POLISH DOCUMENTARY FILMS AT INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS – SUMMARY 2024
The year 2024 was a time of extraordinary successes and important premieres for Polish documentary cinema. In the face of dynamic changes in the film industry and the growing role of streaming platforms, Polish filmmakers proved that their voice is still strong and needed. In this round-up, we take a look at the successes of Polish documentary filmmakers and the most important premieres of international film events. We invite you to read on and discover the highlights of the past year together!
Polish documentary cinema is not slowing down, as is shown by the number of screenings of these productions at international festivals. Not only have our films been on the road to some 200 prestigious events, with a total of 280 screenings around the world, but they have also very often been the recipients of various awards. In total, Polish films have received 94 awards and distinctions. As we can see, the endless recognition of juries and audiences is maintaining the position of Polish documentary cinema as an important voice in the global film debate, paving the way for further development and more ambitious productions.
Mariusz Rusiński's ‘Sister of Mine' proved to be the most widely screened short documentary film, being shown at twenty-six international events. Not surprisingly, it also earned the most awards - 13. The most screened full-length documentary, with forty festivals to its credit, was Maciek Hamela's 'In The Rearview', which received seven awards. Agnieszka Zwiefka's 'Silent Trees' (more than 15 festivals and 6 awards) was also popular. Aliaksander Tsymbaliuk's "Koka" returned from over a dozen foreign festivals with eight awards. Maciek Hamela's award-winning remained popular. Jakub Piątek's 'Pianoforte', which won an Emmy Award, and Alina Maksimenko's 'In Limbo', which was nominated for a European Film Award, were big successes.Our documentaries have been featured at all the major film events of the past twelve months, including the IDFA International Documentary Film Festival, Visions du Réel Festival, CPH:DOX, DOK Leipzig, Hot Docs, DocsMX, DOC NYC and the FIPADOC International Documentary Festival. Let's take a look back over the past year and see how Polish documentaries fared in the following months.
In January 2024, the year got off to quite an intense start. Domestic productions appeared at prestigious festivals in Europe and Asia, gaining recognition both in competition sections and in special screenings. No less than five Polish documentaries were screened at FIPADOC in France. The audience was able to see ‘Girls’ Stories’ by Aga Borzym and ‘A Handful of Dirt’ by Izabela Zubrycka in the screening sections. Agnieszka Iwańska's 'Ula' and Joanna Rój's 'Uncle Vakho's Dream' qualified for the competition. A special mention went to Mateusz Pietrak's 'Basia: Three Short Stories', which won the Tënk Award. At the same time, Polish documentaries also made their presence felt in Italy at the Trieste Film Festival, where Michał Hytroś's ‘It’s Only/Not Only A Body... or a Short Film About Freedom’ was screened. In India, the Auroville Film Festival presented in competition Kacper Lisowski's documentary ‘Judges Under Pressure’, which deals with the independence of the judiciary in Poland. And at the end of the month - at the Budapest International Documentary Festival in Hungary - the success of Agnieszka Zwiefka's ‘Vika!’, which won the Senior Jury Award.
Polish films were also well represented in February, especially in Canada, where Karina Będkowska's 'My Place Ozerna' qualified for competition at the Available Light Film Festival. And at the Human-Environment Care Film Festival, the award for best documentary went to Jarosław Wszędybył's 'The End of the Valley of the Tears', a moving film about the effects of environmental disaster and its impact on local communities. We also had a strong presence in Europe. In Slovenia, the documentary 'Uncle Vakho's Dream' by Joanna Roj was in competition at the eighteenth edition of the International Mountain Film Festival Domžale. In Spain, the prestigious Cine Doré in Madrid presented a portrait of young Ukrainians struggling with the consequences of war in the film 'The Hamlet Syndrome' by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski. Another notable award this month was the Grand Prix for 'Goodbye, My Wonderful World', directed by Joo Joostberens, at the Budapest Film Awards. It is a very personal documentary about memory, farewell and passing on. February also brought successes in the United States. Two Polish documentaries were screened at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival: ‘In The Rearview’ by Maciej Hamela, a moving story of refugees from Ukraine, and 'Lili' by Sylwia Rosak.
March was also marked by Polish documentaries, which proved to be extremely dynamic. Our films triumphed at 21 international events, including in Greece, Germany, Italy, Denmark, the UK and Slovakia. One of the key events was the 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, where 'Forest', directed by Lidia Duda, won the prestigious Silver Alexander Award. The film 'We Are Perfect' by Marek Kozakiewicz was also presented in competition. At the ArtDocFest in Latvia, Maciek Hamela triumphed, winning the Grand Prix for his film 'In The Rearview'. And Agnieszka Zwiefka was honoured with the Herz Prize for Best Director for her direction of 'Vika!' This is further confirmation that Latvia remains an open place for Polish documentary filmmakers. Polish productions were also represented in the UK this year. The BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival featured Marek Kozakiewicz's 'We Are Pertect', and the Doc.London Documentary Film Festival's competition included Małgorzata Paszko's 'Arcadia'. In Serbia, Poland was represented at the Martovski Film Festival by Jakub Gomółka with his film 'father.son' and Ming-Wei Chiang with 'Calls'. It is also worth mentioning the success of moving documentaries at the Rencontres du Cinéma Européen in France, where Maciek Hamela won the Hermine Award and the Audience Award for his film 'In The Rearview'. In March, Agnieszka Zwiefka's 'Silent Trees' had its world premiere at the prestigious CPH:DOX.
At the end of March and the beginning of April, the Polish documentary 'Ptitsa', directed by Alina Maksimenko, was shown at the One Country One Film festival in France, kicking off a series of April successes for Polish films in this genre. In the first days of April, Małgorzata Paszko's 'Arcadia' won the Best Underground Film award at the Toronto Film Week in Canada. 'Arcadia' also toured Zaragoza, Belgium and Germany. In addition, Anna Konik's 'Silence Head Loud' was screened at the Catalan festival Impact! Meanwhile, 'Sister of Mine' did not slow down, winning the award for best social documentary at the Ghent Viewpoint Documentary Film Festival. The film also triumphed in Croatia at ZagrebDox, winning the Teen Dox Award. , ‘Koka’ by Alexander Tsymbaliuk and ‘In Limbo’ by Alina Maksimenko were premiered at the prestigious Visions du Reel in Nyon, Switzerland, where ‘Koka’ received the Special Youth Jury Award. The same film was awarded the Best Documentary Medium Length Film, at the aforementioned Ghent Viewpoint. April gave Polish documentaries the opportunity to visit Germany. Łukasz Iwanicz's ‘Katarakta’ took part in the Independent Days Filmfest. Izabela Zubrycka's ‘Handful of Dirt’ was presented in Oberhausen. Polish films could also be admired in Austria and Italy. At the Trento Film Festival, Natalia Koniarz's ‘Postcards from the Verge' won the Silver Gentian Award, while the Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz presented Marek Kozakiewicz's ‘We Are Perfect' and Lidia Duda's ‘Forest’.
At the beginning of May, Polish documentaries were showcased at the 70th International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen. Millennium Docs Against Gravity also took place at the beginning of the month, with Eliza Kubarska's 'The Last Expedition' receiving an honourable mention in the international competition. Another highlight of the May calendar was the 39th DOK.fest in Munich, where Lidia Duda's 'Forest', Agnieszka Zwiefka's 'Silent Trees' and Małgorzata Imielska's 'Just Hear Me Out' were selected for screening. The Global Cinema Film Festival of Boston in the United States was also a lucky break for Polish cinema. Alisa Kovalenko's documentary 'We Will Not Fade Away' won the prize for best documentary. At Hot Docs in Canada, one of the largest documentary festivals in the world, Poland was represented by Agnieszka Zwiefka and her 'Silent Trees'.
The documentaries in question played an important role in the events that took place at the end of May and beginning of June. At one of these festivals, Doc Aviv in Tel Aviv, 'Silent Trees' won the Beyond The Screen Award. Another important event for Polish documentaries, and not only, was of course the 64th Krakow Film Festival. At this year's edition of the Krakow Film Festival, the Silver Horn for the director of a film of high artistic value was awarded to Tomasz Wolski for 'A Year in the Life of a Country', the title of the most awarded film went to Agnieszka Zwiefka's 'Silent Trees', the film not only won the Golden Hobby Horse for the best Polish documentary over 30 minutes, but also received a mention in the international competition. The audience award went to 'Everything Needs to Live' by Andriy Lytvynenko and Tetiana Dorodnitsyna. At Docudays UA in Kyiv, 'Everything is to Live' was also recognised, winning the Grand Prix in the Rights Now category and the Audience Award, while Daniel Stopa's 'Kiosk' was also honoured. In Saudi Arabia, the European Film Festival Riyadh presented Paweł Łoziński's 'The Balcony Movie'.
Continuing the positive trend, the month of June brought a number of awards for Polish productions. At the Vegan Çiftlik Short Film Festival, Małgorzata Paszko's documentary 'Arcadia' received a special mention. The film was also honoured at the Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival, where it won the award for best documentary short. At the Festival of Youth Cinema in Koszalin, Mariusz Rusinski's documentary 'Sister of Mine' won the top prize for best documentary. At the Fest New Directors New Films Festival, Andrzej Danis' 'Debtors' received an honourable mention, and at the Slovakian IFF Art Film Kosice, Jan Gębski's 'Brother' won the Grand Prix. Meanwhile, at the seventh Ravno Selo Film Festival in Serbia, Jakub Gomolka's documentary 'father.son' and Ming-Wei Chiang's 'Calls' won the best documentary award. Meanwhile, Lidia Duda's 'Forest' was seen by audiences at the Shanghai IFF.
The start of July was marked by the screening of Małgorzata Kozera's 'Faces of Agata' at the Italian film festival Sole Luna Doc. At the Rhodope International Film Festival we screened Mariusz Rusinski's 'Sister of Mine', which won the award for best documentary short. 'Sister of Mine' also confirmed its strong position at international festivals by participating in the KO:SH Film Festival in Albania, where it won the Best Documentary award. At the Bistre Reke Short Documentary Film Festival, the award for Best Cinematography went to Małgorzata Paszko's 'Arcadia', highlighting the visual side of the documentary. Bogna Kowalczyk's 'Boylesque', a documentary about an icon of the Polish drag scene, was presented during the Cologne Pride screening at the Filmhaus. Agnieszka Zwiefka's 'Silent Trees' was another success, winning the Best Documentary Award at the 54th Giffoni Film Festival. And at the Cinalfama Lisbon International Film Festival, the prize for best short film went to Łukasz Iwanicz's 'Katarakta'.
There was no shortage of important screenings in August either. A major triumph was the participation of Polish films at the 9th Beyond Borders Documentary Film Festival in Greece, where Karina Będkowska's 'My Place Ozerna' won the prestigious Silver Wreath of Megisti award, and Aleksandr Tsymbaluk's 'Koka' and Mariusz Rusinski's 'Sister of Mine' won the Grand Prix and Silver Phoenix awards respectively. Another accolade went to Karolina Karwan and Tomasz Ratter's 'Moody', which received a special mention at the 37th Montenegro Film Festival. A special mention was also given to Alina Maksimenko's 'PTITSA', which won the Debed Village Prize at the 10th IDFF Apricot Tree International Documentary Film Festival.
Polish documentary cinema was not idle in late August and early September. The screening of 'Dust', directed by Jakub Radej, at Funstage Basel 2024 in Switzerland allowed an international audience to get acquainted with Polish documentary cinema. September did not end there. At the DMZ Docs International Documentary Film Festival in South Korea, the film 'In Limbo', directed by Alina Maksimenko, triumphed and won the Grand Prize. Izabela Zubrycka's 'A Handful of Dirt' was also a great success at the BEAST International Film Festival in Portugal, where it won the prestigious East Doc Award for Best Documentary. At the Verona International Film Festival in Italy, 'Koka', directed by Aliaksandr Tsymbaliuk, won the award for best documentary.
Films such as 'In Limbo', 'Koka', 'Forest' and 'Basia:Three Short Stories' triumphed at various events in October. One of the most important awards for the documentary category was the Grand Prize for Alina Maksimenko's 'In Limbo' at the DMZ Docs International Documentary Film Festival in South Korea. The film was also screened at the DocLisboa International Film Festival in Portugal and the Ji.hlava IDFF Festival in the Czech Republic. 'Koka', directed by Aliaksandr Tsymbaliuk, won the Best Documentary Award at the Verona International Film Festival in Italy and the Best Short Documentary Award at the Doc.Boston Documentary Film Festival in the USA. The participation of Lidia Duda's 'Forest' at the Astra Film Festival in Romania, where it won the award for best documentary, was also a great success. Mateusz Pietrak's 'Basia:Three Short Stories' won the title of best student documentary at the Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival in Ukraine, and was also in competition at the Pärnu Film Festival in Estonia and the Alexandre Trauner ArtFilm Festival in Hungary.
Joanna Krzyżewska's 'Getting To Know You' won the prestigious prize for a short documentary at the 8th DokuBaku International Film Festival in Azerbaijan. Agnieszka Zwiefka's 'Silent Trees' won the Youth Lab Jury Award at the 43rd Cambridge Film Festival in the UK. Jakub Piątek's 'Pianoforte', which was screened at the Cayman Piano Festival, The Magnificent 7 European Feature Documentary Festival in Serbia and The Pigeon International Film Festival in Iceland, reminded us once again of his presence at international festivals. Paweł Łoziński's 'The Balcony Movie' also received a lot of attention and was shown at the Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival in the UK and at special screenings at the Screening at Southside Community Centre in Edinburgh. Polish productions also took part in events such as the One World International Documentary Film Festival in Slovakia, the Warsaw Film Festival, the Sapporo International Short Film Festival in Japan and DocsMX in Mexico. The world premiere of Joanna Janikowska's 'Comrades' took place in the competition of the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.
November was no different from previous months in terms of screenings and awards. 'Old Summer' triumphed at the Autumn in Voronet International Film Festival in Romania, winning awards for Best Documentary and Best Cinematography. An Honourable Mention for Best Documentary also went to 'Silent Trees', which was screened at the 24th Escales Documentaires - International Festival of Creative Documentary in France and the Festival Film Dokumenter in Indonesia. The film was also screened at POFF - Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia. At the 8th DokuBaku International Film Festival in Azerbaijan, the Jury Prize went to Karina Będkowska's 'My Place Ozerna', which also received a mention at Ethnofilm Čadca in Slovakia. Another award went to Eliza Kubarska's 'The Last Expedition', which won the prize for best film about mountain culture at the Nordic Adventure Film Festival in Denmark. We were also present at the world's largest documentary festival, IDFA. The main competition featured the world premieres of Maciej Dygas' 'Trains' and Zuzanna Solakiewicz and Zvika Gregory Portnoy's 'The Guest'. Both films left Amsterdam with awards: 'Trains' with the Grand Prix and the award for best editing, and 'The Guest' with the award for cinematography. Also screened at the festival were the short films 'Bloodline' by Wojciech Węglarz, 'Lift Lady' by Marcin Modzelewski and 'The Last Expedition' by Eliza Kubarska.
In the competition section of the Mares da Fin do Mundo International Documentary Film Festival in Spain, Aliaksandr Tsymbaliuk's 'Koka' won the top prize. Joanna Krzyzewska's 'Getting to Know You' won the audience award at the Oko International Ethnographic Film Festival in Bulgaria. 'Forest' was presented at the prestigious DOC NYC. In November we also learned that Jakub Piątek's 'Pianoforte' had won the prestigious Emmy Award, which the director and producer, Maciej Kubicki, received in New York, as well as the nominations for the European Film Awards. In the Best Documentary category, Alina Maksimenko's 'In Limbo' has a chance to win a statuette.
At the Iran International Documentary Film Festival Cinema Verité in December, the award for best film went to 'Unspoken', directed by Maciej Adamek. Eliza Kubarska's 'The Last Expedition' was also a big success, winning the Best Mountain Film award at BBK Mendi Film Bilbao Bizkaia in Spain and the Mountaineering Award at the Autrans Festival International du Film de Montagne d'Autrans in France. Natalia Koniarz's 'Postcards from the Verge' won the prestigious Best Technical Production Award at the Autrans Festival International du Film de Montagne d'Autrans in France. Karolina Biesiacka's 'Run Monnie, Run' and Martyna Peszko's 'Crazy love' were presented at the Reflection of Disability in Film Festival in Greece. Zuzanna Solakiewicz's 'The Soil' was screened at the 33rd International Ethnographic Film Festival in Serbia.
LIST OF AWARDS FOR POLISH DOCUMENTARIES AT INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS IN 2024*
RUN MONIA, RUN (dir. Karolina Biesiacka)
Warsaw Film Festival (Best Short Doc)
BROTHER (dir. Jan Gębski)
30th IFF Art Film Kosice (Grand Prix)
ECHO (dir. Emi Buchwald)
Euroshorts New Filmmakers Film Festival (Best Documentary Film)
SILENT TREES (dir. Agnieszka Zwiefka)
Krakow Film Festival (Golden Hobby Horse, Special Mention)
21st Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival (Special Mention)
43rd Cambridge FIlm Festival (Youth Lab Jury Award)
54th Giffoni Film Festival (Best Documentary Award)
Docaviv - Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival (Beyond the Screen Award)
THE HANDFUL OF DIRT (dir. Izabela Zubrycka)
31st Etiuda&Anima International Film Festival (Special Mention)
BEAST International Film Festival (Best Documentary Film)
THE GUESR (dir. Zuzanna Solakiewicz, Zvika Gregory Portnoy)
IDFA (Best Cinematography)
GETTING TO KNOW YOU (dir. Joanna Krzyżewska)
DokuBaku International Film Festival (Jury Award for Short Documentary Film)
KIOSK (dir. Daniel Stopa)
21st International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays (Special Mention of Docu/Short Competition, Special Mention of Student’s Jury Prize)
KOKA (dir. Aliaksandr Tsymbaliuk)
Krakow Film Festival (Best Cinematograpjy Award)
Beyond Borders - Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival (Grand Prix)
Doc.Boston Documentary Film Festival (Best Short Documentary)
Ghent Viewpoint Documentary Film Festival (Best Mid-Length Doc Film)
Mares da Fin do Mundo International Documentary Film Festival (Best Film)
Toronto Arthouse Film Festival (Best Documentary Film)
Verona International Film Festival (Best Documentary Film)
Visions du Reel International Film Festival (Special Youth Jury Award for a Medium Length Film)
THE END OF THE VALLEY OF TEARS (dir. Jarosław Wszędybył)
Ethnofilm Cadca (The Bronze Turon)
Human-Environment Care Film Festival (The Best Long Documentary Film Award)
FOREST (dir. Lidia Duda)
26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (Silver Alexander Award)
Astra Film Festival (Best Film)
ARCADIA (dir. Małgorzata Paszko)
Bistre Reke Short Documentary Film Festival (The Best Camera)
Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival (Best Documentary Short Film)
International Alexandria Short Film Festival (Best Environmental Film Award)
Toronto Film Week (Best Underground Film)
Vegan Ciftlik Short Film Festival (Wyróżnienie)
MOODY (dir. Karolina Karwan, Tomasz Ratter)
37th Montenegro Film Festival (Wyróżnienie)
MY PLACE OZERNA (dir. Karina Będkowska)
Beyond Borders - Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival (Silver Wreath of Megisti)
Ethnofilm Cadca (Cadca City Award)
OKO International Ethnographic Film Festival (The special Jury Prize, Audience Award)
SISTER OF MINE (dir. Mariusz Rusiński)
Beyond Borders - Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival (Silver Phoenix)
DOXS! Dokumentarfilme Für Kinder und Jugendliche (Best Documentary Film)
Euroshorts New Filmmakers Film Festival (Best Documentary Film)
Ghent Viewpoint Documentary Film Festival (Best Social Documentary
KO:SH Film Festival (Best Documentary Film)
RHODPE International Film Festiwal (Best Short Documentary Film)
Zagrebdox (Teen Dox Award)
UNSPOKEN (dir. Maciej Adamek)
Iran International Documentary Film Festival Cinema Verite (Best Film)
WE WILL NOT FADE AWAT (dir. Alisa Kovalenko)
Global Cinema Film Festival of Boston (Best Director0
THE LAST EXPEDITION (dir. Eliza Kubarska)
AUTRANS Festival International du Film de Montagne D’autrans (Mountaineering Award)
Millennium Docs Against Gravity (Audience Award)
BBK Mendi Film Bilbao Bizkaia (Best Mountaineering Film)
Nordic Adventure Film Festival (Best Mountain Culture Film)
PIANOFORTE (dir. Jakub Piątek)
International Emmy Awards (Arts Programming)
TRAINS (reż. Maciej Drygas)
IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Best Film, Best Editing)
POSTCARDS FROM THE VERGE (dir. Natalia Koniarz)
72nd Trento Film Festival (Silver Gentian - Grand Prix, Premio Amalia De Eccher)
AUTRANS Festival International du Film de Montagne D’autrans (Prix de la Meilleure Réalisation Technique de Cinéma)
CALLS (dir. Ming-Wei Chiang)
7th Ravno Selo Film Festival (Best Documentary Film)
PTITSA (dir. Alina Maksimenko)
Apricot Tree IDFF (Nagroda Publiczności)
A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A COUNTRY (dir Tomasz Wolski)
Krakow Film Festival (Golden Horn)
OLD SUMMER (dir. Maria Wider)
Autumn in Voronet International Film Festival (Best Documentary Film, Best Cinematography)
IN THE REARVIEW (dir. Maciek Hamela)
Artdocfest (Grand Prix)
Rencontres du Cinema Europeen FIlm Festival (Hermine Award, Audience Award)
CRAZY LOVE (dir. Martyna Peszko)
DocsMX (Best Documentary Film)
BASIA: THREE SHORT STORIES (dir. Mateusz Pietrak)
DokuBaku International Film Festival (Best International Documentary Short Film)
FIPADOC International Documentary Festival (Tenk Award)
Molodist 50th Kyiv International Film Festival (Award for Best Student Film)
FACES OF AGATA (dir. Małgorzata Kozera)
DokuBaku International Film Festival (Grand Prix)
EVERYTHING NEEDS TO LIVE (dir. Andrii Lytvynenko, Tetiana Dorodnitsyna)
21st International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays (Grand Prix)
IN LIMBO (dir. Alina Maksimenko)
DMZ Docs International Docuemnatary Festival (Grand Prix)
VIKA! (dir. Agnieszka Zwiefka)
Artddocfest (Herz Prize for Best Director)
Budapest International Documentary Festival (Senior Jury Award)
DEBTORS (dir. Andrzej Danis)
Fest New Directors New Films Festival (Special Mention)
GOODBYE, MY WONDERFUL WORLD (reż. Joo Joostberens)
Budapest Film Awards (Grand Prix)
*data gathered on the basis of information received from producers, filmmakers and festivals by Polish Docs. If you know of any foreign awards for Polish documentaries that are not included in this list, please send such information to the editors of the portal: polishdocs@kff.com.pl.