FOUR POLISH FILMS AT THE 30TH JI.HLAVA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
FOUR POLISH FILMS AT THE 30TH JI.HLAVA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
Three contemporary Polish documentaries and the classic “Workers ’80” have been selected for the anniversary 30th edition of the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. Łukasz Konopa’s “Kashpirovsky: Under His Spell” and Michał Krawczyk’s “Under the Canopy” will compete in the festival’s competition sections, Michał Marczak’s “Closure” will screen in Constellations, while Andrzej Chodakowski and Andrzej Zajączkowski’s “Workers ’80” will be presented as part of the “Films That Changed the World” retrospective. The festival will take place from 23 October to 1 November.
Ji.hlava is one of the key events dedicated to creative documentary cinema in Central and Eastern Europe. Its anniversary edition will bring together contemporary documentary filmmaking and retrospectives exploring cinema’s social and political impact.
Łukasz Konopa’s “Kashpirovsky: Under His Spell” has been selected for the Testimonies competition, which focuses on films addressing significant social, political and economic phenomena.
The documentary revisits the phenomenon of Anatoly Kashpirovsky, the hypnotist and television healer who drew millions of viewers to their screens during the final years of the Soviet Union. Konopa uses his extraordinary story to explore a collective longing for miracles, the power of charisma and the mechanisms through which mass authority is created.
Michał Krawczyk’s “Under the Canopy” has been selected for Short Joy, the festival’s competition showcasing outstanding short documentaries from around the world.
Made in the Andean-Amazonian foothills, the film challenges the colonial image of the rainforest as an uninhabited wilderness destined for exploitation. Instead, it foregrounds Indigenous communities that combine ancestral knowledge with contemporary technologies and understand the forest as a space where people, nature and spirituality coexist.
Michał Marczak’s “Closure” will be screened in Constellations, a section presenting films that have already made a strong impression on the international festival circuit.
The documentary begins with the disappearance of 16-year-old Krzysztof Dymiński. Marczak accompanies his father, Daniel, in his relentless search along the Vistula River, creating a deeply affecting portrait of a man suspended between hope, loss and the need to find an answer.
“WORKERS ’80” AMONG THE FILMS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
The anniversary retrospective Films That Changed the World will feature the landmark Polish documentary “Workers ’80” by Andrzej Chodakowski and Andrzej Zajączkowski.
The black-and-white film documents the final week of the August 1980 strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard and the negotiations between the strike committee and government representatives. Ji.hlava includes it among thirteen documentaries whose significance extended far beyond cinema, becoming part of broader social and political transformations.
More information can be found here.