At one of the big­gest festivals on the world, Hot Docs in Toronto, Canada, there will be a strong represen­tation of Polish documen­tary cinema. Two Polish films will take part in the com­petition, while as much as 22 films will be shown during the film mar­ket Doc Shop 2010.

Hot Docs is the lar­gest documen­tary film festival in the North America and plays an extremely impor­tant role in the inter­national documen­tary film industry arena. For seven­teen years this enor­mous event has been a great oppor­tunity for meeting film-​makers, producers, distributors and film experts. Hot Docs is not only a festival during which documen­tary cinema from around the world is presen­ted. Within the frames of a widely under­stood initiative of developing the film industry, the organizers offer film fair, con­feren­ces and discus­sion panels.


The main points of the Hot Docs festival inc­lude (apart from com­petition and non-​competition program­mes, presen­ting the latest documen­tary films from around the world):

- Toronto Documen­tary Forum a set of coproduc­tion meetings fol­lowed by a pit­ching ses­sions, hel­ping to develop inter­national co-​production projects, which are at dif­ferent stages of making, by providing funds

- Doc Shop, that is film fair in the form of digitalized library, con­taining over 1500 documen­tary films

- Doc Shop Online – project offering all year long on-​line access to films shown at the festival (initiative addres­sed to registered producers, distributors, profes­sionals)

- Sales Office – that is a meeting place for people interested in buying and sel­ling the documen­tary film projects – which is the specific cen­tre of the film mar­ket

- Inter­national Co-​Production Day – a day devoted to meetings of producers, interested in making inter­national projects


At this year’s festival the fol­lowing Polish documen­taries will be shown:

- Chemo, dir. Paweł Łoziń­ski (the inter­national com­petition)

- Six Weeks, dir. Mar­cin Janos Kraw­czyk (the inter­national com­petition)

- War Games, dir. Dariusz Jabłoń­ski (inter­national survey of the best documen­taries )

- A Man Came and Took Her, dir. Jędrzej Nie­strój, Rafał Przy­był ( inter­national survey of the best documen­taries)


In addition, within the frames of Doc Shop the audience will have a chance to get acquain­ted with a wide range of Polish documen­tary films. The fol­lowing films will be presen­ted under POLISH DOCS programme:

Six weeks, dir. Mar­cin Janos Kraw­czyk

Chemo, dir. Pawel Lozin­ski

The Lucky Ones, dir. Tomasz Wol­ski

The Actors, dir. Tomasz Wol­ski

Mother, dir. Jakub Piątek

Where the Sun Doesn’t Rush, dir. Matej Bobrik

Andrzej Wajda: let’s shoot!, dir. Mar­cin Sauter, Maciej Cuske, Thierry Paladino, Piotr Stasik

War­saw Available, dir. Karolina Bielaw­ska, Julia Rusz­kiewicz

The Unem­ployed, dir. Nastia Tarasowa

Fligh­tless Birds, dir. Michal Dawidowicz

Side-​Track, dir. Anna Kazejak

Get­ting On, dir. Renata Gabryjel­ska

Direc­tion: Iceland, dir. Kalina Alabrudzin­ska

Agor Dromesko (At the End of Way), dir. Jedrzej Baczyk

Chasm, dir. Woj­ciech Kasper­ski

Beautiful Misun­der­stan­ding, dir. Pawel Fer­dek

The Way, dir. Grzegorz Kor­czak

Hen­ryk Musialowicz. MAN, dir. Anna Blasz­czyk, Robert Kielak

Good mor­ning, Lenin!, dir. Kon­rad Szolaj­ski

Nowhere Blues, dir. Bar­tosz War­was

The Dog Hill, dir. Grzegorz Zariczny

Lit­tle Bride, dir. Leslaw Dobrucki


It is notewor­thy that Polish films have enjoyed popularity at that festival. In recent years, the Hot Docs audience had an oppor­tunity to watch, among others, short-​length documen­taries by young film-​makers — “Rendez-​vous” by Mar­cin Janos Kraw­czyk, “By the River” by Mag­dalena Kowal­czyk, “52 per­cent” by Rafał Skal­ski or “Cup­board” by Jacob Dam­mas, and last year “Rab­bit a la Ber­lin ” by Bar­tek Konopka was recognised as the best middle-​length film of the festival, and this award began the series of the film’s suc­ces­ses. 

More infor­mation on the website www​.hot​docs​.ca
(27.03.2010)