POLISH PREMIÈRES AND THE WINNERS OF THE 11TH PLANETE+ DOC FILM FESTIVAL

The 11th Planete + Doc Film Festival ended on yesterday, May 18th. At this year's edition, the viewers could watch the premières of six Polish documentary films, three of which were awarded with prizes and honourable mentions at the festival. Daniel Stopa saw these films and wrote short reviews of them.

On 18th May, the 11th edition of Planete + Doc Film Festival ended. Three Polish documentary films were awarded with prizes and honourable mentions.

International Jury consisting of Željka Sukova, Paweł Łoziński and Błażej Hrapkowicz presented the MAGIC HOUR AWARD for best mid-length film and 4000 euro funded by Polish Film Institute to the documentary “Three Women” by Anna Jadowska for “the subtle and patient observation that allows viewers to enter the protagonists’ intimate world without the feeling of encroaching on someone’s privacy and for the realization that documentary filmmaking is more than just turning the camera on and waiting for things to happen.

The Jury consisting of: Irena Gruca-Rozbicka, Bogdan Dziworski and Maciej Nabrdalik granted the honourable mention to the film "Walking Under Water" by Eliza Kubarska. This documentary film was appreciated by the jury for “composition, ambience, light and ideal camerawork as well as the perfect correspondence of film form and content”.

The Jury consisting of: Paulina Wilkowicz de Arruda, Weronika Althamer, Agnieszka Gabriel, Miłosz Gierszewski, Krzysztof Lach, Hanna Dymarska and Dominika Budkus granted the jury's honourable mentions to the films: “Three Women” – “a raw, true-to-life story about the world around us” and “C.K.O.D.2 – Evacuation Plan” by Piotr Szczepański. „This is how documentaries should be made” wrote the jury in the verdict.

During this edition of Planete + Doc Film Festival six Polish documentary films had their premiere screenings. Daniel Stopa watched and reviewed five of them.

"Walking Under Water" by Eliza Kubarska

"Walking Under Water" - a beautiful, poignant and nostalgic film. It brings to mind the documentary cinema by the masters of anthropological record, Robert Flaherty and Władysław Ślesicki. Similar themes, similar protagonists. 10-year old Sari and his uncle are descendants of the Badjao people, they live on the island of Borneo and catch fish from the bottom of the sea. From his uncle, Sari learns the dangerous art of diving. It is pleasant to observe the life of simple people, living close to nature, uncorrupted by the neurosis caused by the development of civilisation. But modern holiday resorts are built nearby, and the Badjao are not allowed there. We feel that before our very eyes the world of the protagonists passes into the past, that the camera records it in the last moment. And it records it in an extraordinary way. "Walking Under Water" is a poetic, impressionistic documentary film (marvellous photos under water), and at the same time it results from careful observation and painstakingly developed subject.

"BARD" by by Katarzyna Kościelak

Documentary portrait of Jacek Kaczmarski - a poet, singer, also named the Bard of the Solidarity - resembles a broken mirror. The statements of the close ones, friends, co-workers and younger people, who did not meet the artist, but grew up with his legend, do not form a clear, coherent whole. Everything functions rather on the principle of dissonance. The thread of creating the myth of the bard of the Solidarity is very important. The author of numerous protest-songs, which carried the people away for years, comes across as a torn person: on the one hand, he has to defend and strengthen his own legend; on the other hand, he wants the people to look at his work in a deeper way and notice more universal content, which transcends the clichés. The dissonance in this film is its greatest asset.

"MINKOWSKI I SAGA" by Raphael Lewandowski

“Minkowski I Saga” is a film story about an influential Jewish family, the Minkowskis, but also a unique portrait of the Warsaw which does not exist anymore. In 2008, Marc Minkowski, French conductor, was chosen the music director of the orchestra "Sinfonia Varsovia." Coming to Poland, he also wanted to learn the truth about his ancestors. With every minute, we learn more about the Minkowski family. We learn about August, the son of a rabbi from Minsk, who came to Warsaw and quickly accumulated a fortune, about his wife - Tekla and about his four sons, important personages in the Second Polish Republic. We also get to know the history of pre-war Warsaw, look at photos showing wonderful tenement houses which do not exist anymore. One of such buildings was located on Fredry Street 10. The Minkowski family lived there. Now, there is a car park in this place. The protagonist starts to fight for regaining the land. He would like to build a concert hall there, a place where the memory of ancestors would reverberate. The starting point is history in the microscale, but thanks to it, the viewer can touch the "great" history.

"MY 89 GENERATION" by Paweł Jóźwiak-Rodan

Create a collective portrait of Poles born in and after 1989 - this was the task undertaken by Paweł Jóźwiak-Rodan. He found his protagonists on the Internet, and selected seven young people out of amateur material submitted to him. They talk about themselves (openly, directly) and draw the image of the generation which -suprisingly- does not conform to the stereotypical image. Among them, there are: Wojtek, who dreams of becoming an actor, Martyna, a globetrotter, Adam, who works in Great Britain, Małgosia, an artistic soul, who has a toxic relationship with her mother, Ela, a talented piano player, Mikołaj, a psychology student, and Łukasz, who wanders in the footsteps of his hip hop idols. From the very first scenes it is visible that this documentary film arose from an authentic curiosity of the director (born in 1982) to the first generation which grew up in free Poland.

"THREE WOMEN" by Anna Jadowska

An interesting attempt to tell the story of the entire human life by presenting three women of different ages. The first one is a teenager who quits school and tries to find a job (to no avail). The second one is a single mother of two children, not much older than the first one. The third one, the oldest one, lives with an adult son who is an alcoholic. All three are joined by the place where they live – downtown Łódź, which resembles the grey, poor and backward districts from the poster films of "the black series." But "Three Women" do not resemble a poster reportage, a film which would simply accuse and point to the guilty party. If it awakes some kind of opposition in us, questions about the fates of the protagonists, it is only because their story really moves us.

[the source of information about the awards: Planete + Doc Film Festival's website]