The 52nd Krakow Film Festival is due to start shortly. This year’s programme will include a screening of short films nominated to the European Film Awards.
The 52nd Krakow Film Festival is due to start shortly. This year’s programme will include a screening of short films nominated to the European Film Awards, and among them its last year’s winner, a recent film from Terry Gilliam, "The Wholly Family"; as well as one of the most controversial Polish documentaries of last year, "Paparazzi" by Piotr Bernas. The film has been nominated to one of the prestigious awards at the Krakow Film Festival, and is a part of the exclusive events associated with its qualification process.
The Short Matters! section has been associated with the festival for many years. This year’s edition will mainly involve short films, however, it will be also represented by a documentary form. All 15 productions included in this section have been nominated to the European Film Awards – the European equivalent of the American Oscars. The prize has been granted from 1988, with Krzysztof Kieślowski as its first winner for "A Short Film About Killing".
Before us a diverse range of subjects and motifs from near and far corners of Europe. "Berik", a film by Daniel Joseph Borgman, will open the series of screenings in this section on May 1st, touching the theme of friendship, need of acceptance and understanding. "Little Children, Big Words" by Lisa James Larsson will introduce us to the process of discovering the world by the little ones. Mariejosephin Schneider’s "Jessi" and "Derby" by Paulo Negoescu will show family relations, whereas Belgian "Sundays" directed by Valery Rosier will question the issue of the passing existence. The sympathy of the audience will seek a documentary by Alberto De Michele, "The Wolves", telling a story of a unique group of thieves from Northern Italy, practicing their dealings only during dense fog.
Everyone who didn’t manage to watch "Paparazzi" during last year’s edition of the Krakow Film Festival, a controversial work from Piotr Bernaś, will be able to catch up with the film this time. A winner of the Grand Prix at the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage and the Golden Frog Award for best photography, this documentary will portray seemingly exotic for us profession of paparazzo from up-close and personal, Polish perspective.
Another Polish highlight of the series will be a screening of "Frozen Sories". This film by Grzegorz Jaroszczuk is a burlesque story of a couple of young people working in the supermarket. Hailed as the worst employees, they only have two days to begin a better, more meaningful life. In order to achieve the ambitious goal, they participate in a popular game show. The film was awarded at the festivals in Locarno, Munich and Leuven and was also screened as part of this year’s edition of the Sundance Film Festival.
The Short Matters! section will remind us of, already presented in the Krakow competition, a winner of the Golden Bear for best short film at the 60th Berlinale, "Incident by a Bank" by Ruben Östlund. A short fiction, filmed in one take involving 96 people, describes the reconstruction of a failed bank robbery with a sense of humor, making us witnesses of human reactions to what unexpected.
The programme will also include two powerful film genres: "The Unliving" by Hugo Lilja, a Swedish post apocalyptic short film about zombie invasion who, after being domesticated, are being exploited as cheap labor; and "Out" by Roee Rosen, a docu-horror telling a story of two politically involved women, who fight with a nationalistic right-wing view through exorcism.
The culmination of this section will be the Polish premiere of last year’s winner of the European Film Awards and a treat for Terry Gilliam’s fans, which will close the screenings with his last film, "The Wholly Family", a dreamy and grotesque tale of a 10 year old boy looking for the meaning of a family.
Due to the presence of the Krakow Film Festival on the lists of AMPAS (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and EFA (European Film Academy), the winners of the next editions of the international short films competition will be able to enter their films to the Oscars selection; and one of its participants will be given the award for best European film, the equivalent of a nomination to the European Film Awards in the short films category.