OCTOBER FESTIVALS
Autumn is a time particularly rich in festivals. In October, the audience of twenty international festivals will have the opportunity to watch twenty-seven Polish documentaries.
This month will start with the Slovenian Dokubazaar festival. The programmers of the festival especially appreciated Polish documentaries, inviting no less than twelve titles: “Freestyle Life” by Adam Palenta, “Musics” by Agnieszka Gonczarek and Patryk Kizny, “God’s Lake” by Diana Aszyk, “Exit Point” by Jagoda Szelc, “El sueño” by Jakub Łubniewski and Mikołaj Molenda, “Dream of San Juan” by Jan Paweł Trzaska and Joaquin del Paso, “18 kg” by Kacper Czubak”, “My House Without Me” by Magdalena Szymków, “Samosiuk. The Independent Film Republic” by Adam Lewandowski, “Survey About Women” by Mateusz Głowacki, ”Survive Afghanistan” by Małgorzata Imielska and “Losing Sonia” by Radka Franczak.
Another festival taking place in October is the Nuremberg International Human Rights Festival, in course of which, as a special screening, the film “Argentinian Lesson” by Wojciech Staroń will be presented. The German audience will be able to see four other Polish productions in October. At Filmfest Eberswalde the “Dream of San Juan” will compete for awards, while “My House Without Me” by Magdalena Szymków, “The Princess and the Wall” by Małgorzata Kozera and “Rogalik” by Paweł Ziemilski will take part in the competition of the 22nd edition of dokumentART festival.
The last title, “Rogalik”, a frequent guest at a variety of film festivals, is going to be shown in October also in France, at the International Independent Film Festival in Bordeaux and in Luxembourg, and the CinEast Central and Eastern European Film Festival, which is also going to host the film “Survey About Women”. Apart from “Rogalik”, the viewers in France will also be able to see “Pizza a la Polonaise” by Grzegorz Krawiec and “Freestyle Life”. These documentaries have been listed to compete at the International Short Film Festival of Lille.
The latest film by Paweł Łoziński, “Father and Son”, has been accepted for the competition at the Flahertiana International Documentary Film Festival, taking place in the Russian city of Perm. Łoziński’s documentary will be also presented in a special screening at the London Film Festival. Edward Porembny's documentary "Madame Tyson" will be presented in Glasgow. The film will be shown in the competitive section of Document 11 International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival. The audience in the neighboring Ireland on the other hand, is going to see the film “Exit Point”, that the Indie Cork festival programmers decided to include in the competitive section of the festival.
As for other English-speaking countries, it is worth mentioning, that the film ”Paperbox” by Zbigniew Czapla is going to compete in the 6th edition of the Imagine Science Film Festival, held in the United States. It’s not the only screening of the film this month, Czapla’s animated documentary is also going to compete for awards at the 3rd DoCartoon International Animated Documentary Film and Non-fiction Comics Festival in Italy, as well as the competitive section of the Ukrainian Molodist International Film Festival. At the latter festival, “Paperbox” is going to compete with ”The Whistle” by Grzegorz Zariczny among many others.
At the Astra Film Festival in Romania two Polish productions will be presented, “Eighteenth Birthday” by Marta Prus and „Losing Sonia”. Both titles have been selected for the competition of the festival. Last year’s winner of Astra Film Festival, “Phnom Penh Lullaby” by Paweł Kloc, has a chance this time to win in Georgia, where it will be presented at the first edition of the Cine Doc Tbilisi festival. The Lithuanian audience however, will be able to see the film “Planete Kirsan” directed by Magdalena Pięta. This film is going to compete at the “Inconvenient Films” Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.
Last but not least, it is worth to mention a few exotic screenings of Polish documentaries overseas. A big representation of Polish films will appear in the programme of the Mexican DOCSDF festival. Various competition sections of the festival will host the films “God’s Lake”, “The Whistle”, “Entangled” by Lidia Duda, “Mundial. The Highest Stakes” by Michał Bielawski and “In the Eye of God” by Wojciech Królikowski. “Argentinian Lesson” got its’ screening in Argentina. The film will be presented in the competition of the Cine Migrante festival held in Buenos Aires. The most exotic screening location however, belongs to the film “Vakha and Magomed” by Marta Prus. This documentary has been listed to compete at the Ânûû-rû Âboro film festival in New Caledonia.