The 2012 New Horizons Film festival awards 26 year old Chilean director Dominga Sotomayor Castillo with the Festival's Grand Prix for her Thursday till Sunday.
An artistic niche of the 1980s, a film studio that allowed young filmmaker’s creative voices to shine through the censorship of communism, the 12th edition of the festival includes a review of Karol Irzykowski Film Studio productions. Specialising in non-commercial films which values artistic inventiveness, the studio furthered young director and helped launch outstanding carreers. The 39 films presented at New Horizons include famous film, opera and theatre director Mariusz Treliński’s debut film The Keyhole (1986) and Farewell to Autumn (1990). "I see a series of common elements in my films. I think that really I’m always telling the story of people who’ve lost sight of their values" – says Mariusz Treliński of the continuity running throughout his body of work. The Karol Irzykowski Studio encouraged directors to define their individual styles, as seen in Marek Koterski’s 1984 feature debut The House of Fools – a self-deprecating caricature of a family spending a dysfunctional evening together.
Amongst the 5 retrospectives, New Horizons honours the now 85 year old renowned animator and creator of nearly 50 films Witold Giersz. He made his debut in 1956 with The Mystery of the Old Castle. Bearer of over 60 awards and honours, his 1961 The Litte Western, also screened at the festival, was Poland’s first animated feature entirely created by the author and revolutionised the genre by replacing traditional drawings with dabs of colour without outlines applied directly into the filmstrip. A parody of the Western genre, the film brought Giersz worldwide fame and garnered numerous awards at international festivals and the scene where cowboys are panning for gold in a river has entered the annals of animation.
New Horizons devotes one of the four competitive sections to Polish 2011 and 2012 Shorts. Marta Szymańska's Pomarańczarka won the Best Short Animation, Grzegorz Zariczny's Gwizdek / Whistle won the Best Documentary and Marcin Filipowicz' Echo the Best Feature. Among the 70 titles are Tomasz Matuszczak’s modern day Romeo and Juliet – Battleheart and Kordian Kądziela’s portrayal of the replacement of the ability to communicate by the interaction with the TV of an old couple in a short called TV. The Festival also includes a Gdynia in Wrocław section showcasing four movies from the 2012 Gdynia Film Festival - Poland’s biggest Festival of Polish films: Tomasz Wasilewski’s In a Bedroom, Piotr Trzaskalski’s My Father’s Bike, Przemysław Wojcieszek’s Secret, Leszek Dawid’s You are God. Polish films are screened in 4 other, outside of competition sections: Mirosława Sikorska’s Kutzowizna, Jacek Bławut’s Man at War, Tomasz Wolski’s Palace, Sławomir Rogowski and Stanisław Zawiśliński’s Tala of the Rosary in the Documentaries section; Jakub Czekaj’s Don’t be Afraid of the Dark Room, Michał Marczak’s At the Edge of Russia, Piotr Złotorowicz’s Charcoal Burners, Piotr Szulkin’s O-Bi, O-Ba – The End of Civilization, Dorota Kędzierzawska’s Another World all from Radio 3 Talent in the Special Screenings section; Grzegorz Pacek’s Letter from Argentina, Anna Baumgart’s Conquerors of the Sun in the Mockumentaries section; Karol Radziszewski’s MS 101 in the Third Eye: The Happy End. Images for the End of the World section and Piotr Szulkin’s Golem, Wojciech Smarzowski’s Rose in the New Horizons of Film Language. Sound section.
Established in 2001, T-Mobile New Horizons is the biggest film festival in Poland and is regarded as one of the most important film events in Central Europe. The festival presents uncompromising, innovative and original cinema from all over the world that explores new horizons in film language, expression and storytelling. This year’s editio opens with this year’s Cannes winner - Michael Haneke’s Love and closes with Walter Salles’ On the Road.
Sources: New Horizons International Film Festival
Editor: Marta Jazowska