POLISH FILMS AT EAST SILVER MARKET
This year, forty seven films produced or co-produced in Poland will participate in the East Silver Market. Eight of them were nominated for the Silver Eye awards for the best documentary films of the market.
East Silver Market is a film market, the aim of which is promotion and distribution of documentary films from 27 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland. As usual, the film market will accompany the International Documentary Film Festival in Jihlava. Since 2009, the Silver Eye awards are given at the East Silver Market - the awards for the best documentary films participating in the market. What makes Silver Eye different from many other film awards is the fact that this award is given to the film's producer, not the director. The award is intended to support the promotion and international distribution of the film.
The films participating in the market are divided into three categories: short, middle-length and feature-length. In each category, about 10 films are nominated for the award. The winners, in addition to the statuette, are given cash prize and annual representation of the film in East Silver Caravan, which equals the promotion of the award-winning films at over 100 of the most important film festivals on the world.
This year, eight Polish documentary films are nominated for the Silver Eye awards:
- Agfa 1939, dir. Michał Wnuk
- Casa Blanca, dir. Aleksandra Maciuszek
- End of the World, dir. Monika Pawluczuk
- K2. Touching the Sky, dir. Eliza Kubarska
- Alarm Clock, dir. Piotr Małecki
- Paweł and Wawel, dir. Krzysztof Kaczmarek
-Snails, dir. Grzegorz Szczepaniak
- Figure, dir. Katarzyna Gondek
Four of the aforementioned films ("Agfa 1939," "Casa Blanca," "End of the World" and "K2. Touching the Sky") are represented by Krakow Film Foundation. Apart from the nominated films, over thirty nine other Polish films will participate in the East Silver Market, sixteen of which are represented by Krakow Film Foundation within the frames of Polish Docs programme.
Previously, Polish films were equally well-represented at the East Silver Market, and what is more, many got the Silver Eye awards. In 2009 "Six Weeks" by Marcin Janos Krawczyk won in the short film category, and "Rabbit a la Berlin" by Bartosz Konopka - in the medium-length category. Special mention in the feature-length category went to the film "Side-Track" by Anna Kazejak. A year later, the film "That's Life" by Daniel Zieliński was chosen the best short film, and "At the Edge of Russia" by Michał Marczak - the best full-length film. Special mentions went to the films "The Work of Machines" by Michał and Maciej Mądracki and Gilles Lepore and "Plain Landscape with Cradle" by Arkadiusz Biedrzycki. In 2012, among the award-winners of the Silver Eye award, there were "Cut-Paste" by Rafał Samusik in the short documentary category and "We will be happy one day" by Paweł Wysoczański in the medium-length film category. Last year, Polish-Cuban co-production "Previous Scenes" by Aleksandra Maciuszek was chosen the best short film of the East Silver Market, and "Joanna" by Aneta Kopacz - the best medium-length film. The special mention went to "The Art of Disappearing" by Bartek Konopka and Piotr Rosołowski. In 2014, the Silver Eye Award in the short film category went to "A Visit" by Matej Bobrik, and the special mention in the feature-length section went to the Polish-Czech-Slovakian co-production "Gottland."
You can find the full list of the films nominated for the Silver Eye awards on the East Silver's website.