The film also competes in Leipzig next to 8 other short documentaries for prizes in the International Competition of Short and Documentary Film category as well as the MDR Film Award. Decrescendo has so far received a Special Mention at the 51st Kraków Film Festival
The film discusses the budding friendship between Tomasz, a young psychologist and musician, and his patients at a retirement home, each of whom carries his or her own tragic story. The main character's fascination with beauty and youth does not only collide with old age and dying, but also with a great will and desire to live. The musical term decrescendo (def: with gradually diminishing force or loudness) in this film takes on a new, existential meaning.
Marta Minorowicz's documentary was invited to participate in the International Competition for Documentary Shorts at DOK Leipzig in Germany, one of the most prestigious festivals in the world. The film from the Andrzej Wajda Film School was nominated for the MDR Film award (Mitteldeutscher station Rundfunk) which is awarded to the best documentary films from Eastern Europe. The winner is announced on the 22nd of October 2011.
Last year, the Andrzej Wajda film school (in co-operation with Munk Studies) produced a fictional documentary by Marcin Sauter North of Calabria won two awards at the festival in Leipzig: an ver.di Trade Union and the Award of the Ecumenical Jury.
Other Polish documentaries dominate among the Eastern picks at the festival. Winner of the Golden Horn for the Director of Best Film and another award for cinematography at the 51st Krakow Film Festival last May Argentinian Lesson by Wojciech Staroń is screened in the international competition in Leipzig, Pawel Kloc's Oscar hopeful Phnom Penh Lullaby is included in the International Young Talent Competition.
More Polish docs are featured in the out-of-competition programme, such as Last Day of Summer (2010) by Piotr Stasik and We Will Be Happy One Day (2011) by Pawel Wysoczański.
This year's edition of the International Documentary and Animated Film Festival in Leipzig takes place between 17-23 October 2011.
For more information about the festival, see: www.dok-leipzig.de.
Source: www.stopklatka.pl