HANNA POLAK AWARDED WITH IDFA SPECIAL JURY AWARD
The newest documentary by Hanna Polak, “Something better to come” was awarded with Special Jury Award in the IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary. The festival ended last Sunday, 30 November.
The world premiere of “Something better to come”, directed by a renowned Polish documentary filmmaker, Hanna Polak, turned out to be a big success. The film was awarded with the Special Jury Award in the Competition for Feature-Length Documentary of the IDFA festival, the biggest European documentary film festival. The film was awarded by the jury composed of: Anne Aghion, Talal Derki, Sandra den Hamer, Joshua Oppenheimer and Alina Rudnitskaya. The awards ceremony was held on Friday, 28 November and the festival lasted until Sunday, 30 November.
Hanna Polak worked on her new documentary, produced as Polish-Danish coproduction, for 14 years. The main character of the film, 11-year-old Yula lives in one of the most desolate places on Earth: the Svalka, the biggest junkyard in Europe, 20 km outside the center of Moscow. Surrounded by barbed wire and guards, the area is closely monitored to keep intruders out. But in the junkyard lives a group of people in a small, lawless society. These people make up Yula’s closest family; here she lives her life, and from here her future springs.
The director of the film graduated from the Cinematography Division of the Cinematography Institute of the Russian Federation. Before “Something better to come” she has directed such films as “The railway station ballad”, “Stone silence”, “Al - Tribute to Albert Maysels” and the most renowned “The Children of Leningradsky”, nominated to Oscars in 2005.
The full list of the films awarded at IDFA can be found here.