What would festivals be without its many guests? We watch their films, admire superb roles, and engage in the personal stories told through documentary films. During the Krakow Film Festival, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to talk to them, share your impressions from the screenings, or inquire about behind-the-scenes details. Q&A sessions with creators are held after several, sometimes dozens of screenings each day.
It’s All About Them
Andrzej Seweryn opened the 64th Krakow Film Festival in a rather unusual role – not as a character but as the protagonist of a documentary. The distinguished actor accompanied director Arkadiusz Bartosik and producer Katarzyna Kubacka-Seweryn during the world premiere of I Am the Creation of Fiction. A Q&A session was held with the entire trio after the screening.
The love-struck couple, Magdalena Świątkowska and Michał Pęszyński, couldn’t miss the Krakow screening of Crazy Love by Martyna Peszko. The family of Lili from Sylwia Rosak’s documentary will also make an appearance in the capital of Małopolska. Lilianna Biskup, Justyna Jarzębek, Tomasz Biskup, Elle Førde Vik, and Oda Førde Vik will also attend the premiere. We couldn’t imagine the premiere of Silent Trees (dir. Agnieszka Zwiefka) without teenage Runa and her family. The director of the documentary Debtors, Andrzej Danis, invited his mother Ewa – also the protagonist of the film – to the screening. Xawery Deskur talked about his uncle. The Kraków-based DJ Edward Gil Deskur is the main character of Are You There?. Sebastian and Marcel Lipiński will be present at the premiere of the short documentary In My Hands (dir. Igor Kuna).
The documentary Everything Needs to Live (dir. Tetiana Dorodnitsyna, Andrii Lytvynenko) tells the story of Anna Kurkurin. The celebrated weightlifting champion and an incredibly empathetic person, actively involved in helping animals, will visit Krakow on the 30th of May.
These two heroes are no longer with us, but Julia Lewis, widow of Don Lewis (Don Lewis and the Live Electronic Orchestra, dir. Ned Augustenborg), and Krystyna Cierniak-Morgenstern, wife of Janusz Morgenstern (Kuba, dir. Marcin Strauchold), have come to Krakow in their honour.
It’s Them Who Take The Stage
Several Polish actors will visit Kraków’s studio cinemas. Grzegorz Damięcki and Jakub Pruski starred together in From You (dir. Jędrzej Gorski), Alina Chechelska in Honey Bunny (dir. Gracjan Piechula), Anita Sokołowska, Gracjan Kosyl, and Michał Morawski will accompany director Mateusz Pacewicz and the producers of the film Stimulants & Empathogens, while the well-known figure to the festival audience, Katarzyna Figura, will appear at the screening of Here For You (dir. Cezary Orłowski), joined by Paula Rakowska.
We will also host two actors from abroad. Qiao Nie is an actress appearing in the Chinese fiction film Open Eyes (dir. Qi Zhang), and Dragos Olaru from the Romanian film Better This Way (dir. Emanuel Pârvu).
It’s Theirs
It’s impossible to list all the guests responsible for the films presented at the 64th Krakow Film Festival. The list of names of people you will be able to meet after the screenings can be found on the 64th KFF Programme page.
Passes and tickets for the 64th Krakow Film Festival are on sale now!
The schedule of screenings and accompanying events is available here.
The Krakow Film Festival is on the exclusive list of qualifying events for the Oscars® in the categories of short film (live action, animated, documentary) and documentary feature, as well as a recommending event for the European Film Awards in the same categories.
The Kraków Film Festival is organised with the financial support of the Municipality of Kraków, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the European Union’s Creative Europe program, the Lesser Poland Province, the Polish Film Institute. The festival is co-organised by the Polish Filmmakers Association.
The 64th Krakow Film Festival will be held in cinemas from 26 May to 2 June and online across Poland on the KFF VOD platform from 31 May to 16 June 2024.