POLISH FILMMAKERS TRIUMPHANT IN KIEV

The festival Docudays UA, which finished on 28 March, was particularly successful for Polish documentary filmmakers. Aneta Kopacz won the Audience Award and Special Mention in the Docu/Short competition for her film "Joanna." "A Diary of A Journey" by Piotr Stasik won Andriy Matrosov Award, given by the Docudays UA Organising Committee.

Polish documentary films won three awards at Docudays UA, a human rights documentary film festival, which ended on 28 March in Kiev. The moving film by Aneta Kopacz, "Joanna" was given Special Mention in the Docu/Shorts competition for "ability to be both intimate and discreet." This documentary also won the recognition of the audience, who gave the Audience Award to "Joanna." This is yet another Audience Award won by Aneta Kopacz's documentary. The film "A Diary of A Journey" by Piotr Stasik was appreciated by the organisers of the festival, who gave him Andriy Matrosov Award from the Docudays UA Organising Committee. It is worth mentioning that the festival winners received a piece of sett from the Maidan instead of statuettes.

The protagonist of "Joanna" is a beautiful, intelligent and sensitive woman. Joanna relishes every moment. In spite of the illness and in spite of the sentence - three months left to live. She promises her five-year-old son that she would do anything to be with him as long as possible. She fights. For Jaś, she writes a blog in which she describes their everyday life - in a simple and accurate way. For many readers she becomes an icon of attentive, happy life.

The travellers from "A Diary of A Journey" are Tadeusz Rolke, elderly master of Polish photography and fifteen-year-old Michał. They are united not only by the typical relationship of a master and a student. They travel throughout Poland together in order to make portraits of the residents of small towns, and the darkroom in the camper allows them to immediately develop photos and give them to the people who accidentally posed for these photos. For the boy, it is a wonderful opportunity to discover the secrets of traditional photography. For both protagonists - a chance to experience friendship.

This year's edition of the documentary film festival Docudays was the eleventh one. Apart from the award-winning "Joanna" and "A Diary of A Journey," films such as "Abu Haraz" by Maciej J. Drygas and "The Odd Movie" by Brygida Frosztęga-Kmiecik also took part in various competition sections.

The full list of the winners of Docudays UA is available here.