Wasilewski’s film with its excellent cinematography by Romanian camera operator Oleg Mutu is one of the most frequently awarded Polish films from the past few months. In February 2016, Wasilewski received the award for best screenplay at the Berlin International Film Festival and at Gdynia Film Festival received the awards for best directing, best female and male supporting roles (Dorota Kolak and Łukasz Simlat), best costumes (Monika Kaletka), and best editing (Beata Walentowska).
Wasilewski will compete for the European Film Award with Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann), Emma Donoghue (Room), Paul Laverty (I, Daniel Blake), and Cristian Mungiu (Bacalaureat).
21 x New York nominated for European Film Award
The other Polish film nominated for an award is a documentary by
Piotr Stasik,
21x New York, a tale about New York and its inhabitants. He filmed 21 people he met on the New York subway to portray loneliness, love, fear, and the need to build close ties with others. In an interview with
Anna Bielak for Onet, the director said :
Lonely, complicated people come to New York. It’s difficult for them to adjust to the world, it’s not easy for them to adjust to other people too. Not only artists, but all those people who feel bad elsewhere come here. Someone told me once that these are people not pulled to the Earth by gravity – they don’t fit into their countries, families, friends – and in New York they look for a new life.
In his trance-like, poetic story, Stasik allows them to speak for themselves. This is how he created an extraordinary picture – rather a film essay than a classic documentary. Most of all, it tells a moving story about people and the place which they create.
Stasik’s film will compete for the 2016 European Film Award with Family Affair by Tom Fassaert, Fire at Sea by Gianfranco Rosie, Mr Gaga by Tomer Heymann, S is for Stanley by Alex Infascelli, and The Land of the Enlightened by Pieter-Jan De Pue.
The European Film Awards were first awarded in 1988 and are some of the most prestigious awards for European films. Its first winner was Krzysztof Kieślowski for his A Short Film about Killing.
The awards ceremony will take place on 10th December 2016 in Wrocław, this year’s European Capital of Culture.