Directors, screenwriters, producers, festival programmers, sales agents, journalists, students from Krakow, and even festival directors. They will sit on the Jury of this year’s edition of the Krakow Film Festival and decide which documentary and short films will leave Krakow with awards.
A total of 210 screenings and almost 190 films await cinema-goers at the 63rd edition of the Krakow Film Festival. Among them are 57 world premieres, 10 international, and over 50 Polish ones. Even the most ambitious viewers can’t see everything. Fortunately, you can catch up with a large part of the program at home through the festival’s KFF VOD. It’s a different matter entirely with the jurors. They task ahead of them is a difficult one. They have to watch the competition films in a limited time, thoroughly analyse their choices, and then discuss them during the final deliberations. The culmination of their work will be the closing gala of the Festival, during which we will get to know the winners of the four competitions. Prizes worth a total of over PLN 350,000 await the winners.
The chairman of the Jury of the International Documentary Competition will be Andrzej Fidyk (Poland) – director and screenwriter. He has made over 40 documentary films and many commercials and TV reports. Winner of several dozen awards at international film festivals, three-time Wiktor award winner in the category of TV creator. He is a professor of film art, director of the direction department at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Member of the Polish Film Academy and European Film Academy.
The documentary jury will also include: Mette Hoffmann Meyer (Denmark) – film producer, founder and president of THE WHY foundation, which annually produces and distributes 10-20 documentary films focusing on human rights, Karen Avetisyan (Armenia) – director of the Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan, member of the European Film Academy, Ada Solomon (Romania) – producer of films such as Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn and Toni Erdmann, her productions have been presented and awarded at the most prestigious festivals, she is the executive chairwoman of the European Women’s Audiovisual Network and a board member of the European Film Academy.
The deliberations of the International Short Film Competition Jury will be led by Jan Naszewski (Poland) – sales agent, founder of New Europe Film Sales, whose catalogue includes Jan Komasa’s Oscar-nominated Corpus Christi, or The Peasants – the latest animated film by the creators of Loving Vincent. He worked as an organizer of industry events at the New Horizons International Film Festival. He is a lecturer of prestigious international programs, such as EAVE, ACE, Berlinale Talents, and an expert of the European MEDIA program.
The jury judging fiction, animated and documentary shorts from around the world includes: Brigid O’Shea (Germany, Australia) – lecturer and film producer, head of DOK Leipzig Industry, she is a mentor in the field of European film funds, cultural management and festival strategy, co-founder of the Documentary Association of Europe, Anne Gaschütz (Germany) – director of the short film festival Filmfest Dresden and a selector at the Locarno Film Festival, Isabelle Favez (Switzerland) – animator and director, her diploma film Replay (1999) was presented at numerous international festivals, she has made several films for children, including Circuit Marine (2003).
The proceedings of the International Music Documentary Competition DocFilmMusic Jury will be guided by our three-time laureate, director and screenwriter Leszek Dawid (Poland). Creators of numerous award-winning short films, documentaries, TV series, and feature-length fiction films, such as the cult classic You Are God. He is a member of the European Film Academy, the Directors Guild of Poland, and the Polish Film Academy. Lecturer and deputy dean of the directing department at the Łódź Film School.
In choosing the best music film, he will be assisted by: Jinsu Chun (South Korea) – programmer at the Jecheon International Music & Film Festival and Jeonju International Film Festival, he worked as an assistant director and music producer; winner of the Golden Heynal in 2022 Lucie Králová (Czech Republic) – film director and screenwriter, she works as a lecturer at FAMU in Prague, her documentaries were screened at numerous international film festivals and have won multiple awards, such as Kapr Code, which won the DocFilmMusic competition last year.
This year, four equally significant Golden Hobby-Horses will be awarded in the National Competition. This will allow creators of different film formats to have a chance for the highest awards. The Golden Hobby-Horse will be awarded to the best medium or feature-length documentary film, and among short films to: the best animated film, the best fiction film, and the best documentary. Due to this change, there are now two separate Juries at the National Competition.
The first jury will judge short films and is going to be chaired by Jagoda Szelc (Poland) – director and screenwriter. She is the author of two acclaimed and award-winning fiction films, Monument and Tower. A Bright Day, as well as several important and appreciated short films, like Such a Landscape, which was honoured with the Golden Tadpole at the Camerimage festival. She is a laureate of Polityka magazine’s Passport Award. She teaches directing at the Łódź Film School.
Also participating in the deliberations: multiple-time winner at the Krakow Film Festival, Damian Kocur (Poland) – director, cinematographer, and film screenwriter, a graduate of the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School at the University of Silesia in Katowice, and a PhD student at the Łódź Film School, creator of award-winning short films both in Poland and abroad, and the feature-length Bread and Salt, Joanna Wendorff-Ostergaard (Poland) – producer and script consultant, long-term co-owner and production manager at Anima-Pol Film Studio, currently works with the John Weston Group agency as a storytelling expert for international companies and brands, teaches at the Łódź Film School.
Feature-length Polish documentaries will be evaluated by a jury led by director Maciej Cuske (Poland). He created numerous documentaries awarded at the Krakow Film Festival, including Old Bookstore, The Cure, Decalogue III. Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep It Holy, Suburban Train and The Whale from Lorino. He has been associated with Bydgoszcz since birth, where he co-creates the Bydgoszcz Film Chronicle, a place for young filmmakers at MCK Bydgoszcz. He teaches at the Wajda School and the Gdynia Film School. Expert at the Polish Film Institute and a member of the Polish Film Academy.
The other members of the jury include: Maciej Kubicki (Poland) – film and television producer and screenwriter, a graduate of the Wajda School and the Institute of Polish Culture at the University of Warsaw, the EAVE Producers Workshop and numerous international workshops, co-owner and board member of Telemark, KIPA award winner, awarded the title of Emerging Producer, nominated for the Eagle for Over the Limit, member of Emmy, as well as the Polish Film Academy and European Film Academy, Ita Zbroniec-Zajt (Poland) – cinematographer, graduated from the Cinematography Department of the Łódź Film School, winner of multiple awards and distinctions, including the Golden Frog for Woman on the Roof by Anna Jadowska or the Guldbagge Award for Best Cinematography for the film The Yard by Måns Månsson, she works on feature films, documentaries, and commercials.
The FIPRESCI Jury will include Igor Angjelkov (Macedonia), Antonis Lagarias (France), Pawel Mossakowski (Poland). The FICC Jury will include: Maria Eriksson (Sweden), Anita Petra Hamremoen (Norway), Grzegorz Pieńkowski (Poland).
There will also be a Student Jury. This year, the decision will be made by: Zuzanna Adamowicz, Monika Babińska, Maja Duszak, Arkadiusz Hulbój, Jagoda Janicka, Przemysław Kania, Maksymilian Kosiorowski, Jan Andrzej Legus, Eliška Soukupová, Mateusz Trojnar, Wiktoria Wojas, Agnieszka Zimny
Remember that the viewers are also jurors. Attendees will be able to rate the film they watched on specially prepared voting cards. Magazyn Filmowy SFP is a partner of the competition.
The detailed Festival program is available at www.krakowfilmfestival.pl.