"OUR CURSE" AWARDED IN SHEFFIELD

On 12th June, the International Documentary Film Festival Sheffield Doc/Fest ended. The film "Our Curse," directed by Tomasz Śliwiński, won the Student Doc Award and the Audience Award at the festival.

 This year's edition of the festival Sheffield Doc/Fest began on 7th June. "Our Curse" by Tomasz Śliwiński was shown in the programme Short Docs, presenting the latest short documentary films. The jury, consisting of: David Brindley, the representative of the British Channel 4, Anna MacDonald from London Film Academy, Dr Clifford Shaw from Cineaste and two directors - Cherie Frederico from Great Britain and Paweł Kloc from Poland decided to give the film by Śliwiński the Student Doc Award. Six films competed for the awards. The jury agreed that having seen all the films it was hard to guess that they were student films, since the quality was very high. Dr Clifford Shaw emphasised that in the film by Śliwiński he found the message which says that in spite of many problems of everyday life, with which we have to struggle, the life still has a lot to offer us.

Furthermore, the film has been appreciated by the festival audience that has awarded “Our curse” with the Audience Award.

The film is a personal confession of the director, who, together with his wife, has to face a very rare, incurable disease of their new-born child - Ondine's Curse (congenital central hypoventilation syndrome, CCHS). People afflicted with this disease stop breathing during sleep and require life-long use of respirator to support their respiratory functions. The director documents the first months of his family's life after the birth of the child. At the beginning, the boy is still in hospital, but soon comes home with the entire medical equipment, necessary for his life. The film shows the process of getting accustomed to the fear connected with this disease and gradual adjustment to the new situation.

Sheffield Doc/Fest is the largest documentary film festival in Great Britain, organised since 1994. This year, apart from "Our Curse," the film "Joanna" by Aneta Kopacz was also shown at the festival, and Polish Docs Delegation participated in the film market and co-producer forum Sheffield Marketplace. The delegation was coordinated by Krakow Film Foundation, with the assistance of Polish Film Institute, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and Polish Cultural Institute in London.

The full list of award-winning films can be found here.