conga rhythm commemorates the outbreak of the revolution but above all it is the only opportunity for the residents to express their local identity. It may also be a call for freedom, which does not please the communist authorities.

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    film still Lazaro and the Shark. Cuba under the Surface
  • La Singla

    dir. Paloma Zapata
    dok2023

    As a teenager, she was a great discovery in the flamenco world, not only because this Roma girl from the outskirts of Barcelona was deaf. Due to her exceptionally passionate expression she became a star of Europe’s stages, and then she disappeared for fifty years. Today. a contemporary dancer walks in the footsteps of La Singla.

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    film still La Singla
    Awards:Special Mention
  • Lee Fields: Faithful Man

    dir. Jessamyn Ansary, Joyce Mishaan
    dok2022

    His voice became an inspiration for today’s rappers, such as Travis Scott or A$ap Rocky, possibly because for over half a century on stage Lee Fields has remained himself, a vocalist devoted to soul music, regardless of the changing trends and technologies. And he has not spoken his last word yet.

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    film still Lee Fields: Faithful Man
  • Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man

    dir. Lian Lunson
    dok2005

    he recording of the concert “Came So Far for Beauty” held in Sydney in 2005 becomes a pretext to tell the story of the artist’s life. Cohen’s portrayal is made of his remarks about his career, work or women as well as the moments when music speaks for him.

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    film still Leonard Cohen: I
  • Like Wave Like Cloud (Lànghuā xiàng shì yī duǒ yún)

    dir. Yulin Yang
    fab2023

    Two feet meet in the depth of an ocean. The next wave opens up a new chance for a wonderful surfer’s slide, you just need to let water and energy carry you without much thinking. Isn’t it also a recipe for a successful partnership? Somewhere at the end of the world, a relationship between two women is put to the test.

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    film still Like Wave Like Cloud
  • Line Rider

    dir. Simon Intihar
    dok2022

    Simon Intihar’s film will delight geeks, bring memories back and encourage young people to google even quicker. It is a nostalgic journey to the times when a talented and somewhat extravagant student could develop an international gaming phenomenon in his own room.

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    film still Line Rider
  • Little Richard: I Am Everything

    dir. Lisa Cortés
    dok2023

    How did a black homosexual boy from the American South become the icon of rock and roll and a glam rock precursor? The director presents his biography, complicated and full of turns of action. On the screen, there are Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and John Waters, all fascinated with him.

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    film still Little Richard: I Am Everything
  • Liturgy of the Anti-Tank Obstacles (Liturgia zapór przeciwpancernych)

    dir. Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
    dok2022

    In the nationwide resistance, every citizen tries to be helpful. Ukrainians change professions and adapt to the wartime needs. Sculptors fabricate anti-tank obstacles in their art workshops. Just like the Terracotta Army, silent figures of angels, and multiple copies of Jesus Christ froze in anticipation of new creations. Craftsmen weld metal defenses items for the Armed Forced of Ukraine.

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    film still Liturgy of the Anti-Tank Obstacles
  • Lodz Kaliska: Classic Artists of the Absurd (Łódź Kaliska: Klasycy absurdu)

    dir. Sławomir Grünberg
    dok2023

    The history of the phenomenon of Łódź Kaliska presented in a Monty-Pythonesque style. Łódź Kaliska is among the most eminent and original artistic groups in Poland, which has been continuously active on the avant-garde scene for 44 years.

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    film still Lodz Kaliska: Classic Artists of the Absurd
  • 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
  • Machina Faust

    dir. Kaupo Kruusiauk
    dok2022

    Meet a saxophone virtuoso who breaks glass ceilings – her name is Maria Faust and she is an eminent Estonian jazz artist who improvises on stage and in her life with equal bravado. She lets the camera in as close as possible; therefore, an intimate portrayal of this expressive and independent women can be achieved.

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    film still Machina Faust
  • Mångata

    dir. Maja Costa
    fab2022

    Mångata is a reflection of the Moon’s light on a water surface which indicates the way to the Moon. This light also helps to rescue little Alya. She is the only one saved from a refugee boat that sunk in the Mediterranean. Many years later, as an astronaut on a pioneering mission, she will need this light again.

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    film still Mångata
  • Mariupol. A Hundred Nights (Mariupolʹ. Sto nochey)

    dir. Sofiia Melnyk
    anim2023

    A dramatic and shocking picture of the Russian invasion in Ukraine presented from the perspective of a four-year-old girl. To create the animation, authentic photographs of destroyed buildings and drawings of war made by children were used. This terrifying film does not allow the viewer to remain indifferent.

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    film still Mariupol. A Hundred Nights
    Awards:Silver Dragon / Special Mention
  • Medusas (Meduzy)

    dir. Ola Szmida
    anim2023

    ‘Hands up, it’s a holdup!’ – is what two women who decided to rob a bank could have shouted. But they took the money without uttering a word, got into a convertible and darted away. This story begins like an enhanced version of ‘Thelma and Louise’; however, it progresses towards a completely different, unexpected finale.

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    film still Medusas
  • Meir Ezofowicz

    dir. Józef Ostoja-Sulnicki
    fab1911

    Two influential Jewish families: The Ezofovichs, famous for their modern views advocating the assimilation of Jews, and the Todros, Karaites preaching a return to the teachings of the Bible live in the same town.

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    film still Meir Ezofowicz
  • Memoir of a Veering Storm (Wspomnienie gwałtownej burzy)

    dir. Sofia Georgovassili
    fab2022

    It is a morning in September. A storm is about to break. A mother drives a girl to school in the morning and picks up a woman at the end of the school day. Anna, a fifteen-year-old girl sneaks out of school, and with the help of her boyfriend, they visit a hospital. There, she has to face an event that will jolt her into adulthood.

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    film still Memoir of a Veering Storm
  • Mieczysław Jahoda. Wizard from Krakow (Mieczysław Jahoda. Sztukmistrz z Krakowa)

    dir. Wiktor Skrzynecki
    dok2022

    Mieczysław Jahoda, a cameraman and pioneer of photographic techniques, was a champion of mood creation. The film is a reminiscence about the author of such Polish classics as "Knights of the Teutonic Order", "The Manuscript Found in Saragossa" or "How Far, How Near".

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    film still Mieczysław Jahoda. Wizard from Krakow
  • Misaligned (Koniunkcja)

    dir. Marta Magnuska
    anim2022

    While she is practicing yoga, he is looking at his phone. When he sits behind a desk, she goes to the kitchen to prepare a shake. Suddenly, the protagonists and their rituals begin to revolve around each other as if they were celestial bodies and their flat becomes the centre of the universe.

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    film still Misaligned
  • Mommies

    dir. Maria Sidiropoulou, Elvira Krithari
    dok2022

    There are many legends that surround the in vitro procedure. The film directors decided to give voice to the women who have experienced this form artificial insemination from two different perspectives. Ioanna is a recipient who owes her maternity to the procedure, while Rosa, who has never wanted to be a mother, becomes an anonymous donor.

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    film still Mommies
  • Money and Happiness

    dir. Ana Nedeljković, Nikola Majdak
    anim2022

    Welcome to Hamsterland - the land of happy corporation workers, constantly growing GDP and money that is enough to pay for everything. Statistics is a religion here, while economic indicators reflect the level of satisfaction among residents. A satire on the world founded on money and power.

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    film still Money and Happiness
  • Motherland

    dir. Alexander Mihalkovich, Hanna Badziaka
    dok2023

    The practice of hazing in the Belarussian military has a lot in common with political terror. This is why Svetlana does not believe that her son committed suicide in the barracks. Somewhere else, another young man is putting on a uniform. Their parallel lives make a shocking image of the post-Soviet reality.

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    film still Motherland
    Awards:Special Award
  • Much Ado about Dying

    dir. Simon Chambers
    dok2022

    The director returns from India to London to take care of his elderly uncle. David, a former actor, is a single gay man, an eccentric and colourful person. The plan was to record a farewell, but the uncle is not intent on dying. He gives his nephew one last lesson.

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    film still Much Ado about Dying
  • Mudhole (Moddergat)

    dir. Job Antoni
    fab2022

    In 2039, a delegation of the International Climate Tribunal arrives at Moddergat, a small village on the Dutch coast. The time has come to make a human sacrifice to Mother Earth or other forces. Who, if not humans, is responsible for the terrible condition of our planet? Can a volunteer change his mind at the last moment?

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    film still Mudhole
  • My Blonde GF

    dir. Rosie Morris
    dok2023

    An awarded author, Helen is a public person. Her photographs can easily be found online and on her social media profiles. Has someone used these public sources to create vulgar illustrations containing her image and illegally placed them on porn sites?

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    film still My Blonde GF
  • My Brother Chases Dinosaurs (Mio fratello rincorre i dinosauri)

    dir. Stefano Cipani
    fab2019

    Gio is a new-born baby who joins Jack and his sisters. His birth turns the family’s life upside down as the boy has Down syndrome. Initially, Jack is delighted with his brother’s uniqueness and sees him as a superhero, but this attitude changes with time.

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    film still My Brother Chases Dinosaurs
  • My Name Is Happy

    dir. Nick Read, Ayse Toprak
    dok2022

    In 2015, Turkish-Kurdish singer Mutlu Kaya was shot in her own house. The film authors follow the life of the girl who decided to bring the culprit to justice and put up a fight for the recovery of her voice becoming the symbol of opposition against the impunity of perpetrators of honour killings.

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    film still My Name Is Happy
    Awards:Golden Horn
  • My Old Gals (Moje stare)

    dir. Natasza Parzymies
    fab2023

    Zofia and Ania are two senior ladies, each quite a character. They have already put the years of madness behind them – or maybe not yet? They have not seen each other for half a century. Each followed her own path. Now, they meet again and set off on a journey together like Thelma and Louise to grapple with life and their dreams. Or maybe it is all lost?

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    film still My Old Gals
  • Natalia LL - Art is like Love (Natalia LL - Sztuka jest jak miłość)

    dir. Andrzej Sapija
    dok2022

    In 2019 she became famous again when the decision to censor her works taken by the Director of the National Museum spurred a wave of protests. But the art of Natalia LL was controversial as early as in the 1960s. In collaboration with her husband, an artist himself, she created art that was shocking at the time.

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    film still Natalia LL - Art is like Love
  • Neighbour Abdi (Buurman Abdi)

    dir. Douwe Dijkstra
    dok2022

    How can you understand a violent past? Somali-born Abdi is furniture designer and support worker. He reenacts his life, marked by war and criminality, with the help of his neighbour and filmmaker Douwe. Through playful reconstructions in a special effects studio, Abdi and Douwe embark on a candid and investigative journey through a painful history, focusing on the creative process throughout.

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    film still Neighbour Abdi
  • Nightsss (Noccc)

    dir. Weronika Lewandowska, Sandra Frydrysiak
    anim2021

    Watch VR from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm. VR “Nightsss” is an virtual erotic poem – an artistic animation with ASMR and interactive elements that immerses the viewer in the sensual experience of poetry, dance and nature.

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    film still Nightsss
  • Nocturna

    dir. Víctor Maldonado, Adrià Garcia
    anim2007

    In eponymous Nocturna, there is an old orphanage. A little boy lives in it. Tim is terrified of darkness. At night, he is protected from it by the light of the stars. One day Tim notices that his favourite star is gone. What is worse, more of his night companions soon begin to disappear. The boy decides to find out what is going on.

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    film still Nocturna
  • Noisetrain

    dir. Pol De Plecker
    fab2022

    A train is travelling through a harsh, icy landscape. Out of the sleeping crowd, only three men wake up. Confused, they stay somewhere at a station in the middle of sinister wilderness. Here begins their dramatic journey in the shadow of the power of nature. Each viewer will come up with a different interpretation and for everyone it will cause a different kind of distress.

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    film still Noisetrain
  • Nowe przygody Misia Uszatka

    dir.
    anim1980
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    film still Nowe przygody Misia Uszatka
  • No Elephant in the Room (Globus)

    dir. Clara Kleininger-Wanik
    dok2022

    When a new law banning circus shows featuring animals enters into force, Adi and Mioara, animal trainers in a Bucharest circus, must come up with an idea of how to make their shows more attractive so that they do not lose their audience. A world-famous circus director arrives at Romania from as far as Las Vegas in order to help.

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    film still No Elephant in the Room
    Awards:Special Mention
  • Oasis

    dir. Justine Martin
    dok2022

    Raphaël and Rémi have been inseparable so far. As twins, they have spent together every moment at home, school or in their free time. This is the last carefree holiday of the brothers. One of them is likely to leave and the other one will stay at home because of his disability.

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    film still Oasis
  • Old Summer (Starsza pani szuka)

    dir. Maria Wider
    dok2023

    ‘Seeking a retired gentleman who is free and has no family obligations, financial liabilities or addictions,’ - reads the description of a potential partner prepared by Krystyna, an energetic seventy-two year old who is looking for real love. The best option is a younger man who can open her up to new sensations.

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    film still Old Summer
  • Once Upon a Vilnius (Čia buvo Vilnius)

    dir. Eitvydas Doškus
    dok2021

    To the surprise of village residents, a stone figure of Virgin Mary suddenly starts moving, leaves the chapel and walks ahead. Soon, it is joined by other animated statues. Such miracles do happen and a boneless little girl is the most fascinated by them.

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    film still Once Upon a Vilnius
  • One In a Million

    dir. Joya Thome
    dok2022

    Whitney from the US and Yara from Germany are divided by an ocean but connected by the Internet and their passion for gymnastics. The former develops her sporting career combining it with her presence in the social media and singing, while the latter is her fan and, above all, a regular teenager looking for her own path in life.

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    film still One In a Million
  • Onlookers

    dir. Kimi Takesue
    dok2023

    Onlookers offers a visually striking, immersive meditation on travel and tourism in Laos, reflecting on how we all live as observers. Traversing the country's dusty roads and tranquil rivers, we watch as elaborate painterly tableaus unfold, revealing the whimsical and at times disruptive interweaving of locals and foreigners in rest and play. Onlookers invites audiences to reflect on their own modes of tourism, while asking the looming existential questions: Why do we travel? What do we seek?

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    film still Onlookers
  • On the Edge - Witold K. (Na krawędzi - Witold K.)

    dir. Jacek Knopp, Piotr Weychert
    dok2022

    Witold Kaczanowski is one of Poland’s best-known artists, much more famous abroad than in his country of origin. He was born in Poland and spent his childhood under German occupation. Since 1980 he has lived and worked in the USA, where his art attracted numerous admirers and collectors.

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    film still On the Edge - Witold K.
  • Our Pain

    dir. Shunsaku Hayashi
    anim2023

    A visual attempt to capture the essence of pain, a universal phenomenon experienced individually by each person. The animation presents the phenomenon from a variety of perspectives – as physical suffering and emotional pain. Image deformation and jagged narration make the viewer feel anxiety and discomfort, too.

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    film still Our Pain
  • Outside

    dir. Izabela Plucińska
    anim2023

    Freshly washed shirts on a string, high-heels and a vivid lipstick – everything that will make the partner happy. A moment of inattention is enough to provoke the man to aggression. A macabre animation about violence in the family.

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    film still Outside
  • Paying a Visit to Fortuna (Fortuna Vendégei)

    dir. Matyas Kalman
    dok2022

    Meet Laci and Aniko – people for whom the fortune has been truly good. Their lottery win turned them into millionaires within a day. How to invest money they have not had to pay for practically anything until now? What does an ordinary day in the life of a man who suddenly turned from a pauper to a local mogul look like?

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    film still Paying a Visit to Fortuna
  • Pianoforte

    dir. Jakub Piątek
    dok2023

    During the preliminary round, there are 160 of them. Then, about 80. Then 40. At last, only 10 lucky ones make it to the final. These are the contestants in the legendary International Chopin Piano Competition, held every five years in Warsaw, Poland. "Pianoforte" follows an eclectic group of young musicians from around the world who have prepared since they were children for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

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    film still Pianoforte
  • Polar Bears (Misie polarne)

    dir. Bartek Stankiewicz
    fab2023

    Powerful clutches, full concentration, sweat, a blanket and a bicycle. No head start. Two brothers and two paths that cross one evening, extremely important for the younger one. Kuba is preparing for his first half-professional wrestling fight. Unexpectedly, his elder brother comes to his aid. However, his intentions are not entirely selfless.

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    film still Polar Bears
    Awards:Special Award
  • Przygody Gapiszona

    dir.
    anim1964
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    film still Przygody Gapiszona
  • Radical Move

    dir. Aniela Gabryel
    dok2023

    A theatre or a sect? Art or violence? For the first time the members of the legendary theatre collective Workcenter founded by Jerzy Grotowski speak so frankly about their experiences related to work using the methods devised by one of the greatest revolutionaries in Polish and international theatre.

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    film still Radical Move
  • Radical Move

    dir. Aniela Gabryel
    dok2023

    A theatre or a sect? Art or violence? For the first time the members of the legendary theatre collective Workcenter founded by Jerzy Grotowski speak so frankly about their experiences related to work using the methods devised by one of the greatest revolutionaries in Polish and international theatre.

    Read more
    film still Radical Move
    Awards:Special Award
  • Reed Dance (Taniec trzcin)

    dir. Andrzej Fidyk
    dok2000

    Held in the Kingdom of Eswatini, the titular reed dance is an annual ceremony where tens of thousands of unmarried women come to dance in extremely skimpy outfits in front of the king in the hope that he will choose one of them as his next wife.

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    film still Reed Dance
  • Savoy

    dir. Zohar Wagner
    dok2022

    The film is a reconstruction of the attack on the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv carried out by Palestinian terrorists in 1975. Its authors have employed rich archival footage, media reports as well as professional and amateur audio materials to capture what happened in the most comprehensive way possible. The material includes notes taken by Kohava, the key figure who was also an incidental victim of the drama that shook the world.

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    film still Savoy
  • Self

    dir. Patryk Jordanowicz, Tadeusz Chudy
    dok2022

    Watch VR from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm. How does a mentally ill person feel? How does he or she see the world? Or maybe the division between healthy and mentally ill people not exist at all? For the project's creators, their interest in creating photographic and cinematic images has for years gone hand in hand with an attempt to understand and be open to the world of mental issues.

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    film still Self
  • Set!

    dir. Scott Gawlik
    dok2022

    Have you ever wondered how far from the edge of the table, to a single millimetre, you should place a plate? The protagonists of ‘Set!’ are not interested in anything else – their greatest passion is setting tables, winning laurels and beating their competitors. After this documentary you will never look at your dishes the same way again

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    film still Set!
  • Shreds (Klaptyky)

    dir. Igor Gavva
    fab2022

    Russia’s war against Ukraine as seen from a less obvious perspective than the one presented by the media every day. Younger Kolya and older Kostya, two brothers who live in faraway Donbas, have a different view of what is going on. One backs the rebellion, the other puts security above all.

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    film still Shreds
  • Signs of War

    dir. Juri Rechinsky, Pierre Crom
    dok2022

    The war which is raging in Ukraine now began nine years ago. French reporter Pierre Crom documented that period and today, using words and images, he talks about his experiences from the front and Ukrainian streets as well as the forebodings, sometimes surreal, that harbingered a full-scale invasion back then.

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    film still Signs of War
  • Silent House (Khaneye Khamoosh)

    dir. Farnaz Jurabchian, Mohammad Reza Jurabchian
    dok2022

    These walls witnessed the history of Iran as well as the turbulent story of three generations of a family residing in a Teheran villa for over half a century when the world around them was in tumult and everything was changing. Women played a particular role in all this.

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    film still Silent House
  • Sister of Mine (Moja siostra)

    dir. Mariusz Rusiński
    dok2023

    Zuzia, a very sensitive teenager with an artistic talent, is struggling with a drug addiction. Her brother, the film director, decides to take a closer look at the family to understand what might have caused this difficult situation.

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    film still Sister of Mine
  • Smell of the Ground

    dir. Olivia Rosa
    anim2023

    What would the world be like without humans? Closed cafés, loungers with no one to sit on them and empty parking lots may indicate an approaching apocalypse. It seems as if there is no life in this sterile world, but is it true? Adaptation of a poem by Sara Teasdale ‘There will come soft rains’ written in 1918.

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    film still Smell of the Ground
  • Solaris Mon Amour

    dir. Kuba Mikurda
    fab2023

    An extraordinary found footage documentary inspired by Stanisław Lem’s „Solaris”. A trance-like, personal story about loss, mourning & memory. The film consists of excerpts from 70 educational films and radio adaptations of „Solaris” from the 1960s.

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    film still Solaris Mon Amour
  • Son! (Sine!)

    dir. Nina Đukanović, Goran Ivanović
    anim2023

    ‘Girls should not have opinions. If you have a daughter, she will cook you a meal or give you medication. A son will protect you and a daughter will feed you.’ Don’t they both deserve to live? The animation touches upon a difficult and hidden subject – sex-selective abortions performed in Montenegro.

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    film still Son!
  • Songs of Earth

    dir. Margreth Olin
    dok2023

    Many years go the director left her family home. Today, she returns to the mountainous region of Western Norway with a camera, walking in the footsteps of her parents and ancestors in order to answer the question: where do I come from? Her family story is transformed into a breadth-taking poem, both visual and auditory.

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    film still Songs of Earth
  • Square the Circle (Ympyrän neliöimisestä)

    dir. Hanna Hovitie
    dok2023

    It symbolises eternity and infinity, entirety and perfection. At the same time, there is no perfect circle, although the possibilities it offers can make your head spin and your mind fear. In her ‘round’ film, the director confronts unlimited quantifiers with an aim to tame what is uncertain and in fact impossible to grasp.

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    film still Square the Circle
  • Step by Step

    dir. Felix Starck
    dok2022

    Two young Berliners at the peak of the pandemic decide to turn their life around and finally settle down somewhere far from civilization. Warm and full of humour and positive energy, it is a film about a family, roots and dreams that become reality. At the same time it is a practical manual for enthusiasts of organic farming.

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    film still Step by Step
  • Such Miracles Do Happen (Takie cuda się zdarzają)

    dir. Barbara Rupik
    anim2023

    To the surprise of the village residents, all of a sudden, the stone figure of Virgin Mary starts moving, leaves the chapel and begins to walk ahead. Soon, it is joined by other animated sculptures. Miracles do happen and they fascinate the most a little boneless girl.

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    film still Such Miracles Do Happen
  • Techno, Mama

    dir. Saulius Baradinskas
    fab2021

    Nikita loves to listen techno music and dreams to go to Berlin and visit the famous club “Berghain”. His mother Irena doesn’t know about his son’s dreams and soon enough their mutual expectations will clash.

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    film still Techno, Mama
  • There Are People in the Forest (W lesie są ludzie)

    dir. Szymon Ruczyński
    anim2023

    Polish-Belarusian border from a bird’s eye view. Refugees, who are trying to cross it to get to Poland, are hiding in the forest. As if in a computer game, they need to go back to square one when they encounter an evil character or the game is over. Based on the author and witnesses’ accounts, the animation depicts the terrifying humanitarian crisis which has been going on since 2021.

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    film still There Are People in the Forest
    Awards:Special Award
  • The Aroma of Tea

    dir. Michael Dudok de Wit
    anim2006

    What purpose can you use tea leaves for? To paint an experimental animation where the protagonist is a little dot moving through winding tunnels and corridors. The rhythmical movement of the dot combined with baroque music creates a hypnotic film experience.

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    film still The Aroma of Tea
  • The Biological Invasions. The Case of Ovis Orientalis Musimon on the Island of Tenerife: « The Last Mouflon» (Las invasiones biológicas. El caso del Ovis orientalis musimon en la isla de Tenerife: «El último muflón»)

    dir. Omar Al Abdul Razzak, Shira Ukrainitz
    anim2023

    The mouflon, wild sheep with beautiful curved antlers, were brought to the island as an attraction. Nevertheless, they should not be admired but killed. One animal becomes separated from the herd – will it manage to survive? Based on real events, the animation documents the harm done to the species in Tenerife.

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    film still The Biological Invasions. The Case of Ovis Orientalis Musimon on the Island of Tenerife: « The Last Mouflon»
  • The Bus (El bus)

    dir. Sandra Reina
    dok2022

    Have you ever thought who the people riding with you on the bus are? Where are they going? What are they dreaming about or what plans do they have for the weekend? Sandra Reina decided to check it. The Spanish director took a camera on her suburban journey and turned it on to give voice to other passengers.

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    film still The Bus
  • The Choice

    dir. Joanna Popińska
    dok2021

    Watch VR from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm. The Choice is a virtual reality experience (VR) that lets us see from a different perspective the emotional and complex nature behind one woman’s choice. Meet Kristen, a young Indigenous woman from Austin, TX, who dreams of raising a family but instead finds herself facing a dehumanizing system working against her survival.

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    film still The Choice
  • The Dmitriev Affair

    dir. Jessica Gorter
    dok2023

    Deep inside the Russian forests, against the wishes of the authorities, 60-year-old Yuri Dmitriev searches for mass graves from the era of Stalin’s terror against his own people - until one day he is arrested and sentenced to 15 years in a penal colony. Following Yuri closely, the film paints a shocking picture of the way the Russian state rewrites history and treats its citizens.

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    film still The Dmitriev Affair
  • The First Woman (La primera mujer)

    dir. Miguel Eek
    dok2022

    Eva is a woman in her forties. We meet her when she is a long-term patient of a psychiatric hospital. She is looking forward to the day when she will be able to leave the facility. As she repeatedly states, she dreams of ‘going at large’ and ‘being a normal person’. Yet what is a ‘normal life’ for her?

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    film still The First Woman
  • The Hostage Takers

    dir. Puk Damsgaard, Søren Klovborg
    dok2023

    They were called the Beatles because before they joined the ISIS, they had grown up in the UK. They were the ones who kept watch over Western hostages and inflicted particular cruelty. The interviews with jihadists were confronted with the memories of victims, negotiators and witnesses, which makes a true documentary thriller.

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    film still The Hostage Takers
  • The Interview

    dir. Michael Dudok de Wit
    anim1978

    To conduct an interview, the protagonist needs just a microphone, sound recorder and an interlocutor. The latter is not easy at all because the people he approaches are busy with their own affairs. However, the charming man does not get discouraged and keeps wondering around the world with a smile on his face looking for someone who would like to talk to him.

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    film still The Interview
  • The Klezmer Project (Adentro mío estoy bailando)

    dir. Leandro Koch, Paloma Schachmann
    dok2023

    There are no real klezmers any more. A young Argentinian film maker who has Jewish roots wants to prove otherwise and sets off with his camera for Moldova. This musical and documentary road cinema combined with a love story sometimes may change into a self-deprecating joke or an essay on the dying Yiddish culture.

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    film still The Klezmer Project
  • The Land You Belong

    dir. Elena Rebeca Carini
    dok2023

    From Northern Italy to Bucharest is a long way to go for the film director in search for her biological family. This journey is also an expedition inside her own identity. Adopted by an Italian couple in her early childhood, she has no idea what the missing Romanian piece of the puzzle will be like.

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    film still The Land You Belong
  • The Monk and the Fish (Le moine et le poisson)

    dir. Michael Dudok de Wit
    anim1994

    Black ink combined with pastel watercolours, dynamic animation and a story based on a Taoist legend enthralled the audience and critics alike ensuring a Cesar award as well as Oscar and BAFTA nominations for the film.

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    film still The Monk and the Fish
  • The Natural History of Destruction

    dir. Sergei Loznitsa
    dok2022

    European cities as seen from the boards of aircraft during carpet-bombing made a stunningly beautiful picture which was horrifying in a primeval manner. These images of hell, like never before, were planned by the engineers of war with scientific precision. To create the choreography of destruction, they employed the instruments of mathematics and physics.

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    film still The Natural History of Destruction
  • The Office (Urząd)

    dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
    dok1966

    The film made at the counter of the Social Insurance Company is a brilliant satire on bureaucracy and clerical heartlessnes.

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    film still The Office
  • The Old (Stary)

    dir. Tomasz Śliwiński, Magda Hueckel
    dok2023

    A one-of-a-kind portrayal of the Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theatre in Kraków. The camera follows the halls inside the building and reveals the secrets hiding in its walls. It takes us to places behind the curtains, inaccessible for the audience on a regular day, and stumbles upon the people of the theatre, both real and legendary. The spirit of the theatre becomes alive on the screen.

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    film still The Old
  • The Red Turtle (La tortue rouge)

    dir. Michael Dudok de Wit
    anim2016

    A castaway stranded on a desert island does not admire paradisial landscapes. He does whatever he can to escape from it at the first opportunity. His perspective, however, changes when he meets a red turtle. This poetic story which won an Oscar nomination is an invitation to meditation on beauty, nature and the consecutive stages of human life.

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    film still The Red Turtle
  • The Russian Striptease (Rosyjski striptiz)

    dir. Andrzej Fidyk
    dok1993

    The early 1990s. The Soviet Union collapsed, communism disappeared. All that millions of people in the Soviet Union believed in ceased to exist. People began to look for a new sense of life. Orthodox churches once again filled with believers, and a host of sorcerers, healers and fairies appeared. There was a veritable explosion of sex in Russian media and art.

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    film still The Russian Striptease
  • The Sleeplessness of Jutka (Bezsenność Jutki)

    dir. Maria Görlich-Opyd
    anim2022

    Julia, who is 7, thinks she came to Łódź on holiday only, but in fact she lives with her family imprisoned in the ghetto. Her grandfather tries to explain the world to her comparing it to the story of Minotaur. A subtle combination of dramatic World War II events with Greek mythology.

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    film still The Sleeplessness of Jutka
  • The Sower of Stars (El sembrador de estrellas)

    dir. Lois Patiño
    fab2022

    Distant lights draw the city. Shining ships arrive with sleeping people and the night turns liquid. The stars’ sower wakes them up and they travel through the city, talking about this and that, while saying goodbye to everything.

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    film still The Sower of Stars
  • The Syrian Cosmonaut (Suriyeli Kozmonot)

    dir. Charles Emir Richards
    dok2022

    He went off into space and disappeared. Although the first Syrian cosmonaut safely landed on Earth, he was soon forced to leave his homeland. His criticism of the authoritarian regime turned hero Muhammad Faris into an enemy who should be erased from history records.

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    film still The Syrian Cosmonaut
  • The Thief Collector

    dir. Allison Otto
    dok2022

    One stolen painting, one seemingly happy couple, dozens of questions and at least several moments when one finds it hard to believe it is not a script of a Hollywood blockbuster but of an American documentary. A nice married couple, adored by everyone, is hiding nasty secrets.

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    film still The Thief Collector
  • The Time after the Rain (El temps després de la pluja)

    dir. Júlia Girós, Pol Picas, Nina Solà
    dok2021

    Young Mohamed Dih, who in Seville, returns to his birthplace – a refugee camp in Western Sahara. Time flows differently here: the times of the day are marked by calls to prayer and the seasons – by the rainfall. When a torrential downpour destroys his family’s home, the protagonist stays in the camp for longer to help to rebuild it.

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    film still The Time after the Rain
  • The Visitors (Návštěvníci)

    dir. Veronika Lišková
    dok2022

    Together with her husband and two children, Zdenka moves from the Czech Republic to Spitsbergen to carry out studies on social change occurring in the northernmost city on Earth – Longyearbyen. Life at the end of the world feels like a dangerous adventure. The island is changing – a mine needs to be closed down because of climate change, while globalisation limits the freedom once enjoyed by the residents.

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    film still The Visitors
  • The Walls Can Talk (Las paredes hablan)

    dir. Carlos Saura
    dok2022

    The documentary ‘Walls Can Talk’ is the last work of Carlos Saura. It is a cinematographic reflection of a mature artist on the role of art in human life from the pre-historic times until the present. Confronting cave paintings with the latest representations of urban art, the director is looking for an answer to the question about the nature of art.

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    film still The Walls Can Talk
  • Think Something Nice

    dir. Claudius Gentinetta
    anim2022

    What are you thinking about when you sit down on a dental chair? The best option is to focus on something pleasant. Imagine a fisherman in a small boat, angling and a sunset. An animated metaphor of human life in which we avoid problems and ignore real danger.

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    film still Think Something Nice
  • Thursday (Czwartek)

    dir. Bren Cukier
    fab2022

    Thursday is the day to which Maria has been preparing for some time, more or less since the moment when she learnt she was pregnant. Her boyfriend, family and friends are all supportive and advise her on maternity ignoring Maria and the signals she is trying to send. The girl decides not to inform them about her decision and plans for Thursday.

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    film still Thursday
  • Time Passes Through the City (Laikas eina per miestą)

    dir. Almantas Grikevičius
    dok1966

    The director attempted to delve into the old walls of Vilnius, capturing the history of the city and resurrecting its phantoms. This is the only poetic documentary film from the Soviet era where Vilnius serves as the main character.

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    film still Time Passes Through the City
  • Tom Sweep

    dir. Michael Dudok de Wit
    anim1992

    Gags straight out of a slapstick comedy, bright and vivid colours as well as a happy tune turn this animation into a satire on society that has no respect for human work or the environment.

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    film still Tom Sweep
  • Try Harder!

    dir. Debbie Lum
    dok2021

    Being admitted to the most prestigious university in the United States is a privilege available to few. Students from a high school in San Francisco will do anything to fulfil their own or their parents’ dreams. A surprisingly cheerful story about pressure and stress experienced by a group of American teenagers.

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    film still Try Harder!
  • Two Breaths (Bi arnas)

    dir. Jon Mikel Fernandez Elorz
    dok2022

    The film uncompromisingly depicts actions of government officials, which took place behind the closed doors of Basque prisons. Iratxe Sorzabal and Nekane Txapartegi are women who were subjected to torture. Now they talk about their experiences. Their terrifying stories and those of many other female prisoners are confirmed by a forensic doctor.

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    film still Two Breaths
  • Two Shores

    dir. Matt Subieta, Ewa Rodart
    fab2022

    ‘Anna Maria has a sad face, Anna Maria is looking ahead’, these lyrics of Czerwone Gitary’s ballad accompany the protagonist, who arrives at New York to deal with the emptiness left after his father who has been absent for many years. New facts about his life on emigration make Anna confront her past.

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    film still Two Shores
  • Ula

    dir. Agnieszka Iwańska
    dok2023

    ‘This is the cradle of our beloved music. We need to verify our skills there’, said Michał Urbaniak to Polish jazz vocalist Urszula Dudziak to convince her to go and conquer the US with him. The film is a recording of the fascinating and tumultuous journey reported from off-screen by the artist herself.

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    film still Ula
    Awards:Golden Heynal
  • Underdog (Charbon)

    dir. David Arslanian
    fab2022

    Winter, by night. Mirko, a 23-year-old student, has only a few hours left to pay back his unpaid rent or he will be evicted. As a bicycle deliveryman at night, he must succeed in making a maximum of orders to pay off his debt.

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    film still Underdog
    Awards:Silver Dragon / Special Award
  • Unpaved (Bezdroża)

    dir. Mikael Lypinski
    dok2023

    The film director focuses his camera on a small community living in the mountainous forests of Oregon. People live there in a Spartan way, on their own terms and in close contact with nature, animals and each other. Their life is far from idyllic but the protagonists have found their own place on Earth.

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    film still Unpaved
  • Vakha and Magomed (Vakha i Magomed)

    dir. Marta Prus
    dok2010

    Subtle observation of an everyday life of two refugees from Chechnya living in Warsaw, Poland, 10-year-old Magomed and his father Vakha, which becomes a story about human's love and dignity.

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    film still Vakha and Magomed
  • Vika!

    dir. Agnieszka Zwiefka
    dok2023

    Vika, who is 84, is one of the eldest DJs in the world. Because of her attitude, she is far from any stereotypes about senior citizens. Bittersweet documentary musical about consistence in following your own path and fighting for your dreams.

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    film still Vika!
  • War at Home (Wojna domowa)

    dir. Aleksander Zalewski
    dok2023

    Imad, who comes from Syria, has been living in Warsaw for many years. In order to show his children their second homeland, he organizes an assistance expedition to the country of his ancestors. In an ambulance, which is to be donated to the local health service, they set off to war-torn Syria.

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    film still War at Home
  • War at Home (Wojna domowa)

    dir. Aleksander Zalewski
    dok2023

    Imad, who comes from Syria, has been living in Warsaw for many years. In order to show his children their second homeland, he organizes an assistance expedition to the country of his ancestors. In an ambulance, which is to be donated to the local health service, they set off to war-torn Syria.

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    film still War at Home
  • We Will Not Fade Away

    dir. Alisa Kovalenko
    dok2023

    Donbas, 2019. The prospect of a new Russian invasion hangs in the air, while the sound of gunfire resulting from the old one can still be heard in the distance.

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    film still We Will Not Fade Away
  • Whitney

    dir. Kevin Macdonald
    dok2018

    Directed by the Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald ('The Last King of Scotland', 'Waiting for Joe'), this moving documentary is dedicated to the memory of pop and R&B legend Whitney Houston. "A gripping" (The Guardian), yet intimate and strikingly honest cinematic portrait, offering a unique insight into the life, dizzying career and slow decline, of a star gifted with unparalleled talent. Filled with the memories of the artist's loved ones, previously unreleased films and music that has already achieved the status of immortality.

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    film still Whitney
  • Who I Am Not

    dir. Tunde Skovran
    dok2023

    Sharon was a finalist of the Miss South Africa beauty pageant, while Dimakatso is a well-known activist. What they share is intersexuality, i.e. they possess traits of both sexes. Meanwhile, the world requires them to unambiguously declare their identity, which is not always in line with their subjective feelings.

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    film still Who I Am Not
    Awards:Silver Horn
  • Who Will Clean Your Windows? (Kto Ci będzie okna mył?)

    dir. Dariusz Janiczak
    dok2022

    Darek is 24 and after 10 years of education at a school for students with intellectual disabilities he needs to confront himself with adulthood. At a film workshop, he receives a camera that will enable him to tell the story of the final weeks at his favourite place from his own perspective.

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    film still Who Will Clean Your Windows?
    Awards:Special Award
  • Will My Parents Come to See Me

    dir. Mo Harawe
    fab2022

    Somalia. A policewoman sits in her parked car. After a while, she gets out, puts on her service cap, and enters the prison. There, decisive hours have dawned for young Farah. Organizational machinery starts up around him. Farah is examined by a doctor, instructed by the bailiff, and looked after by an imam. Farah is waiting for his parents to visit. “How are you?” is the question everyone asks him that day. Each time, “Good” is his concise answer. Only when the policewoman takes Farah out of town the next morning does the unspeakable become a painful reality.

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    film still Will My Parents Come to See Me
  • Worldheritage - the Palace and its Fortress (Welterbe - das Schloss und seine Festung)

    dir. Moritz Siebert
    dok2023

    What does a beautiful palace in Berlin have in common with a dilapidated fortress in Ghana? An answer to this question can be found in a remarkable documentary essay by Moritz Siebert. On the example of the two buildings, the director has managed to capture the essence of European colonialism in a witty manner.

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    film still Worldheritage - the Palace and its Fortress
  • World to Roam

    dir. Stephen Irwin
    anim2023

    When parents discover that their new-born son in a mysterious way can roam the world, they decide to attach him to themselves using a rope. Full of fantastic events and supernatural elements, a fairy tale about adolescence and parenthood.

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    film still World to Roam
  • Yarik the Rascal

    dir. Yurii Pupirin
    dok2022

    The movie is about Yarik "Rascal" Godunok, the commander of a volunteer squad in the Russo-Ukrainian War. His small unit held the defense of one of the villages in Kyiv region against Russian troops for almost a month. During this time, he survived many shellings, got wounded several times, and had to overcome the distrust of military officials.

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    film still Yarik the Rascal
  • Zaczarowany Ołówek

    dir.
    anim1963
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    film still Zaczarowany Ołówek
  • Zima

    dir. Tomek Popakul, Kasumi Ozeki
    anim2023

    A cat lover, Jesus leaving the cross and Christmas carollers holding pitchforks in a snowy and icy scenery. ‘Zima’, a psychedelic journey to a small fishing village, collects as if in a lens the behaviour, customs and vices of the Polish provinces. A horror-like animation in the convention of magic realism.

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    film still Zima
    Awards:Golden Dragon / Golden Hobby-Horse / Special Award