Polish Film Festival opens in Gdynia

Over 130 films will be screened at the event, including 50 productions entered in the festival’s three competitions.

Films vying for the top award in the main competition include Małgorzata Szumowska’s Mug (Twarz), Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cold War (Zimna Wojna) and Bartosz Konopka’s Blood of God (Krew Boga).

Radosław Śmigulski, director of the Polish Film Institute (PISF), which co-organises the event, said the festival in Gdynia is a unique cinematographic event in Poland as it showcases a gamut of Polish productions made over the past year.

To commemorate the centenary of Poland regaining its independence, a special section of the festival will focus on documentaries and feature films portraying Polish history.

Debates, meetings with filmmakers and concerts are among the festival’s attractions.

A Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Jerzy Skolimowski, who is most well known for his directorial work. He directed films including Start (The Departure), a 1967 picture which won the Golden Bear award at the Berlinale film festival, and Krzyk (The Shout), which won a special prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978.

Three of Skolimowski's films have won awards at the Cannes Festival: The Shout won the Jury Prize in 1978, Moonlighting claimed the Best Screenplay Award in 1982, and The Lightship garnered the Special Jury Prize in 1985.

Skolimowski's credits also include The Deep End and 30 Door Key. In 2008, he made his comeback to filmmaking after a lapse of 17 years with the highly-acclaimed Four Nights with Anna, followed by Essential Killing, which received the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Festival in 2010.

(aba-mk/gs)

Source: IAR