Friday, the 10th of February is the due date for the submission of work for the 52nd Krakow Film Festival, which will take place between May 28th and the June 3rd.
Friday, the 10th of February is the due date for the submission of work for the 52nd Krakow Film Festival, which will take place between May 28th and June 3rd. The number of the submissions has exceeded two thousand so far. The first decision on the selection has also been made.
The experience of the organizers of the Krakow Film Festival has taught them that the process of film registration is in full swing just before the due date. The number can rise even by a hundred titles per day. Because the selection process has started a several months ago a few titles have already qualified for the next stages of this year’s edition of the festival.
We certainly know that one of the films which will represent Poland in the International Documentary Competition is Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz’s „Wiera Gran”. The screening of the film which is scheduled for the Krakow Film Festival will be its world premiere and therefore will be given-special attention. Soon after the festival screening, the film will be shown on TVP 2, the co-producer of the event, so that the spectators across the country can see the fascinating portrayal of the Jewish singer – says the festival’s director, Krzysztof Gierat.
Among the selected competitors one of the most anticipated films is the Norwegian-English film „The Betrayal” by Karen Winther. Although it does not tell the tragic story that took place on the Utoya island, it depicts the state of mind of the extremists on both sides of the barricade by means of employing a convention of an intimate diary. There is also „Motherland Or Death” by the Russian master of documentary Witaliy Mansky, made under the influence of his fascination with Cuba. „Riding for Jesus” by Sabrina Varani, a passionate story of an easy-rider who becomes a charismatic pastor for bikers is yet another highlight, Italian, but very American in its theme and realization.
For the purposes of the festival, short films will be divided into three genres: feature films, documentaries and animated films. Among others, Danis Tanovic’s picture, which can be highly recommended, will enter the International Short Films Competition. The well-known to Polish spectators author of „No Man’s Land” as well as „Hell” based on Krzysztof Kieślowski’s and Krzysztof Piesiewicz’s screenplay, this time made a short film „Baggage” about the hardship of leaving behind the traumatic memories of the war. It makes us, distant witnesses, aware of how quickly we have forgotten about the hell of the Balkan slaughter – recommends the festival director, Krzysztof Gierat.
„Winter Frog” by Slony Sow with splendid performance by Gerard Depardieu and „Curfew” by Shawn Christensen, the winner of the audience award at the 34th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, which has just ended, are also worth mentioning. These two films will help us to understand how thin the borderline between negation and acceptance of life in its various dimensions is. „We Die” by Josephine Links is yet another picture worth recommendation, in which the contrast of the two bodies, the one of the director and the second of her grandmother becomes a sort of a testament passed on directly.
So far 139 films have been submitted for the Polish Competition. The festival organizers estimate that their number will double to 250 feature films, documentaries and animated films altogether. It is quite meaningful that the first film for the competition accepted without any hesitation came from Stockholm. A long-term participant, but also juror of the Krakow Film Festival, Leo Kantor sent his creation „Tam gdzie rosna porzeczki” („Redcurrants”) – an unusual monodrama by a Holocaust child, captured by a prominent Polish camera operator Witold Adamiak – says the festival director, Krzysztof Gierat.
There are three days left till the due date for the submission of work for the 52nd Krakow Film Festival.