POLISH FILMS AWARDED IN ARGENTINA
Polish documentary films dealing with the subject matter of the mountains are again successful. This time, "The Place" by Julia Popławska and "Jurek" by Paweł Wysoczański were awarded at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Montaña Ushuaia Shh in Argentina.
The festival in Argentina is yet another mountain film review, at which Polish documentary films were appreciated. At the event, which ended on August 28, the Special Mention in the short film category went to Julia Popławska for her documentary film "The Place," whereas the Special Mention for the feature-length film went to "Jurek" by Paweł Wysoczański.
The documentary film by Julia Popławska documents everyday life in the workplace which is located in the highest place in Poland, where night observation of the surrounding world incessantly goes on. The employees of "the Place" suspended out of time and space, are unshakably on their posts, in spite of any adversity and surprising situations.
"Jurek" is a film about Jerzy Kukuczka, who perished in 1989 during the Lhotse expedition. It was the first time when we went to the Himalayas with money, equipment, and as a really famous person. The documentary by Paweł Wysoczański does not, however, concentrate on the mystery of the Himalayan mountaineer's death. It shows a person who climbs up, higher and higher - literally, but also metaphorically and symbolically. From a bootblack to a millionaire, from a socialist worker to an international media star, from the man who climbs without any money and equipment to the real competitor of Reinhold Messner in the competition to climb the Crown of the Himalayas and the Karakoram. Interviews with family and friends, archive materials, photographs, recordings, excerpts from television programmes and interviews make up the portrait of the Himalayan mountaineers in 1980s. It is also the image of the times in which they lived - hard and colourful at the same time, when idealism was more valued than fame.
You can read more about the festival here.