POLISH DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS AT INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY EVENTS - SUMMARY 2024
Another intense year for the Polish film industry is behind us. In 2024, Polish documentary filmmakers were present at major film events around the world, presenting their new projects or participating in markets, workshops and networking meetings. We have been present at major documentary events such as the IDFA Forum, CPH:Forum, DOK Industry, Visions du Reel Industry, Hot Docs Forum and Sunny Side of the Doc.
The beginning of 2024 was already full of important events to which Polish documentary projects were invited. In January we learned that Grzegorz Paprzycki's 'December', produced by Telemark and Just A Moment, had been invited to the When East Meet West co-production forum in Trieste. Marta Wierzbicka (Smart Films) took part in the Producers meet producers at the FIPADOC Industry in Biarritz, France. When the list of shortlisted projects for this year's edition of Copenhagen's prestigious CPH:FORUM was announced in February, Polish co-productions were not missing. Among the selected entries were Tanya Haurylchyk's 'Language X' and Magda Grudniewska's 'Lessons of Chemistry'.
Two Polish producers qualified for the Eurodoc training programme - Daria Maślona (Silver Frame) with her project 'Under His Spell' by Łukasz Konopa and Glib Lukianets (Gogol Film) with his project 'Twinkle, Twinkle' by Jude Kang.
No fewer than 15 Polish productions were presented at the Czech East Doc Platform in Prague. The East Silver Market / East Doc Market included the projects 'Do Painters Die Elsewhere' by Michał Pietrak, 'Fakir' by Roman Ďuriš, 'Flowers of Ukraine' by Adelina Borets, 'Forest' by Lidia Duda, The Guest' by Zuzanna Solakiewicz and Zvika Gregory Portony, 'Child of Dust' by Weronika Milczewska, 'When the Harmattan Blows' by Edyta Wróblewska, 'On My Own Terms' by Tadeusz Chudy and 'Putin's Playground' by Konrad Szołajski. Six projects were presented in the East Doc Forum: 'Under His Spell' by Łukasz Konopa (prod. Siver Frame), 'Birdie' by Aneta Ptak (prod. Staron-Film), 'Letters' by Anderei Kutsila(prod. Docedu Foundation), 'Keepers of the Ruins' by Maria Shevchenko (prod. New Kyiv) and 'How I Became a Hijacker' by Andrew Carter (prod. Aleksandra Szczęsna). Polish projects presented at the East Doc Forum received six awards. The grand prize winner was 'Under His Spell', and three awards went to 'Birdie. 'Letters' and 'Keepers of the Ruins' were also honoured. The Silver Eye Award went to the documentary 'Flowers of Ukraine' by Adelina Borets (produced by Gogol Films and Kos Kino).
Polish projects had the opportunity to present themselves at DocsBarcelona Industry. The Rough Cut Pitch presented Matylda Kawka's project 'My Sunnyside'. Five titles were invited to the New Tech Pitch, including the Polish-Lithuanian 'Litualnica VR' by Andrius Lekavicius. Natalia Dolgowska's documentary project 'On the way' (prod. Kijora Film) was invited to the industry section of the prestigious Visions du Reél Industry in Switzerland, the VdR pitch. 'Hasan's Joy' by Natalia Pietsch and Grzegorz Piekarski (prod. Larmo) and 'Child of Dust' by Weronika Mliczewska (prod. Ya Man Studio) are two Polish projects accepted for the next edition of the dok.incubator workshop in April. At the same time, Aneta Ptak's 'Birdie' (prod. Staron-Film) and Alisa Kovalenko's 'Frontline' (prod. Haka Films) received a message confirming their participation in the East Doc Platform Showcase pitching at Cannes Docs during the Cannes Film Festival. Mateusz Wajda's project 'En Garde' (prod. Pawel Ziemilski / MX35) was presented at the prestigious Hot Docs Forum in Toronto, Canada.
In the second half of May we learned that Łukasz Kowalski's 'My Father, THE ICEMAN' (prod. 4.30 Studio) and Oliwia Tonteri's "St. Barbara's Children' (prod. Kompot and Kalejdoskop Film) have been invited to the Ex Oriente Film Workshop. 'Baltic' by Iga Lis and the Polish-Latvian-Estonian project 'Nord Express' by Kārlis Lesiņš were presented at the Baltic Sea Docs Forum in Riga. In the second half of June, the Polish delegation could not miss the Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, France. This is one of the largest industry events dedicated to documentaries, attended every year by representatives of the most important TV stations, distributors and film producers from all over the world. The Polish stand was present at the fair for the 17th time. Among the projects promoted there were 'Baltic' by Iga Lis, 'Isabella' by Joanna Janikowska, 'On My Own Terms' and 'Light in the Shadow' by Tadeusz Chudy, 'Naveen' by Tomasz Wysokiński, 'On the Road' by Natalia Dolgowska, 'The Big Chief' by Tomasz Wolski, 'Woytek' by Piotr Małecki and 'Riding with Ghosts' by Piotr Małecki and Maciej Nabrdalik. The stand and the Polish delegation were organised by the Krakow Film Foundation as part of the Polish Docs PRO project.
At the beginning of June, another edition of KFF Industry - the most important industry event for documentary filmmakers in Poland - came to an end. The event takes place during the Krakow Film Festival and is aimed at film professionals. Over 50 projects were presented in two pitching sessions - Docs to Go and Docs to Start - and at the CEDOC co-production market. Click here for more information.
At the end of the summer holidays, we announced the names of the producers invited to the next edition of the prestigious Emerging Producers programme. Among them was Zofia Kujawska. The talented Polish producer has worked with many acclaimed directors, including Agnieszka Zwiefka ('Silent Trees', 'Vika!'), Jakub Piątek ('Pianoforte'), Marta Minorowicz (the feature film 'Ilussion') or Edyta Wróblewska ('When Harmattan Blows'), earning recognition for her professional approach to each project. Also in August, we learned that Tomasz Wolski's documentary project 'The Big Chief' had been invited to the CineLink Industry Days at this year's Sarajevo Film Festival. The title was one of eight productions presented as part of Docu Talents from the East. Representatives from DAFilms were so pleased with Tomasz Wolski's project that they awarded him the Distribution Prize.
In September, the Krakow Film Foundation received the PISF Award for the promotion of Polish cinema abroad. This was an excellent prelude to the autumn's industry events, some of which were organised by the KFF as part of the Polish Docs PRO project, which supports and promotes the Polish documentary industry abroad. Among the events organised as part of this project was the participation of a Polish delegation of directors and producers in the DOK Industry at DOK Leipzig in October. The industry events in Leipzig included Marta Szymanowska (Kijora) with her project 'Isabella' by Joanna Janikowska, Mateusz Wajda (MX35) with his project 'En Garde', Maciej Kubicki (Telemark) with the projects 'The World Is Not (a) Mine' by Natalia Koniarz and 'Tren' by Michał Bielawski, and Marta Wierzbicka (Smart Films) representing the project 'On My Own Terms' by Tadeusz Chudy and Michał J. Owerczuk with the project of his film 'Cambodjana'. The producers took part in the Delegation Mix&Match meetings and German-Czech-Polish co-production meetings prepared in cooperation with the Czech Documentary Film Institute. But that was not the end of Polish accents at DOK Industry. The Polish-German project 'Letters' by Andrei Kutsila, produced by the DocEdu Foundation and DOCDAYS Productions GmbH, was invited to co-production meetings as part of the DOK Co-Pro Market, the project 'The Town That Drove Away' by Natalia Pietsch and Grzegorz Piekarski was presented at the DOK Preview Training and the project 'My Father. THE ICEMAN' by Łukasz Kowalski took part in the Leipzig session of the Ex Oriente workshop.
Almost at the same time as the German event, Jihava Industry, an international event for the documentary film industry, took place at the International Documentary Film Festival in Jihlava, Czech Republic. Organised by the Krakow Film Foundation, the Polish Docs PRO delegation attended the event and included Natalia Koryncka-Gruz (Eureka Studio) with the project 'Crack in Wall', Maciej Kubicki and Piotr Śmiechowski (Telemark) with the projects 'December' by Grzegorz Paprzycki, Dekonstrukt' by Mateusz Góra and Kamil Wilk, 'A World Is Not (a) Mine' by Natalia Koniarz and 'Tren' by Michał Bielawski, Dorota Schleiss (ASF Studio) with 'Basement Love', dir. Martyna Majewska, 'Coincidence? I Don't Think So!' by Karina Kleszczewska and 'Fit for Space Season' by Tomasz Bardorsh, Monika Braid (Braidmade Films) with the project 'Step by Step' by Eliza Kubarska and Michał Woroch, Marta Dużbabel (ATM Group) with the projects 'Polański' by Marcin Borchardt, 'There's Nothing to Fear' by Kasia Cieślar, 'The Death of Our Mother' by Marcin Koszałka and 'Unheard. The Story of Sarsa' by Luiza Budejko and Justyna Kluczewska (Raban), who represented the projects 'The Chef Suffragette' by Magdalena Szymków and 'Becoming Christine Granville' by Sylwia Rosak. The project "Sugarland" by Julia Groszek (prod. by Alicja Gancarz / Autograf) was also presented at the Piching Ji.hlava New Visions Forum: Europe.
At the end of October/beginning of November we received very good news from Amsterdam, where another of our large delegations set off. Two Polish projects were presented at the IDFA Forum: 'Home Movie' by Anu Czerwiński (prod. Anna Stylinska, Katarzna Ślesicka / My Way Studio) and the Polish-British co-production 'Trolls vs Elves' by Aleksandra Rydzkowska, and Daniel Stopa was invited to participate in the IDFA Academy. IDFA Industry was once again attended by the Polish Docs Pro delegation, organised by the Krakow Film Foundation. One of the key events of the Polish presence at IDFA was the Polish Docs Pro Showcase. Four projects in production were presented, including Weronika Mliczewska's 'Child of Dust, Grzegorz Paprzycki's December, Anu Czerwiński's 'Home Movie' and Natalia Dolgowska's 'On The Way'. Polish films were also promoted in the Docs for Sale market.