SUCCESSES OF POLISH DOCUMENTARY ABROAD - SUMMARY OF 2012
2012 abounded with events important for Polish documentary cinematography. Apart from an impressive number of over 530 screenings at international festivals and over 50 awards, Polish documentary film was a special guest at Dokufest festival in Kosovo, Nordisk Panorama in Finland and DOCSDF in Mexico. We invite you to read the summary of year 2012 in Polish documentary.
For the third time already, the editors of Polish Docs prepared the annual summary of Polish documentary cinema shown abroad. Once again we decided to let the numbers speak - they are really impressive. In 2012, Polish documentary films were shown at international festivals over 530 times, 350 of which were competition screenings. In relation to 2011, the number of screenings has increased by more than 70, and the number of competition screenings - by more than 80. The viewers of over 250 film festivals around the world had the opportunity to get acquainted with Polish films, including events of such importance as the Dutch IDFA festival, German DOK Leipzig, Swiss Visions du Reel or Canadian Hot Docs.
Undoubtedly, the festival record-breaker this year was the documentary by Martin Rath "Written in Ink" which was shown at festivals almost 80 times. Other films, which can boast a large number of screenings, are among others three productions of Wajda Studio: "3 days of freedom" by Łukasz Borowski, "Decrescendo" by Marta Minorowicz and "Paparazzi" by Piotr Bernaś and furthermore "Argentinean lesson" by Wojciech Staroń, "We will be happy one day" by Paweł Wysoczański, "Paper box" by Zbigniew Czapla, "Returns" by Krzysztof Kadłubowski, "The Conversation" by Piotr Sułkowski and "The Trip" by Bartosz Kruhlik.
The past year brought Polish documentary films over 50 awards, including the best medium-length film award at the Canadian RIDM festival for "Argentinean lesson," the East Silver best short- and medium-length documentary film award for "Cut-Paste" by Rafał Samusik and "We will be happy one day" by Paweł Wysoczański, or the best film award at the Romanian Astra Film Festival for "Phnom Penh Lullaby" by Paweł Kloc. Certainly, one must also mention the IDFA award nominations for the films "Rogalik" by Paweł Ziemilski, and "Bad Boy - high security cell" by Janusz Mrozowski.
Among the films most frequently awarded in 2012 there are: "Argentinian lesson" and "Crulic - the path to beyond" with nine awards; "We will be happy one day" - with five; "3 days of freedom," "The Declaration of Immortality", "Written in ink" and "The Conversation" - awarded four times in 2012, and "Tonia and her children" which can boast three awards.
Last year, thanks to the activities of Krakow Film Foundation, two large retrospectives of Polish documentary film took place - within the frames of two programmes "Masters from Krakow" and "Young Talents" at the DOCSDF festival in Mexico City, there were shown 30 films made by the masters of Polish documentary - Kazimierz Karabasz, Wojciech Wiszniewski, Marcel Łoziński and Paweł Łoziński or Krzysztof Kieślowski, as well as young film makers, who have already been successful abroad, among others, Bartek Konopka, Marcin Koszałka, Tomasz Wolski, Adam Palenta, Paweł Kloc or Marcin Janos Krawczyk. At the same time, at this year's edition of Dokufest - the only one festival in Kosovo, presenting international documentary cinema - several recent Polish films were shown.
In 2012 Polish documentary film makers introduced themselves on the branch ground. Thanks to the activities of Krakow Film Foundation, the producers had the opportunity to make their projects come true and widen their international contact at the Polish stall, which was organised for the sixth time at one of the most important Documentary Film Market Sunny Side of the Doc in French La Rochelle. In cooperation with Film Kontakt Nord, nine producers had the opportunity to take part in Polish co-production day and present their film projects within the frames of the prestigious Nordisk Forum in Finnish Oulu. Traditionally, KFF prepared Polish film programme POLISH DOCS at documentary market Doc Shop at Hot Docs in Canada, Docs for Sale at IDFA in the Netherlands, Doc Market at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in Greece, Doc Outlook at Visions du Reel in Switzerland or DOK Market at DOK Leipzig in Leipzig. All of the events were supported by Polish Film Institute.
THE LIST OF AWARDS FOR POLISH DOCUMENTARY FILMS IN 2012*
3 days of freedom, by Łukasz Borowski
Batumi Art-House International Film Festival, Georgia- the Jury Special Prize
Message the Isle of Man IFF, Russia Special Diploma of Student Jury
Huesca FF, Spain – Special Mention
Visions du Reel, Switzerland - Special Mention
38,5, by Grzegorz Dębowski
Go Short International Short Film Festival, the Netherlands- Special Mention
Argentinean lesson, by Wojciech Staroń
Batumi Art-House International Film Festival, Georgia- Best Doc Film
Miradasdoc, the Canary Islands Best Documentary Film - Special Mention
Rencontres Internationales Documentaire Montreal, Canada - Grand Prix
Detour. International Travel Film Festival, Italy -Best Film Prize
Docudays, International HR FF, Ukraine - Main Prize Docu/Life
MakeDox, Macedonia- Onion Award for the Best International Film
Dokument Art., Germany- The Latücht-Award of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Cinema Eye Awards, USA - Spotlight Award
Charcoal burners, by Piotr Złotorowicz
Next Frame International Student Film and Video Festival, USA - 2nd Place Documentary Award
Watersprite Student Film Festival, UK – Best Sound
Crulic - the Path to Beyond, by Anca Damian
Annecy Festival MIFA, France - Grand Prix
FICUNAM Festival, Mexico – FICUNAM Audience Award, SILVER PUMA
ASTRA Film Festiwal, Romania - Award for the Best Romanian Documentary
GOPO Romanian Film Awards, Romania - Main Prize of Romanian Filmmakers Association for 2011, Romanian Filmmmakers Association Award for the Best Music for Piotr Dziubek, Romanian Filmmakers Association Award for the Best Sound for Piotr Witkowski and Sebastian Włodarczyk (Alvernia studios)
International Film Festival Monterrey, Mexico - Cabrito de Plata
International Film Festival Festroia, Portugal - Silver Dolphin - Special Jury Award
Milwaukee Film Festival, USA - Best Film Award
Cut-Paste, by Rafał Samusik
East Silver, the Czech Republic– Best Short Documentary
Declaration of Immortality, by Marcin Koszałka
6th Mountain Film Festival Domžale, Słowenia - Best Climbing Film Award
15th Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, Canada- Best Rock Climbing Film Award
International Mountain Film Festival in Poprad, Slovakia - Grand Prix
Mezinárodní horolezecký filmový festival - MHFF Teplice nad Metují, the Czech Republic - Main Award
Everything will be ok, by Jonas Matzow Gulbransen
Nordisk Panorama 2012, Finland - Special Mention
Exit point, by Jagoda Szelc
7th Monaco Charity Film Festival, Monaco - Notre Dame University Lebanon Award
Heaven, by Jan P. Matuszyński
DOCSDF, Mexico - Special Mention
Hermits, by Kacper Czubak
21st dokumentART Film Festival, Germany - The "Findling", bestowed by the Landesverband Filmkommunikation e.V. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , The Award of the Student Union Greifswald
Out of reach, by Jakub Stożek
China International KingBonn Shorts New Media Festival, China -Best documentary Award
Paparazzi, by Piotr Bernaś
LISTAPAD Film Festival, Belarus - Best short-length documentary film
Paper box, by Zbigniew Czapla
XXII Message the Isle of Man International Film Festival, St Petersburg, Russia - Prize of Mobile TeleSystems
Phnom Penh Lullaby, by Paweł Kloc
Astra Film Festival, Romania- Best Film Prize
Reception, by Maciej Bochniak
Open City for Docs London, United Kingdom -Special Mention
The art of freedom, by Wojciech Słota and Marek Kłosowicz
6th Mountain Film Festival Domžale, Slovenia– Grand Prix
The Conversation, by Piotr Sułkowski
Exground Filmfest Wiesbaden, Germany - Best Film of the On Video competition
LISTAPAD Film Festival, Belarus- Best film of the Young Documentary Film Competition
The Fourth Man, by Krzysztof Kasior
Curtocircuito International Short Film Festival, Spain- Best International Documentary Award
The trip, by Bartosz Kruhlik
Open City London Docs Fest, Great Britain– Special Mention
UFO 0110 Digital Film Festival New Delhi, India – Second Prize
Tonia and her children, by Marcel Łoziński
DokumentArt, Germany- The Award of the Foundation of the German-Polish Cooperation, The Audience Award of the Polish Television (TVP)
"Cinema Verite" Iran International Documentary FilmFestival, Iran - Best Mid-Length Documentary
We will be happy one day, by Paweł Wysoczański
Reykjavik Shorts & Docs Festival, Iceland- Best Documentary Newcomer Award
Docudays, International HR FF, Ukraine - Main Prize Docu/Short
Documenta Madrid, Spain- Second Prize in the Short Film Competition
East Silver, the Czech Republic - Best Mid-Length documentary
13th Annual Polish Film Festival, USA - Hollywood Eagle documentary Award
What happened at Pam Island, by Eliza Kubarska
World Festival of Mountain Doucumentary Quinghai, China -Jade Kunlun Award for the Best Photography
Written in ink, by Martin Rath
I've seen film International Film Festival, Italy, - Best Documentary Short
Reel Independent Film Extravaganza, USA- Best Documentary Short
Cornwall Film Festival, United Kingdom- Best Short Film
7 th Annual Harlem International Film Festival, USA- Best Short Shorts Award
* The data is collected on the basis of information received from producers, film makers and festivals by Polish Docs. If you know about foreign awards for Polish documentaries which are not mentioned in this fact sheet, please send this information to the website's editors: redakcja@polishdocs.pl