POLISH FILMS WIN AT HOT SPRINGS
The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival has just ended. Among the award-winning films, there are "End of the World" by Monika Pawluczuk and "Something better to come" by Hanna Polak.
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is the oldest film festival in North America, dedicated to films other than feature films. Every year, about 100 films from around the world are shown at the event.
The Best Short Documentary in the international competition at the 24th edition of Hot Springs DFF was "End of the World" by Monika Pawluczuk. It is worth mentioning that, thanks to this award, the film can apply for the Academy Award nomination. The Jury's Special Mention for documentary film went to Hanna Polak for "Something better to come." The film is already fighting for the nomination for the Academy Award, and you can financially support its efforts through the Kickstarter platform. The film "Shoulder the lion" by Erinisse Heuer and a Pole, Patryk Rebisz, was chosen the Best American Documentary. This documentary, just like the rest of the films, was included in the programme of the 55th Krakow Film Festival, where it was given the FIPRESCI award.
"End of the World" is an intimate, art house documentary film, in which a couple of stories meet during one night. During this one night, similar to many others, people in a big city, tormented by loneliness, want to talk to someone. Some people call - often unnecessarily - the ambulance, others call for therapy in the middle of the night, and yet others call the radio, where the host asks about the end of the world - what it means to each of us. They talk about tragic, painful matters, and sometimes petty, even funny ones. What is noticeable and moving is their great need for conversation, being heard out, the need to be together with someone. The radio is the motif which unites this night world - we hear it in the ambulance, in the taxi which carries the patient for the therapy, in the city monitoring, where we see the city night life on tens of screens. The radio is a bracket uniting the film and the source of the most important questions.
We would like to invite you to read the review of the film and the interview with Monika Pawluczuk.
"Something better to come" tells a story of an 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.
The review of the film and the interview with Hanna Polak are available on our website.