Maciej Sikała, Mikołaj Trzaska, Leszek Możdżer and Tymon Tymański in Filip Dzierżawski's "Love", photo: Krakow Film Festival.
One of Europe’s most important and oldest festivals dedicated to documentaries and short films, taking place in Kraków since 1961, the 53rd edition of the Kraków Film Festival awards its Golden and Silver Awards and grants filmmakers access to Oscar nominations
The Kraków Film Festival’s main prizes went to international and Polish filmmakers. Among the main Polish winners of the international festival are Marcel and Paweł Łoziński for two documentaries, Father and Son on a Journey and Father and Son, Filip Dzierżawski for Love and Bartosz M. Kowalski for A Dream in the Making.
One Silver Horn award for two Best Feature-Length Documentaries, the Kraków Film Festival’s international competition was won by Marcel and Paweł Łoziński, a father and son documentary duo. Marcel Łoziński’s Father and Son on a Journey and Paweł Łoziński’s Father and Son are two perspectives on the same road trip, turned into two documentaries. The idea for the car journey was put forth by Paweł, the younger Łoziński. In an old Volkswagen, the father and son embarked on a trip to France.
One of the most renowned Polish documentary filmmakers, Marcel Łoziński is Krzysztof Kiéslowski's peer whose film 89 mm from Europe was nominated for an Oscar in 1994. Marcel and his son Paweł filmed their trip to France to put together a documentary. The project resulted in different accounts by the two different creators. A universal story about the love between parents and children and the pain that passes from one generation to the next as well as commentary on the art of documentary film.
The Golden Hobbyhorse (Złoty Lajkonik), the main prize of the Polish competition for the Director of the Best Film, went to Filip Dzierżawski, the director of Love. "It's a very deep, personal and touching portrayal of a generation born and maturing, not only musically, in the beginnings of free Poland" – the jury commented. The film presents the story of a cult jazz band called Love from the 1980s and 1990s made up of Mikołaj Trzaska, Leszek Możdżer, Tymon Tymański, Jacek Olter and Maciej Sikała. "We were a group of motherfuckers", as Tymański describes the revolutionary music group. Love recorded a couple of albums and changed the Polish jazz scene. They parted paths in 2002 and attempt to reactivated the group a decade later.
Dzierżawski filmed their 2012 endeavours and created a documentary about friendship and its strength to withstand the test if time, about maturing, the Polish transformation and music as a force that can unite and divide. Love also received the Kraków Film Festival Public Award and the Award for Best Producer.
"For taking an analytical look at the inhabitants of a Warsaw housing complex. It's a brutal, full of aggression story about an escape from the margins of society into the territory of the 'normals'", Bartosz M. Kowalski’s A Dream in the Making received the Silver Hobbyhorse (Srebrny Lajkonik) for the Director of the Best Documentary Film. The moving tale about friendship is Kowalski’s documentary debut and follows the life of Bartek and Paweł, two twentysomethings from a social housing estate inhabited by alcoholics and people living in the margins of society.
A documentary about a photographic journey undertaken by one of Poland’s most accomplished photographers, Tadeusz Rolke, and his 15-year-old student, Piotr Stasik’s Dziennik z podróży / Travel Diary [editor’s translation] received a special mention in the Polish documentary film competition. Tomasz Popakul’s Ziegenort, a 19-minute animation, the true story of a fishing village set in an alternative reality where the Second World War never occurred, was recognised as the Best Polish animation.
The 53rd edition's main prizes for international films include the Golden Heynal for the Best Film for Jay Bulger, director of Beware of Mr. Baker (USA), a Golden Horn for Best Film for Tora Mårtens, director of Colombianos (Sweden, Finland), and a Golden Dragon for the Best Film for Sergei Loznitsa, director of Letter (Russia).
Over 100 films competed in the four competitions of the 53rd edition of the Kraków Film Festival. The festival’s winners are automatically allowed to enter the competition for Oscar nominations in the short film category. In the past, the festival opened the doors to international competitions to many Polish directors: Roman Polański for Ssaki / Mammals (1963), Krzysztof Kieślowski for Pierwsza miłość / First Love (1974), Życiorys / Curriculum Vitae (1975) among others, and Andrea Arnold for Wasp (2004), or Sergei Loznitsa among the most contemporary creators.
The 53rd edition took place between the 26th of May and the 2nd of June.
Author: BS for culture.pl, translated and edited by MJ 03.06.2013