“BOYLESQUE” AWARDED AT HOT DOCS
The premiere screening of Bogna Kowalczyk's film was a resounding success. The documentary won an award for debuting filmmakers – The Emerging International Filmmaker Award.
Launched in 1993, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary film festival in North America. It is held every spring, and film screenings are accompanied by international film fairs and industry conferences. This year's edition began on 28 April and ended on 8 May.
It was a really successful festival for the Polish documentary. The program featured a total of seven Polish productions, and you can read about it here. However, it was Bogna Kowalczyk's Boylesque that came back from Canada with an award for the director making her feature-length debut.
The hero of the awarded film is Lulla la Polaca (born 1938) – Poland's oldest drag queen. Behind this stage persona is Andrzej – a man who has always fought for the right to individual expression, in spite of the prevailing climate in the country. In the film we get to know his more private incarnation: as a sensitive person and a dreamer. He knows how to enjoy life and is not bad in the world of dating sites, but at the same time is a man immersed in the past, slowly getting ready for death. However, he does it with a lot flair and self-irony, treating his performance in front of the camera like another daring act.
In Poland, the film will debut at the Krakow Film Festival.
A list of all winners can be found here.