NOVEMBER FESTIVALS
Long November evenings are just perfect to visit a cinema, which is why this month film festivals are organized all over the world. This year, more than fifty Polish films appeared in the programmes of over twenty November festivals.
Probably the most important documentary film festival in November, is the IDFA festival held in Amsterdam. This year at IDFA, Poland will be represented by four titles: "Everything is Possible" by Lidia Duda is taking part in the Mid-Length Documentary Competition, while "Our Curse" by Tomasz Śliwiński is going to appear in the competitive section dedicated to student films. In the non-competitive screenings, the viewers will be able to see Matej Bobrik’s "A Visit" and "Leaders" by Paweł Ferdek. An additional Polish touch will be the film „Drill Baby Drill” directed by Lech Kowalski and produced in France.
With the beginning of November, two festivals have begun: the Spanish MiradasDoc and Listapad held in Belarus. The programmers of the festival in Minsk invited Paweł Łoziński’s "Father and Son" to the competition, and the films "Man at War" by Jacek Bławut, as well as "Survive Afghanistan" by Małgorzata Imielska were invited to the non-competitive section representing the Krakow Film Festival profile. Four Polish productions have been listed for the competitive section of the MiradasDoc festival, held on the Canary Islands, including: Diana Aszyk’s "God's Lake", "Dream of San Juan" by Joaquin del Paso and Jan Paweł Trzaska, "My House Without Me" by Magdalena Szymków and Tomasz Jeziorski’s film "Camp". .
These are not the only festival screenings this month for the two latter titles. The documentary by Magdalena Szymków is going to have a special screening at Pravo Ljudski Film Festival taking place in Sarajevo. “Camp” on the other hand, is going to compete for awards at the Filmer a Tout Prix festival in Belgium, as well as at the German Doxs! festival, where it’s going to compete with Paweł Ziemilski’s "Rogalik” among many others. In November, Ziemilski’s film is also going to have a chance to win the awards in Spain and in Italy, as it’s been listed for the competitions at the Alcine festival in Alcalá de Henares and the Ozu festival held in Sassuolo.
Apart from the films at the MiradasDoc and Alcine festival, the Spanish audience will also have an opportunity to see Zbigniew Czapla’s "Paperbox", which has been qualified for the competition at Filmets Badalona, and the film "The Whistle" by Grzegorz Zariczny, which is going to compete for awards in the competitive section of the ZINEBI festival. This month, the trophies from the outside of Europe will be within the reach of the films "A Piece of Summer" by Marta Minorowicz, which has been invited to compete at the Film Africa festival in Kenya, as well as "A Diary of a Journey" by Piotr Stasik, which is included in the competitive section at the Sydney Intercultural Film Festival. The film "Love" directed by Filip Dzierżawski will be presented in the competition at the Lithuanian Scanorama festival, and also as a special show at the Jazz and Experimental Music from Poland festival in Great Britain.
November at festivals in Poland means primarily Camerimage. This year, the films to compete for the Golden Frogs and Tadpoles are: Agnieszka Elbanowska’s "The Love Equation of Henry Fast", "Joanna” by Aneta Kopacz, Bartosz M. Kowalski’s "A Dream in the Making", "Secrets of Love" by Krystian Matysek, "Left Side of the Face" by Marcin Bortkiewicz, "When I Am a Bird" by Monika Pawluczuk and “Father and Son” by Paweł Łoziński. In the non-competitive screenings, we’ll be able to see "Free the Butterfly" by Joanna Frydrych, "Black Box" by Krzysztof Kowalski, “Everything is Possible” by Lidia Duda, "Abu Haraz” by Maciej Drygas, Piotr Stasik’s “A Diary of a Journey” and finally, "A New Dream – Krzysztof Warlikowski” by Marcin Latałło.
The rich programmes of Polish documentary cinema are also going to be presented this month at the many festivals of the Polish diaspora. Ten titles have been included in the Polish documentary review at the Buenos Aires Polonia festival starting 31 October, including: "Viva Maria!” by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, "PRL de Luxe” and "The Girl From a Reading Primer" directed by Edyta Wróblewska, "Mother" by Jakub Piątek, "Decrescendo” by Marta Minorowicz, "Losing Sonia" by Radka Franczak, "Argentinian Lesson" by Wojciech Staroń and "Andrzej Wajda: Let's Shoot!” by Maciej Cuske, Thierry Paladino, Marcina Sauter and Piotr Stasik.
In the United States three festivals of the Polish diaspora are held in November. The organizers of the 25th Polish Film Festival in America have decided to present no less than fourteen documentaries, among them the film "Rotem” by Agnieszka Arnold, Filip Dzierżawski’s “Love”, "The Pledge" by Igor Mołodecki, "Crisis Management" by Ivo Kardel, Janusz Mrozowski’s „"Bad Boy – High Security Cell", “Free the Butterfly” by Joanna Frydrych, “Secrets of Love” by Krystian Matysek, Lidia Duda’s "Entangled", "You're Gonna Be a Legend, Man" by Marcin Koszałka, Michał Bielawski’s "Mundial. The Highest Stakes", "Fuck for Forest” by Michał Marczak, “Leaders” by Paweł Ferdek, “Father and Son” by Paweł Łoziński and Tomasz Wolski’s "The Palace".
Different Ages, Different Voices: Polish Women in Film, a review of films made by women or talking about women is taking place in New York. In the course of this review, the films "From the City of Łódź", "First Love" and "Seven Women of Different Ages" directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski are going to be presented, as well as the films "So It Doesn't Hurt" by Marcel Łoziński, "The Princess and the Wall" by Małgorzata Kozera and “Losing Sonia” by Radka Franczak. On the other hand, the films included in the programme of the Ann Arbor Polish Film Festival were "Castaways" and “Santa Rosa” by Sławomir Grunberg or “Maestro Rodziński” by Bożeny Garus-Hockuba, among many others.