OCTOBER SHORT FILM FESTIVALS
In so far as September was a good time for short film, in October the centre of gravity will move firmly towards animation.
The retrospective of Polish films at the Parisian Signes de Nuit, which celebrates its 10th edition this year, will open the month. Within the frames of two programmes, the following films will be shown, among others: "Normal people" by Piotr Złotorowicz, the short fiction that won the best short film award at the Mexican Short Shorts, "Without snow" by Magnus von Horn or "Interrogation" by Adam Palenta. There is also one Polish film in the competition "I'm OK" by Tushar Prakash. Signes de Nuit promotes films which revolutionise the language of cinema and at the same time relate to current social issues.
On 20th October starts the 42nd edition of one of the oldest festivals in Central Europe, Molodist International Film Festival. This year, the following films will compete for Poland: fiction "Without snow" by Magnus von Horn, the documentary "Reception" by Maciej Bochniak and animated "Sleepincord" by Marta Pająk. The results of the competitions will be announced on 28th October. On the same day ends also the Uppsala Short Film Festival, taking place in Sweden for the 31st time, which invited three Polish films to the competition: "Noise" by Przemysław Adamski, "The fourth man" by Krzysztof Kasior and "Frozen stories" by Grzegorz Jaroszuk. In the non-competing section Docudrama "3 days of freedom" by Łukasz Borowski will be shown. Festival in Uppsala is one of the oldest Scandinavian festivals, which annually presents the best short films from around the world.
October will certainly be a good time for animation. The month starts with the competition screening of "Afternoon" by Izabela Plucińska at the prestigious London Film Festival. This is the first grand festival for the author of "Esterhazy". The latest film by Plucińska is doing very well at festivals; it has already been shown, among others, at FilmFest Dresden, Melbourne International Animation Festival, and this month it was also included in the programme of the Italian Sedicicorto.
The Lithuanian festival Tindirindis will also abound with Polish films. Within the frames of the festival, Polish films are shown every year. During the anniversary 10th edition of the festival, the audience will have a chance to see, among others, "The Good, the Beauty and the Truth" by Balbina Bruszewska, "Lucky day forever" by Alek Wasilewski, "Steven and beetle" by Piotr Huang Ngoc and films by the graduates of the Poznań University of Arts: "The Gallery" by Robert Proch, "Games" by Maja Tetłak and "What happens when children don't eat soup" - shown this month also at the prestigious Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Canada. Polish animations will also reach the far-away Brazil - in the competition programme of the MUMIA Underground festival in Belo Horizonte, "Underlife" by Jarosław Konopka, "Distance" by Marcin Wojciechowski and "Paperbox" by Zbigniew Czapla will meet.
The highlight of the month will be the participation of Polish animation in the 55th edition of DOK Leipzig. As many as four animations will take part in the competition sections: "Paperbox" by Zbigniew Czapla, aforementioned "What happens when children don't eat soup" by Paweł Prewencki, "Afternoon" by Izabela Plucińska as well as "Emperor's toys" by Grupa 3/4. Within the frames of the festival, also the review "Let the puppets dance!" will take place, where the best puppet animations made in Poland after 1945 will be shown. The programme will be complemented by the retrospective of the pioneer of puppet animation - Władysław Starewicz. Within the frames of the screenings, the Leipzig audience will see 10 films by Starewicz, among others, "Beautiful Lukanida" from 1912 – considered the first puppet animation. The festival takes place from 29 October to 5 November.
The full list of October festival screenings can be found in "at festivals" tab