"SOMETHING BETTER TO COME" AND "STARTING POINT" AWARDED AT DOCUMENTAMADRID
On May 10 ended the 12th edition of the DocumentaMadrid festival. "Something better to come" by Hanna Polak won the second award in the feature-length documentary competition, and "Starting Point" by Michał Szcześniak - the special mention in the short film category.
International Documentary Film Festival DocumentaMadrid is organised by Cineteca and the City Council of Madrid. At this year's edition, two Polish films were honoured. The jury, consisting of Paulo Roberto de Carvalho, Marlene Dermer and Tomás Cimadevilla gave the second award in the feature-length documentary competition to the film "Something better to come" by Hanna Polak. The documentary film was appreciated for the director's dedication to the story of the protagonists and for showing the extraordinary will to survive. The special mention in the short film competition, however, went to "Starting Point" by Michał Szcześniak. The jury awarded the film for showing the risk involved in sculpting the reality in order to build a deep, strong and personal point of view.
"Something better to come" tells a story of the 11-year-old Jula, who lives on the Svalka, the largest dumping ground in Europe, 20 km away from the centre of Moscow. The area, surrounded by a wall and controlled by the guards, is supposed to be free from all kinds of intruders. However, there is a small group of people who live there and make a small community, deprived of the rights. These people are Jula's closest family. She leads her life here, and here Jula dreams about future far away from the dumping ground.
"Starting Point" presents the story of Aneta, who rebelled when she was 19. She went to prison for murder. Ten years later, doing time she starts working as a carer. Every day, she leaves the prison to go to the rest home and take care of Ms Helena, suffering from rheumatism. The conversations with her charge make Aneta aware how much she has in life and let her believe in herself and face the difficult trial which awaits her.
The full list of award-winning films is on the festival's website.