The titles of this year Krakow Documentary Premieres has been announced.
The „Krakow documentary premieres” series has had one of the most highlighted places in the festival program. The section presents some of the latest documentaries, which premiere, often the world premiere, take place in Krakow. This year the section will raise the controversial question of cultural belonging, it will present the pictures of war and it will show the workshop of a controversial Danish artist and documentary film maker Jørgen Leth. The very manly edition will be accompanied by three counterbalancing womanly touches. Liliana Głąbczyńska-Komorowska, a brilliant actress will come to Kraków with her debut documentary film, the laureate of the Krakow festival Yael Katzir from Israel and the German director Alice Gruia.
The cinema screenings in this section will start on the 29th of May with the film “Torn” by Ronit Kertsner screened in Europe for the first time. It is a film which presents a story of a priest, who, at the age of 67 leaves a mass taking place in a Polish church and sets off on a journey to Israel in order to take part in the religious life of the kibbutz society. The film raises the questions of a difficult identity and a conflict related to an inevitable choice.
The special screening of „Virtual War” by Jacek Bławut, the chairman of the international documentary competition Jury will be yet another great attraction of the section. The last documentary, as declared by the director, presents an international environment of internet players, for whom the virtual world of wars waged on plane simulators becomes reality. We will see passion and determination on screen, however there will also be the addiction to the virtual world. The screening at the Krakow Film Festival is one of the few occasions to see the film on big screen and at the same time, almost taste the virtual battle.
From the virtual sky combats we will move to a very real front „War Marador”, which depicts the Gaza Strip conflict in 2009. The Israeli film makers Avnet Faingulernt and Macabit Abramson presented it by putting the image of a corrida with the image of passers-by watching the bombarding of Arab territories.
Following the absurd, according to the directors, myth of power, both sides involved in it cannot break free from it. „Violins in Wartime” by Yael Katzir shows the reality of an armed conflict from yet another perspective. It presents the power of music which helps its fans to retain mental sanity during the war. This time it is the Lebanese war which serves as background determining the fate of the main characters. The greatest virtuosos of violin conduct music workshops with the participation of people from various countries.
„Never forget to lie” by Marian Marzyński, the laureate of the first Golden Dragon in the history of Kraków Film Festival (for “A return of a ship” from 1964) who, after 40 years spent in the US is getting back to Krakow with his latest film, is another strong point of this section of the program. „Never forget to lie” is a history of children from the Warsaw Ghetto, who survived because they could hide their Jewish identity. They were saved by a lie from the film’s title – the first sin confessed by them during a catholic confession. The film had its premiere in April last year in the Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.
The film by Truls Lie. the member of this year’s Jury for the documentary competition, documentary film maker and the DOX’s chief editor will take us to a completely different world of experience. „Jørgen Leth. The Seduced Human” portrays a life of a Danish director, author of more than 40 documentaries and a long-term inhabitant of Haiti while making the famous „Erotic Man”.
„Rodicas” by a German director, Alice Gruia, will be yet another womanly film in this section. Thanks to the camera we will witness an unusual friendship of two elderly ladies (one of them is the director’s grandmother), who, in spite of the blatant differences in their lives, which take place on different continents, have a common willingness to live developed while fighting with the obstacles of fate. While watching the film we think that the women could not be any more different. The main characters, in spite of being 88 and 86 are united in their inexhaustible energy and purifying sense of humour.
Liliana Głąbczyńska-Komorowska, who played with famous actors such as Donald Sutherland, Aidan Quinn and Westley Snips, and was accompanied on stage among others by Gustaw Holoubek, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz and Janusz Gajos, will be a special guest of the festival. She will presenting her debut documentary film in Krakow “Beauty and the Breast” raising the subject of breast cancer among beautiful women, artists and models. The film will have its world premiere during the festival.