2010 – POLISH DOCUMENTARY’S SUCCESSES ABROAD

The balance of 2010 is striking – more than 300 Polish documentary’s screenings abroad, about 160 screenings in the competitions. Polish documentary was present at above 140 international festivals – including the most important in documentary film industry: Hot Docs in Toronto, IDFA or DOK Leipzig. What is more, Polish documentary filmmakers were given about 50 awards in total. The record-holder is Paweł Łoziński and his “Chemo”, which in 2010 received 7 prizes, including Anasy Documen­tary Awards, DOXA Feature Documen­tary Award and Gold World Medal at New York Festival.

Among these numerous success of Polish documentary there are also Oscar nomination for Rabbit à la Berlin by Bartek Konopka, Golden Dove Award at DOK Leipzig for Piece of summer by Marta Minorowicz, directed by Igor Chojna Screening at the Tatry cinema’s nomination for the main prize in Stu­dent Film cathegory at IDFA, Grand Prix at Aye Aye Film Festival for Tomasz Wolski’s The Lucky Ones and his Award for the Best Short Documentary at Los Angeles Film Festival, Charcoal Burners by Piotr Złotorowicz as the best short film at Estonian film festival in Pärnu, Little Stamp at ZagrebDox for Chasm by Wojciech Kasperski, Grand Prix at FIDMarseille for The Work of Machines directed by Michał Mądracki, Maciej Mądracki and Gilles Lepore, Grand Prix for Mother by Jakub Piątek and Award for the Best Middle-Length Film for Chemo by Paweł Łoziński at Cinema Vérité Inter­national Documen­tary FF in Iran, two awards Silver Eye for At the Edge of Russia by Michał Marczak and That’s life… by Daniel Zieliński, Matej Bobrik’s Where the sun doesn’t rush and his Award for the Best Documentary at Italian Cortopotere and the same award for Jakub Stożek’s Out of reach at DOCSDF in Mexico, FIKE festival’s awards for Mother by Jakub Piątek (Best Short Film) and The Lucky Ones by Tomasz Wolski (Best Documentary Film), Silver Nanook for Chemo by Paweł Łoziński at Flahertiana Inter­national Documen­tary FF in Russia and Award for the Best Short Documentary for A Heart-Broken Circus by Marek Tomasz Pawłowski, Prix Italia for Lech Majewski. The World According to Bruegel directed by Dagmara Drzazga, Grand Prix for Jakub Piątek’s Mother at Batumi Inter­national Art-​House FF in Georgia, Best Short Film Award for Six Weeks by Marcin Janos Krawczyk at Mon­ter­rey Inter­national FF in Mexico and Best Documentary Award for 10 years to Nashville directed by Katarzyna Trzaska at Bankok Indiefest in Thailand. It is worth to add the awards at festivals in Poland, however, in the international competitions – Golden Dragon Award at Krakow Film Festival for Out of Reach by Jakub Stożek and Golden Frog Award at Camerimage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography for The Last day of Summer by Piotr Stasik, as well as Award of the Future of Media at the Art of Document Festival for ex equo: Themerson and Themerson by Wiktoria Szymańska and Fighting Cholita by Małgorzata Łupina. The whole list of awards for Polish Documentary is presented below.

Furthemore, we attempt to create the list of the most frequently screened at the foreign international festivals Polish documentary films. According to the data base from www.polishdocs.pl, Glass Trap by Paweł Ferdek, Six Weeks by Marcin Janos Krawczyk and Chemo by Paweł Łoziński are on the top. They are followed by Rabbit à la Berlin by Bartek Konopka, The Lucky Ones by Tomasz Wolski, Mother by Jakub Piątek and Where the Sun doesn’t rush by Matej Bobrik.

It is worth to mention about several Polish films retrospectives which present the recent achievments of Polish documentary cinema. There were about 20 Polish programmes of that kind, ex. In Helsinki, Tehran, Toronto, Zagreb, Istanbul, Thessaloniki, Kiev, Nice, Belo Horizonte, Madrid or Neubran­denburg.



THE LIST OF AWARDS FOR POLISH DOCUMENTARY FILMS IN 2010:


10 years to Nashville, dir. Katarzyna Trzaska

- Best Short Documen­tary (Ban­kok Indiefest, Thailand)

- Special Jury Menion (Inter­naional Short FF – Film Palace Fest, Bulgaria)


52 percent, dir. Rafał Skalski

- DOXA Short Documen­tary Award (DOXA, Canada)


Actors, dir. Tomasz Wolski

- the Best Documen­tary Film (FIKE — Inter­national Short Film Festival, Por­tugal)


An American in the Communist Poland, dir. Piotr Moraw­ski i Ryszard Kaczyński

- Gold World Medal (New York Festivals — Inter­national Television & Film Awards, USA)

- Hugo Television Award — Cer­tificate of Merit (Chicago Inter­national FF, USA)


Chemo, dir. Paweł Łoziński

- DOXA Feature Documen­tary Award (DOXA, Canada)

- Best Direc­tor (Anasy Documen­tary Awards, United Arab Emirates)

- Grand Prix (FIDADOC, Morocco)

- First Prize of Inter­national Mid-​Length Documen­tary Com­petition (“Cinema Verite” Teh­ran Inter­national Documen­tary Film Festival, Iran)

- Best Direc­tor Award (One World – People in Need Inter­national Human Rights Documen­tary FF, Czech Republic)

- “Silver Nanook” for the best short film (Flaher­tiana Inter­national Documen­tary FF, Russia)

- Gold World Medal (New York Festivals — Inter­national Television & Film Awards, USA)


A Heart-Broken Circus, dir. Marek Tomasz Pawłowski

- Hugo Television Award — Cer­tificate of Merit (Chicago Inter­national FF, USA)

- Best Short Documen­tary (Ismailia Inter­national Short and Documen­tary FF, Egypt)

- Nagroda Telewizji Słowac­kiej (Inter­national FF of Documen­taries on Eth­nology and Anthor­pology ETNOFILM Cadca, Slovakia)


Football Father, dir. Michał Jóźwiak

- Nagroda Publicz­no­ści (Docudays Ua, Ukraine)


Piece of Summer, dir. Marta Minorowicz

- the Gol­den Dove /​Short-​length Documen­tary com­petition (DOK Leip­zig, Germany)


The Last Day of Summer, dir. Piotr Stasik

- Grand Prix — Złota Żaba (Camerimage, Pol­and)


At the Edge of Russia, dir. Michał Marczak

- Special Jury Men­tion (Flaher­tiana Inter­national Documen­tary FF, Russia)

- Silver Eye Award for the best Feature-​lenght Film (East Silver, Czech Republic)


Plain Landscape with a Crandle, dir. Arek Biedrzycki

- Silver Eye Special Men­tion (East Silver, Czech republic)


Rabbit à la Berlin, dir. Bartek Konopka

- Oskar nomination

- Jury Special Prize — Main Inter­national Com­petition Sec­tion (Batumi Inter­national Art-​House Film Festival — BIAFF, Georgia)

- 2nd Award for the Short Film (Dokumenta Madrid, Spain)


Kites, dir. Beata Dzianowicz

- the Silver Award (Anasy Documen­tary Awards, United Arab Emirates)


Mother, dir. Jakub Piątek

- Grand Prize of the Inter­national Short Film Com­petition (“Cinema Vérité” Teh­ran Inter­national Documen­tary Film Festival, Iran)

- the Best Europeen Short Film (FIKE — Inter­national Short Film Festival, Portugal)

- Grand Prix — Young Film­makers Com­petition Sec­tion (Batumi Inter­national Art-​House Film Festival — BIAFF, Georgia)


Honeymoon, dir. Grzegorz Krawiec

- Special Men­tion (Los Angeles Movie Awards, USA)


North from Calabria, dir. Mar­cin Sauter

- Trade Union ver.di award (DOK Leip­zig, Germany)

- the Ecumenical Jury Award (DOK Leip­zig, Germany)

- Special Jury Men­tion (Flaher­tiana Inter­national Documen­tary FF, Russia)


Chasm, dir. Woj­ciech Kasperski

- Lit­tle Stamp Award (Zagreb DOX, Croatia)


Out of reach, dir. Jakub Stożek

- Złoty Smok – (Krakow Film Festival, Poland)

- Best Short Documen­tary (DOCSDF, Mexico)


The Work of the Machines, dir. Michał Mądracki, Maciej Mądracki, Gil­les Lepore 

- Grand Prix (FID­Mar­seille, France)

- Silver Eye Special Men­tion (East Silver, Czech Republic)


Little Bride, dir. Lesław Dobrucki

– Honorable Men­tion (Expresión En Corto Inter­national Film Festival — Speak Out Against Domestic Violence, Mexico)

- Second Prize (Vil­nius Film Shorts, Lithuania)


Flightless Birds, dir. Michał Dawidowicz

- Best Documen­tary Film (Inter­national Student Film Festival Early Melons, Slovakia)

- Nagroda Fin­dling Regional­nego Stowarzyszenia Komunikacji Fil­mowej Meklemburgii-​Pomorza Przed­niego (dokumen­tART — European Documen­tary Film Festival, Germany /​Pol­and)


Rolls of Identity, dir. Jakub Pączek

- Second Prize (Festival AZYL, Slovakia)


Screening at the Tatry cinema, dir. Igor Chojna

- Nomination for IDFA Student Award (IDFA, Amster­dam)


Charcoal burners, dir. Piotr Złotorowicz

- Grand Prix (Short Film Festival of Dijon — “Fenêtres sur courts”, France)

- Best Documen­tary Film (IX Open St.Petersburg Student Film Festival Begin­ning, Russia)

- Best Short Film (XXIV Pärnu Inter­national Film Festival, Estonia)


The Lucky Ones, dir. Tomasz Wolski

- Grand Prix (Aye Aye Film Festival, France)

- Jury Special Men­tion (Palm Springs Inter­national Short­Fest, USA)

- Honorary Men­tion (Kas­seler Dok Fest, Germany)

- Best Documen­tary Short Film (Los Angeles FF, USA)


Six weeks, dir. Mar­cin Janos Krawczyk

- Nagroda Miasta Neubran­den­burg (dokumen­tART — European Documen­tary Film Festival, Germany /​Pol­and)

- Best Short Documen­tary Film Award (Mon­ter­rey Inter­national Film Festival, Mexico)


Lech Majew­ski. The World According to Breugel, dir. Dag­mara Drzazga

- Prix Italia (62nd Inter­national Com­petition for Radio, Television and Web – PRIX ITALIA, Italy)


That’s life
,
dir. Daniel Zieliński

- Silver Eye Award for the Best Short Film (East Silver, Czech Republic)


Where the sun doesn’t rush, dir. Matej Bobrik

- Best Documen­tary Film (Cor­topotere Short­Film­Festival, Italy)

- Award for NAR­RATIVE CON­STRUC­TION (Brazilian Student Film Festival, Brasilia)


War­saw available, dir. Julia Rusz­kiewicz, Karolina Bielawska

- Special Jury Men­tion (World Film Fest Houston, USA)


Burnt, dir. Anna Więckowska

- Special Jury Men­tion (Gol­den Knight Inter­national FF, Russia)


Goldfish, dir. Tomasz Wolski

- Prize for the Best Direc­tor (Inter­national Documen­tary Film Festival CRONOGRAF, Moldavia)


Fighting Cholita, dir.  Małgorzata Łupina

- Award of the Future of Media (The Art of Document Festival, Poland)


Themerson and Themerson, dir. Wiktoria Szymańska

- Award of the Future of Media (The Art of Document Festival, Poland)

 

 (In the picture above: still from the Paweł Łoziński’s documentary Chemo)