"SISTERS" WIN TWO NEW AWARDS
Last weekend turned out to be very lucky for the documentary film by Marcin Hytroś. The film won awards at the Portuguese Beast Film Festival and at the Belgian Kalmthout Short Film Festival.
The Beast Film Festival has been held in Porto for only three years, but it has already managed to find its place on the Portuguese festival map thanks to its unique selection. This year, the organisers focused on the productions from Eastern Europe. In the programme, there were about 100 films from this part of the world. There was no lack of feature, documentary and experimental films.
The film by Marcin Hytroś was shown in the documentary film competition East Doc. It was the only Polish feature in this competition section. In turn, "Weightlifter" by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk and "Cross'n'Carry" by Sonja Orlewicz – Zakrzewska competed for the best feature film award.
The Kalmthout Short Film Festival is dedicated solely to short films. The festival has four competitions: the best international film, the best Belgian film, the best animated film and the best documentary film. A Jury Award is given in each category, and the audience also chooses its favourite.
This year, the best international short documentary film award went to the director of "Sisters."
The award-winning film is set behind a huge, 800-year-old wall, in the oldest enclosed nunnery in Poland - the Benedictine nunnery in Staniątki near Krakow. This is where 12 sisters live, the average age of whom is 70. Despite their old age and the world outside the wall, changing at a mad pace, every day they try to subordinate their lives to the rule "ORA et LABORA," invented over 10 centuries ago. Our protagonists, the sisters Anuncjata and Benedykta (40 years in the nunnery), with their characteristic charm, introduce us to the world behind the wall, telling us about their lives and the decisions which they made. They show us the world of the convent with all its shades, totally devoid of stereotypes, often touching and amusing at the same time. This is a film about silence told in a particularly loud way.
You can find the list of the films awarded at the Portuguese festival here and the award-winners of the Belgian Kalmthout Short Film Festival here.