A scene from "Screenings at the Tatry Cinema", dir. Igor Chojna
"Seans w Kinie Tatry" / "Screenings at the Tatry Cinema" by Igor Chojna was awarded Grand Prix at the 16th Split Film Festival in Croatia. The prize was awarded in the short films category
In the short documentary, Chojna recounts the story of Dariusz Ambroszczyk, a man who runs one of the oldest cinemas in Łódź - the Tatry. The owner of the cinema, he is also the only employee, therefore his responsibilities include selling tickets, ushering the audience as well as screening the films. Although on a daily basis Ambroszczyk stubbornly waits for an audience to come through his doors, it seems as though they have all completely forgotten about his cinema, attending screening only from time to time. All of the sudden he slowly begins to understand that the cinema, which is his only reason for life that used to incorporate the sense of his life is now falling into oblivion.
The film also won the the Silver Hobby Horse for the director of the Best Documentary Film at last year's 50th Kraków Film Festival.
Igor Chojna (born in 1978 in Warsaw) graduated from the Directing Department of the State Higher School of Film and Theatre in Łódź. He participated in photography workshops in Canada and Poland. He has made a number of short films, among them "Julia" (2007) and "Przez szybę" / "Through the glass" (2009). "Screenings at the Tatry Cinema" / "Seans w kinie Tatry" is the second documentary film by the director.
The Split Film Festival was held on the 10-17th of September 2011. The event is one of the oldest film and video festivals in Croatia and showcases new, creative films from filmmakers around the globe. The winner of this year's Grand Prix for best feature film was "Hunter" by Russian filmmaker Bakur Bakuradze.
For more information about the festival, visit: http://www.splitfilmfestival.hr.
Source: http://polishshorts.pl