“OUR CURSE” NOMINATED FOR THE IDFA AWARD

28.11.2013

Yesterday, the jury of 26th edition of the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam announced the list of films nominated for the awards in seven sections of the festival’s competition. The documentary by Tomasz Śliwiński, “Our curse” is among the nominated films.

International Documentary Film Festival IDFA, which takes place in Amsterdam, is considered to be one of the most important events of this kind in the world. Yesterday, the jury of seven competitive sections of the festival chose - from among all films taking part in the competition - the candidates for the main awards - three films from each section. From this point on, only these films have a chance of winning the prestigious IDFA awards.

The film “Our curse”, directed by Tomasz Śliwiński and produced by Warsaw Film School, is nominated for the IDFA award in the competitive section for student documentaries. Krakow Film Foundation supports the international promotion of the film. The main award in the Student Documentary Competition is 2,500 euro. The films have been evaluated by the jury, including Hussain Currimbhoy (Great Britain); Peter Lataster (the Netherlands) and Mon Mon Myat (Myanmar).

"Our curse" is a personal statement by the director, who - together with his wife - has to deal with the very rare and incurable disease of their newborn baby - Ondine’s curse (congenital central hypoventilation syndrome, CCHS). The afflicted stop breathing during sleep and they need life-long support of the respiration by the means of a respirator. The director documents how his family lives during the first months after the birth of the baby.

Apart from “Our curse,” there are three Polish films in this year’s IDFA festival. "Everything is possible" by Lidia Duda took part in the Competition for Mid-Length Documentary, "A Visit" by Matej Bobrik - in the Reflecting Images: Panorama series, and "Leaders" by Paweł Ferdka - in the Kids & Docs scetion. Additional Polish element was the screening of the film by Lech Kowalski “Drill Baby Drill”, which was produced in France, in the Reflecting Images: Best of Fests section. These films still have a chance to win the Audience’s Award. In the film market Docs for Sale, which accompanies the festival, there are eleven Polish films that enjoy high ratings from film professionals present in Amsterdam.

Polish documentary productions have been present at the IDFA Festival since the first edition, and for several years they have always had a representative in the Student Documentary Competition - the following films appeared in this section: “Where the sun doesn’t rush” by Matej Bobrik (2009), “A Screening at the Tatry Cinema” by Igor Chojna (2010), “Paparazzi” by Piotr Bernaś (2011) and “Rogalik” by Paweł Ziemilski (2012). “A Screening at the Tatry Cinema” and “Rogalik” were noticed by the festival jury and nominated for the IDFA awards.

The results will be announced and IDFA Award Ceremony which takes place on Friday, 29th November.

You can find the full list of the nominated films here.