THE RESULTS OF THE 54th KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL ARE NOW REVEALED

The organizers of Krakow Film Festival have just announced the long awaited results of the National Competition of the 54th Krakow Film Festival. 27 short films of all genres were selected to screen as a part of the competition.

– Krakow Film Festival is a mirror of our cinema in the area in which we achieve the greatest success in the world – says Krzysztof Gierat, the director of the Festival. – Each year the Polish competition arouses the stongest emotions. It comes as no surprise, it is here in Krakow where international careers start for those whose films are awarded and noticed by foreign visitors.

This year eight short documentary films will be screened as a part of the competition. Documentary film is a great tool to draw attention to the marginalised, the excluded by their own volition or history judgments, and Polish artists reach for this tool skillfully and sensitively. As a result, the programme of the 54th KFF includes films about the simplest joy of being (“It's Only a Dream”), a struggle for life (“W. Sisters' Beauty Salon”), about a responsibility for the others (“Werka”). Documentary film is also a prism allowing to observe the reality. It was the greatest power of films by Krzysztof Kieślowski, Wojciech Wiszniewski or Kazimierz Karabasz. Young artists are going in their footsteps, ironically eyeing the Polish need for the chronic professing of historical victories (“From Grunwald Village”), maliciously portraying the fight of sexes (”Survey about Men”) and nostalgically saying goodbye to the outgoing traveling circus  (“Knife in the Wife”). It should be noted that almost all the competition documentary films received support of the Polish Film Institute.

 – The fiction part of the competition should satisfy those who complained that Polish short films are just school exercises or acting etudes, while worldwide shorts are made by mature artists with participation of outstanding actors. Meanwhile, it occurs that we do have such films in Poland – says Barbara Orlicz-Szczypuła, the director of the Programme Office. – Excellent films have been submitted by schools from Katowice (“You Keep An Eye On Us”), Łódź (“Fragments”), the Wajda School  (“Milky Brother”) as well as Munk Studio (“Father’s day”), and even from Białystok (“Frank”). It is worth adding that the sole Polish film selected to screen as a part of the international competition – above mentioned “You keep an eye on us” by Arek Biedrzycki - comes from the film school as well.

As a the part of the competition dedicated to animations one will easily track down the new films by the acclaimed masters – Piotr Dumała will show “Hippos”, Jerzy Kucia – “Fugue for Cello, Trumpet and Landscape”, and Witold Giersz – “Signum”. The festival will also bring out the work of the students including Karolina Specht (“An incredibly elastic man”), Zofia Antoniak (“The Bear”) and Andrea Guizar who will show her “Construction” in Krakow. Of the 11 animations taking part in the National competition four were selected for the parallel participation in the international short competition and will get the chance of scoring the Golden Dragon. Those are “Baths”, “Hippos”, “Summer 2014” as well as above mentioned “Fugue for Cello, Trumpet and Landscape”. 

The results of the selection for the Polish competition close the list of films competing in the 54th Krakow Film Festival. During the festival the audience will watch 10 music documentaries, 20 feature-length documentaries, 39 films in the shorts competition and 42 in the Polish one – a total of 111 films but only 99 titles, because 12 Polish have been also qualified for international competitions.

The list of films qualified for the national competition:

 Documentary:
1. House on the Head (Dom na głowie), dir. Adam Palenta, 2014, 28’
2. It's Only a Dream (To tylko marzenia), dir. Jakub Michnikowski, 2014, 21’
3. Knife in the Wife (Nóż w wozie), dir. Vita Drygas, 2014, 11’
4. W. Sisters' Beauty Salon (Salon sióstr W.), dir. Jakub Stożek, 2013, 30’
5. The Strongwoman (Siłaczka), dir. Kacper Czubak, Iwona Kaliszewska, 2014, 16’
6. Survey about Men (Sonda o mężczyznach), dir. Mateusz Głowacki, 2014, 30’
7. From Grunwald Village (Ze wsi Grunwald), dir. Artur Wierzbicki, 2014, 20’
8. Vegas, dir. Łukasz Konopa, 2014, 24’

Fiction:
1.     The Boys (Chłopcy), dir. Paweł Orwat, 2013, 22’           
2.     Fragments (Fragmenty), reż. Agnieszka Woszczyńska, 2014, 25’ 
3.     Frank (Franek), dir. Bartek Tryzna, 2013, 6’
4.     Games (Gry), dir. Maciej Marczewski, 2013, 30’                      
5.     Milky Brother (Mleczny brat), dir. Vahram Mkhitaryan, 2014, 30’
6.     The Naturals (Naturalni), dir. Kristoffer Rus, 2014, 30’
7.     Father’s day (Ojcze masz), dir. Kacper Lisowski, 2013, 33’
8.     Light in August (Światło w sierpniu), dir. Matej Bobrik, 2014, 23’
9.     TRASHHH, dir. Filip Syczyński, 2014, 22’
10. You Keep An Eye On Us (Źle nam z oczu patrzy), dir. Arek Biedrzycki, 2014, 25’

Animation:
1.   Ex Animo, dir. Wojciech Wojtkowski, 2013, 6’  
2.   Fugue for Cello, Trumpet and Landscape (Fuga na wiolonczelę trąbkę i pejzaż), dir. Jerzy Kucia, 2014, 18’  A
3.   Hippos (Hipopotamy), dir. Piotr Dumała, 2014, 12’
4.   Construction (Konstrukcja), dir. Andrea Guizar, 2013, 6’ 
5.   Summer 2014 (Lato 2014), dir. Wojciech Sobczyk, 2014, 12’
6.   Baths (Łaźnia), dir. Tomek Ducki, 2013, 4’
7.   The Bear (Niedźwiedź), dir. Zofia Antoniak, 2013, 4’
8.   The incredibly elastic man (Nieprawdopodobnie elastyczny człowiek), dir. Karolina Specht, 2013, 5’
9.   Signum, dir. Witold Giersz, 2013, 13’
10. under_construction, dir. Marcin Wojciechowski, 2014, 8’
12. Lost senses (Zmysły prysły), dir. Marcin Wasilewski, 2013, 6’