POLISH WINNERS OF THE KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL
Although the online edition of the festival is still going, last Saturday we learned the winners of the 62. Krakow Film Festival. There were multiple Polish productions among the winners of international competitions.
The 62. Krakow Film Festival Awards Gala, hosted by Anna Tatarska, was attended by film industry representatives, cinema lovers from around the world, as well as the heroes of numerous of the festival's films. The main awards were presented by – among others – Jacek Bromski, President of the Polish Filmmakers Association, and Robert Piaskowski Plenipotentiary for Culture of the Mayor of the City of Krakow.
Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski were the undisputed winners of the festival. Their film The Hamlet Syndrome (Poland, Germany) received the highest prize in the national competition – the Golden Hobby-Horse. The documentary also received the Student Award and a special mention in the international documentary competition. The film's producers, Magdalena Kamińska and Agata Szymańska (Balapolis), also received the Polish Producers Alliance – KIPA and FDR Studio Award for best short and documentary film producer in Poland “for a film created in difficult conditions that required special care for the protagonists, gentleness, but also freedom and trust in the creators.”
The jury composed of Piotr Stasik, chairman, Daria Kopiec, Kuba Mikurda, Anna Sienkiewicz-Rogowska, Małgorzata Szyłak awarded Bogna Kowalczyk the Silver Hobby-Horse in the national competition for the feature-length documentary Boylesque (Poland, Czech Republic). The film also received one of the festival's most important awards – the audience award funded by Magazyn Filmowy SFP (“PFA Film Magazine”).
The second Silver Hobby-Horse went to Marcin Lesisz for the short film The Rocking Horses (Poland). The title of best animated film of the national competition went to Impossible Figures and Other Stories I by Marta Pajek, a multiple-award winner at the Krakow Film Festival, while Michał Toczek's A Dead Marriage (Poland) was named the best fiction film.
The Maciej Szumowski Award for remarkable social awareness under the patronage of the ZAiKS Authors’ Association went to the film God and Lunaparks' Warriors (Poland) by Bartłomiej Żmuda. The award was presented by the ZAiKS President Janusz` Fogler.
Silver Dragons are awards given to the best short films representing all film genres in the competition. The Silver Dragon for the best short fiction film went to Karolina Porcari for Victoria (Poland) with a brilliant performance by Katarzyna Figura, playing the titular Victoria, who begins to discover her sexuality in her fifties.
Krakow Film Festival is included on the prestigious list of film events qualifying for American Academy Awards in three short film categories (fiction film, animated film, documentary film), as well as in the category of feature-length documentary film. The winners of the Golden and Silver Dragons have a shortened path to Oscar selection. KFF also recommends films for the European Film Award in the same categories.
Kraków Film Festival is organised with the financial support of the European Union as part of the “Creative Europe” program, the City of Kraków, the Polish Film Institute, the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sports, and the Lesser Poland Province. The co-organiser is the Polish Filmmakers Association, and the main organiser is the Krakow Film Foundation.
The awarded films were screened on Sunday, June 5, at the Małopolska Garden of Arts.
The full jury verdict and detailed programme can be found at: www.krakowfilmfestival.pl
All competition films from the Krakow Film Festival program and the special film series Watch Party are available online on the KFF VOD platform until 12 June.
The 63. Krakow Film Festival will be held from 28 May to 4 June 2023.