POLISH DOCUMENTARY FILMS AWARDED IN PÄRNU
The winners of the 30th Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Festival have just been announced. Among the award-winners, there are the films "K2. Touching the Sky" by Eliza Kubarska and "Goran the Camel Man" by Marcin Lesisz.
Pärnu Film Festival is the oldest event of this kind in Baltic countries. Within the frames of the festival five competitions are held: Estonian film competition, documentary films for children competition, music documentary competition and international film competition. In the last of the aforementioned competition, the awards went to Polish documentary films.
The Best Audiovisual Portrayal award went to the film "K2. Touching the Sky" by Eliza Kubarska. The documentary film shows four people climbing up to the base camp on K2. They go by the same road which was taken years ago by their parents - recognised Alpinists. They try to understand the power which ordered their parents to climb and which finally took their lives in 1986 in the K2 disaster. "K2. Touching the Sky" is an emotional journey with breath-taking views of Karakoram in the background.
The Best Short Documentary award went to the film "Goran the Camel Man." It is a short documentary film, presenting a snippet from the life of an extraordinary wanderer. Goran, that is, Roland Charles Verdon, is a Swiss man, who travels by his Gypsy wagon, together with his dogs, goats and a camel, reconstructing the Silk Road. He has been fulfilling his dream constantly for 27 years, trying to find an alternative way of travelling, based on the lives of ancient nomads, traversing the long trails from Mongolia to Europe. Goran managed to traverse the trail through Mongolia, Iran, Turkey, Italy, France etc. two times. The film, made in Georgia, shows a fragment of his extraordinary life.
In the International Competition, the films were evaluated by the jury consisting of: Ene Ergma, Kersti Uibo, Pille Runnel, Priit Pärn, Mati Põldre.
It is worthwhile to mention that Marcin Lesisz was the member of the jury in Estonian Film Competition.
The full list of award-winning films is on the festival's website.