KFF INDUSTRY AT THE 59TH KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL - SUMMARY
KFF Market, workshops, presentations, pitchings, panel discussions, networking meetings, special screenings. These and many other interesting events filled the industry section of this year's Krakow Film Festival.
KFF Industry is the part of Krakow Film Festival, dedicated to film industry professionals, within the frames of which the following events are held every year: KFF Market, the pitchings Animated in Poland, Docs To Start, Docs To Go!, DOC LAB POLAND Co-Production Market, KFF Industry Meetings, the screenings Docs to Buy and many others. This year's edition of KFF Industry also offered the guests of the festival professional workshops and discussion panels. In addition, the Focus on Finland Conference was held in cooperation with the Krakow Technology Park. All events of KFF INDUSTRY were held betweeen the 27th of May and the 1st of June. The vast majority of them took place in Małopolski Ogród Sztuki, which was simultaneously the Festival Centre. KFF Industry was also present in Kijów.Centrum, Grand Ascot Hotel and Krakow Technology Park.
KFF MARKET
To this year's, twelfth edition of KFF Market, 900 documentary, short and animated films were submitted, from among which the organisers chose about 200 films. The selection of the most interesting documentary films from Germany, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Eastern and Central Europe was prepared by the partners: DOK Leipzig, Institute of Documentary Film, Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival, Swiss Films/Festival Visions du Reel and Festival dei Popoli. All qualified films were included in the market catalogue, and during the Festival, they could be watched in the digital video collection. This year, the films in the videolibrary were watched by 150 accredited guests, and among the users of Krakow Film Market, there were the festival programmers of such important festivals as: Venice IFF (Italy), DOK Leipzig (Germany), Ji.hlava IDFF (Czech Republic), Visions du Reel (Switzerland), Doclisboa IFF (Portugal), distributors and sales agents, as well as film experts and representatives of television channels. The films collected in the video library were played a total of 1875 times. 66 films were played more than 10 times. The most frequently watched film - 43 times - was the documentary “My Country So Beautiful” directed by Grzegorz Paprzycki.
The most frequently watched Polish films:
My Country So Beautiful, dir. Grzegorz Paprzycki / Poland (documentary)
Of Animals and Men, reż. Łukasz Czajka / Poland (documentary)
The Little Soul, dir. Barbara Rupik / Poland (animation)
The Tough, dir. Marcin Polar / Poland (documentary)
Fuck, It's Biology, dir. Veronica Andersson / Poland (documentary)
The Antarctic Syndrome, dir. Piotr Jaworski / Poland (documentary)
Strawberry Boys, dir. Michał Toczek / Poland (documentary)
Eye of God, dir. Igor Kawecki /Poland (documentary)
The Wind. A Documentary Thriller, dir. Michał Bielawski / Poland (documentary)
And We'll Be Happy Again, dir. Krzysztof Wołżański / Poland (documentary)
The most frequently watched foreign films:
Pariah Dog, dir. Jesse Alk / USA (documentary)
Alba's Memories, dir. Andrea Martignoni, Maria Steinmetz / Italy, Germany (animation)
Heat Singers, dir. Nadia Parfan / Ukraine (documentary)
Advocate, dir. Rachel Leah Jones, Philippe Bellaiche / Israel, Canada, Switzerland (documentary)
Happy Ending, dir. Eunju Ara Choi / United Kingdom (animation)
Kabul, City in the Wind, dir. Aboozar Amini / The Netherlands, Afghanistan, Germany, Japan (documentary)
Memory Is Our Homeland, dir. Jonathan Kołodziej Durand / Canada (documentary)
Cerro Quemado, dir. Juan Pablo Ruiz / Argentina (documentary)
Bror, dir. Sara Hjort Ditlevsen / Denmark (fiction)
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, dir. Stanley Nelson / USA, United Kingdom, France (documentary)
ANIMATED IN POLAND
This year's Animated in Poland formula followed the lead of the previous edition - the day before pitching, on May 27, all participants took part in a workshop preparing for the presentation of their projects, conducted by Jukka-Pekka Laakso– the festival director of Tampere Film Festival and the executive director for Pirkanmaa Film Centre. In this year's pitching session, moderated by Zofia Jaroszuk, participated seven animated film projects at the stage of post-production. The award-winning project – „Love In The Time Of A Coal-Based Economy” won the award in the form of a voucher for 10 days of sound post-production for the film, funded by the Sound Mind studio, established by Michał Fojcik, whereas the Special Mention funded by the Audiovisual Technology Center in the form of PLN 50,000 of non-cash contribution in the production of the film received the project “Love” by Michał Socha and Jakub Socha. After the presentations, all participants took part in individual meetings with the representatives of film industry from abroad.
Animated in Poland this year offered also the workshop "Storyboard. From the visual scrapbook to the industry tool”, organized in cooperation with the Association of Polish Animation Producers (SPPA). The event aimed for the animated films industry was led by Mateusz Kowalczyk, co-founder and managing director in the Krakow animation studio Pigeon. Another event co-organized with SPPA was Talent Market – presentations of six animation studios looking for new ideas and projects (Animoon, Dash Dot Creations, Grupa Smacznego, Letko, Pigeon, Studio Trefl) in front of the audience composed of screenwriters, animators, directors and producers, which was followed by one-on-one meetings.
Panel discussion “Copyrights And Related Rights To Animated Films – What Shall Be Acquired By The Producer?” was another event accompanying Animated in Poland. The panel was dedicated to the proper ways of acquisition of rights by the animation producer with particular emphasis on copyright and related rights to individual elements – the graphic layer, music and text. The panel covered the examples of acquiring rights in the case of adapting a book, including a book containing original illustrations, and a scenario concerning a true character. The possibility of acquiring the rights in the fields of exploitation and the problem of classifying an animation as an audiovisual work was discussed as well as the issue whether the authors are entitled to royalties. The participants also discussed the issue of rights in the case of obtaining a co‑producer. The guests invited to the discussion were producers Anna Gnyś (GS Animation) and Robert Sowa (Animation Film Studio – Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow). The event was hosted by lawyer Marcin Lassota.
DOCS TO START, DOCS TO GO!
For the fifth time, within the frames of Krakow Film Festival, there were held the workshops DOC LAB POLAND (session II), co-organised by the Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation. The participants of the workshops DOC LAB START under the guidance of tutors and experts - Leena Pasanen (DOK Leipzig), Daniel Salzwedel (ma.ja.de) and Rada Šešić (Sarajevo FF/IDFA) worked on the projects at the state of development. The participants of the workshops DOC LAB GO, in contrast, were supported by Paul Pauwels (Congoo bvba) and Debra Zimmerman (Women Make Movies). The culmination of the workshops were two pitching sessions: DOCS TO START and DOCS TO GO!.
The pitching DOCS TO START is a presentation of film projects at the stage of development or first shooting. Its purpose is to acquire potential co-producers and funding, necessary to continue the making of the film. The participants showed their projects to producers, representatives of television channels, Regional Film Funds and institutions co-financing film production, but also to distributors and sales agents, and to the selectors from the most important festivals. Within DOCS TO START, 11 projects were presented. The meeting was hosted by Rada Šešić. After the pitchings, the representatives of the projects had three-hour individual meetings with potential co-production and financing partners and the representatives of television channels, among others, Documentary Campus, Katapult Fund, Al Jazeera, YLE, B2B Doc Network, DOK Incubator, Cinema Infinit, Emerging Producers, La Realidad, Sideway Films, Baltic Sea Forum For Documentaries, , East Doc Platform , Netflix, , TVP, HBO Europe.
Pitching DOCS TO GO!, a joint initiative of Polish Film Institute and Krakow Film Foundation in co-operation with Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation, was held in Krakow for the seventh time. The aim of the pitching is to promote and present the most interesting Polish documentary films in post-production, whose première will take place within the coming months. Producers and directors of the selected projects had a chance to show fragments of the assembly edits of their films and to talk about the production to the distributors, sales agents, representatives of television channels, programmers of film festivals and other experts and decision-making persons present at the meeting. Within the frames of DOCS TO GO! 10 projects were shown. The pitching was moderated by Debra Zimmerman. After the presentations, all representatives of the projects met with experts, festival selectors, distributors and sales agents. The following representatives were invited to the consultation: Berlinale, Visions du Réel, Ji.hlava IDFF, DOK Leipzig, Festival dei Popoli, Doc Lisboa, Deckert Distribution, Syndicado, Visible Film, Dok Incubator , Hot Docs, Taskovski Films, JMT Films, CPH: DOX, MoMA Doc Fortnight.
This year, the following projects were awarded:
for the best project and pitch at DOCS TO START:
HBO AWARD – for the project of the film “Lili”, dir. Sylwia Rosak, prod. Tomasz Morawski / HAKA Films
UCHOSTUDIO AWARD – for the project of the film “When The Wind Becomes Silent”, dir. Mateusz Gołębiewski, prod. Małgorzata Domin, Dominika Mandla, Kinga Mielnik / Domino Film
DOK LEIPZIG SPECIAL MENTION – for the project of the film “Together”, dir. Marek Kozakiewicz, prod. Agnieszka Skalska / Koi Studio
COLOROFFON AWARD – for the project “I Want It All”, dir. Katarzyna Wiśniowska, prod. Tomasz Morawski / HAKA Films
SPECIAL MENTION OF THE WŁADYSŁAW ŚLESICKI FILM FOUNDATION – for the projects:
“Miss of Poland”, dir. Jana Shostak, Jakub Jasiukiewicz, prod. Katarzyna Drapała / Documentary and Feature Film Studios (WFDiF)
“My Big Biba”, dir. Judyta Fibiger, prod. Robert Rhodin
„Brotherhood”, dir. Hanna Maciąg, prod. Maria Wachowiak, Anna Waligórska / No prob production house
for the best project and pitch at DOCS TO GO!:
SPECIAL MENTION OF THE INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY FILM – for the project “The Pawnshop”, dir. Łukasz Kowalski, prod. Łukasz Kowalski, Anna Mazerant / 4:30 Picture
COLOROFFON AWARD - for the project “No Hero At All”, reż. Michał Kawecki, prod. Maria Siniarska / Unlimited Film Operations
DOCS TO BUY
For the third time, within the frames of Krakow Film Festival, there were organised closed industry screenings for foreign distributors, showing the latest Polish documentary films, which had their world premières at Krakow Film Festival or were still before their premières. This year's screenings DOCS TO BUY included 8 films. The representatives of the film had a chance to meet VOD and online distributors: Cinezen, Moving Docs, MUBI, FilmDoo.
THE CONFERENCE: FOCUS ON FINLAND AND DOC LAB POLAND CO-PRODUCTION MARKET
The special guest of this year's 59th edition of the Krakow Film Festival was Finnish cinematography. The program "Focus on Finland" included screenings of the latest Finnish documentary, short and animated films. An important industry event of the section was the conference Focus on Finland held at the Krakow Technology Park, which main axis was the presentation of the model of Finnish cinema. After a brief historical introduction, outlining the context in which the film industry was shaping in Finland, the most important film institutions and festivals were presented, as well as the system of production and financing of documentary and short films. The conference was divided into two thematic panels: Finnish Film Landscape and Production And Financing Of Documentary And Short Films In Finland. In both of them attending panellists were: Erkko Lyytinen (Yle – The Finnish Broadcasting Company) Sari Volanen (Yle – The Finnish Broadcasting Company), Suvi Paavola (Finnish Film Foundation), Piia Nokelainen (Finnish Film Foundation), Pekka Uotila (Finnish Film Foundation), Niklas Kullström (Hillstream Pictures). The event was moderated by Jukka-Pekka Laakso (Tampere Film Festival ).
The accompanying event of the Conference was co-organized by the Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation – Doc Lab Poland Co-production Market - international co-production meetings for invited producers, including producers from Finland. During almost all day meetings, Polish producers had the opportunity to talk to partners from Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, Russia, Finland, Ukraine, Hungary, Denmark, UK, Palestine, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, France.
The partner of the Conference and the Market’s was Krakow Technology Park. Focus on Finland partner was Finnish Film Foundation.
MASTERCLASS, PRESENTATIONS, SEMINARS, MEETINGS WITH EXPERTS
Caroline Leaf: Out On A Limb
During the master class Caroline Leaf presented slides and film fragments in order to demonstrate how her approach to animation has been evolving. The Dragon of Dragons Laureate showed various techniques of making animated movies (by manipulating beach sand on a lightbox or fingerpainting on glass under the camera lens, and scratching directly into film emulsion) based on her early films. She explained how she has arrived at the present stage of her career in which she is more interested in drawing and painting than creating animation.
Case study: “Over The Limit”
In the production case study of the award winning feature documentary film “Over the limit” directed by Marta Prus the producer Maciej Kubicki talked about all the steps in the challenging financing and production process. The film – multi‑winner of the last year’s edition of the Krakow Film Festival went – at the project stage – through many film markets, training programs, forums and presentations like the Sunny Side of the Doc, Ex Oriente, East European Forum, Hot Docs Forum and MeetMarket in Sheffield, Dok Incubator, Docs to Go at KFF Industry, Dok Preview and then the film has its world premiere at IDFA 2017. The film was screened at more than 30 international film festivals so far and won numerous awards.
The film is Polish‑German‑Finish co‑production and the producer also explained how he started the collaboration with the international partners Hans Robert Eisenhauer (Ventana Films) and Mika Kaurismaki (Marianna Films), broadcasters – TVP, ARTE and YLE and the sales agent Autlook Filmsales. The event was supported by TVP – Polish Public Broadcaster.
During the Festival, from Monday to Friday, in the Festival Centre, there were held KFF Industry meetings - individual meetings (one-on-one) with the guests from the film industry, present at Krakow Film Festival (distributors, sales agents, buyers, festival programmers, experts, consultants). The meetings were addressed to producers, filmmakers and other professionals, involved in film promotion and had the form of max. 10-minute consultations. After the hour-long meetings, the participants headed upstairs, in order to continue their discussions in a less formal atmosphere, with a glass of wine, at KFF Industry Drink – organised in co-operation with: Polish Animations, Warsaw Film School, WFDiF, Pitch the Doc and TVP.
more at: www.krakowfilmfestival.pl
Producer KFF Industry: Krakow Film Foundation
Partners: TVP – Polish Public Broadcaster, Wladyslaw Slesicki Film Foundation, Krakow Festival Office, Krakow Film Commision, The Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków, Małopolski Ogród Sztuki, Institute of Documentary Film, Krakow Technology Park, The Krakow Voivodeship Public Library, Lassota – law firm, Soundmind, Audiovisual Technology Center
The project was made thanks to the financial support of: Polish Film Institute, Polish Filmmakers Association, Kraków Municipality, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Lesser Poland Voivodeship
Media patronage: Film PRO, TELE PRO, Film &TV Kamera, Polish Docs, Polish Shorts, Polish Animations
Photos: Agnieszka Fiejka, Kamila Szatan, Maciej Sawicki, Katarzyna Wilk