FESTIVALS IN NOVEMBER 2014
November is the peak of the autumn festival season. This month, over 40 Polish documentary films will be shown in over 70 screenings at nearly 30 film festivals around the world.
In November, Polish cinema will have a numerous representation on several large international festivals: DocsDF in Mexico, Miradas Doc in Spain, IDFA in the Netherlands, Cinema Verite in Iran, and, last but not least, Camerimage in Poland. The selectors of the DocsDF festival, which began in October, invited five Polish documentaries to participate in the competition section: “The Governance of Love” by Adela Kaczmarek, "Sometimes I Dream I'm Flying” by Aneta Popiel-Machnicka, “Maximum Pleasure” by Katarzyna Trzaska, "When I am a Bird" by Monika Pawluczuk and “The Man Who Made Angels Fly” by Wiktoria Szymańska.
Each of these films will have other festival screenings this November. "When I am a Bird" will participate in the competition at Jean Rouch festival in France, where it will compete with “Joanna” by Aneta Kopacz and “Abu Haraz” by Maciej J. Drygas. “The Governance of Love” will compete for the awards in the competition at the Olympia International Film Festival for Children & Young People, in which also “A Diary of A Journey” by Piotr Stasiak will be shown. The films by Monika Pawluczuk and Adela Kaczmarek qualified for the special screenings at the Cinema Verite festival in Iran, while “The Man Who Made Angels Fly” - for the competitive section of this festival. "Sometimes I Dream I'm Flying” will be shown in the non-competitive section at the Docaviv Galilee festival, and “Maximum Pleasure” will have a chance to win awards at the festivals Escales Documentaires in France and Miradas Doc in Spain.
As many as eight Polish films will compete for awards at the latter festival. In addition to “Maximum Pleasure,” the audience will have a chance to see also: “The Love Equation of Henry Fast” by Agnieszka Elbanowska, “Everything is possible” by Lidia Duda, “A Visit” by Matej Bobrik, “Seven Men At Different Ages” by Sławomir Witek, “Our Curse” by Tomasz Śliwiński, “Hero” by Alma Asuai, Olga Winiarczyk and Marcin Kasica, and “Joanna.”
Some of these films will be also shown at other film events. “A Visit” was invited to the competition section of Interfilm International Short Film Festival in Germany. Moreover, the film by Matej Bobrik will have a chance to win Chinese Gold Panda Awards for Documentary, just like “Sati” by Bartłomiej Świderski,“Father and Son” by Paweł Łoziński and “Sometimes I dream I’m flying”. “Our Curse,” taking numerous film festivals by storm, in November will compete for awards at the Estonian Sleepwalkers film festival, Turkish Bosphorus, and at Verzio film festival in Hungary it will be shown in the non-competitive screening, alongside “Leaders” by Paweł Ferdek. “Everything is possible” will participate in the competition of One World Slovakia festival.
The programmers of the Cinema Verite festival in Iran chose as many as twelve Polish productions for this year’s programme. In the competition section, the aforementioned films “The Man Who Made Angels Fly” and “Leaders,” as well as "Left Side of the Face" by Marcin Bortkiewicz and “The Promise of a Happy Childhood” by Piotr Morawski and Ryszard Kaczyński will be shown. The following films qualified for non-competitive screenings: "To Fly Or Not To Fly" by Aniela Gabryel, “Deep Love" by Jan P. Matuszyński,”You’re Gonna Be A Legend, Man” by Marcin Koszałka, “The Governance of Love,” "When I am a Bird,” “A Diary of A Journey,” and “Seven Men At Different Ages.”
“Deep Love,” though it is shown in the non-competing section in Iran, has a chance for awards in the competition sections of the Belarussian festival Listapad and Samara International FICTS Festival. “Left Side of the Face” was invited to the competition by the programmers of the Spanish festival Alcine, and “Leaders” - to the non-competitive section at the Chinese festival GZDOC.
Polish representation at the IDFA festival will be exceptionally numerous this year. In the competition sections, “The Queen of Silence” by Agnieszka Zwiefka and “Something better to come” by Hanna Polak, “My Friend the Enemy” by Wanda Kościa and “Invisible” by Zofia Pręgowska will be shown. In the non-competing section, the audience in Amsterdam will have a chance to see “The Breath of the Orchestra” by Katarzyna Kasica, “Domino Effect” by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski, “Penderecki. Paths through the Labirynth” by Anna Schmidt, “Rekongrodek” by Devin Horan and Margherita Malerba, “How to Live?” and “Marticulation” by Marcel Łoziński and “Starting Point” by Michał Szcześniak.
The last of the aforementioned films is also included in the programme of the Cameraimage festival, at which the audience will have a chance to see also “Three Women” by Anna Jadowska, “Werka” by Paweł Łoziński, “Super Unit” by Teresa Czepiec, “Children Calling” by Andrzej Mańkowski and “A Promise of Childhood.” To some extent, the programmers of the Dei Popoli festival in Florence have the same taste as the programmers of Cameraimage, as they also invited “Super Unit” and “Werka” to the competition, and in addition they included “Six Degrees” by Bartosz Dombrowski.
“Abu Haraz” by Maciej J. Drygas and “Sati” by Bartłomiej Świderski cannot complain about the lack of attention at the festivals in November. Apart from the aforementioned screenings, “Abu Haraz” was qualified for the competition section of the Turkish festival Gaziantep Zeugma and Canadian Marda Loop Justice, whereas “Sati” - to the mountain film festivals in Salzburg, Austria and in Bansko, Bulgaria.
“Decrescendo” by Marta Minorowicz, “Domino Effect” and “Ordinary Day,” made by Burmese filmmakers, will also have a chance to win festival awards this year. The first of them will be shown in the competition at the Russian film festival about disability „Breaking Down Barriers,” the second one - in the competition at the Estonian festival Tallinn Black Nights, the last one - in the competition at the ZINEBI festival in Bilbao. “Exit Point” by Jagoda Szelc, invited to participate in the Cork festival in Ireland, and “Paperbox” by Zbigniew Czapla, which will be shown to the audience at the Fredrikstad animated film festival in Norway, can boast non-competive screenings.