Declaration of Immortality is a portrait of "Crazy" Piotr Korczak, one of Poland's most accomplished climbers, who came up with many new techniques for climbing mountains. He was among the first in Poland to regard climbing as a sport. The film catches up with Korczak just as age forces his career into a slow decline, and examines how life changes for a man who once knew no bounds, but whose body becomes an impediment to his desire for immortality.
Marcin Koszałka asks him questions about the inevitable end of his career, the impact of age, and finally about death and trying to cope with the awareness of the ultimate end. Deklaracja nieśmiertelności was produced for the TVP1 TV station. Since its premiere at 2010 Kraków Film Festival, where the film received the Audience Award and the Award of the President of the Polish Filmmakers Association, the film has garnered several awards at major international events, including the prestigious Silver Hugo Award for Best Documentary Film, as well as the Silver Gentian at the 59th Trento Film Festival in Italy.
The International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary is one of the most prestigious festivals in the world, held since 1946 in the Czech spa town. In 2005, the Polish film Mój Nikifor / My Nikifor by Krzysztof Krauze won the Crystal Globe top prize. In 2009, Marcin Koszałka showed his "Do bólu" in Karlovy Vary, which won a special jury prize.
Eight other Polish films are to be screened at the 46th edition of the festival, with four in the runnning for prizes. Lech Majewski's The Mill and the Cross is to be shown outside of the competition.
Screenings of films in the main competition include Andrzej Barański's Księstwo, while Wojciech Wawszyczk, Jakub Tarkowski and Tomasz Leśniak's George the Hedgehog. Michał Marczak's At the Edge of Russia competes alongside Marcin Koszałka's film in the documentary category.
This year's International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary is held between July 1-9, 2011.
For more information about the festival please visit: www.kviff.com