Jan Kidawa-Błoński's Little Rose won the Audience Award at the Wisła Polish Film Festival in Moscow, while Borys Lankosz's Reverse won the main prize at the closing gala on April 21, 2011
The festival opened with Venice, an an acclaimed Polish feature that has already featured at film festivals in Cottbus, Tallinn and in Montreal, where it received the Special Jury Prize for Best Artistic Contribution. The film's director of photography Arthur Reinhart received the award for Best Photography at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, the Golden Frog award at Camerimage, and the Eagle award of the Polish Film Academy. It also received the Polish Film Awards in the following categories: Best Production Design (Joanna Macha), Best Costume Design (Małgorzata Zacharska), Best Sound Design (Jacek Hamela).
Some 60 of the best new films in the main competition this year were judged by a jury chaired by Victor Matizen, film journalist and head of the Russian Chamber of Film Critics. The jury included a recognised group of experts in the field, including: Irina Rubanova (art historian, film critic, specialising in Polish cinema), Alona Solnceva - editor of the culture section of Vremya Novostei, specialises a film-themed, Svetlana Chochriakowa, editor of the Kultura film magazine. The main Elephant award is founded by the Guild of Russian Film Critics, one of Russia's most renowned film organisations, with 150 members including leading film critics and journalists.
Matizen explained why historically-minded films are of the greatest interest for him personally:
For me it's a very interesting experience to see how Polish film directors and Poles in general scrutinise the past. There are, unfortunately, few such movies in Russia. Poles are far more advanced in this respect. In our filmmaking we can see a tendency of whitewashing and justifying Russia's Soviet past. In Poland, there is a more harsh approach to the period, which I really appreciate.
Films in the main competition:
- The Christening, dir Marcin Wrona
- Enen, dir. Feliks Falks
- Mother Teresa of Cats, dir. Paweł Sala
- Galerianki, dir. Katarzyna Rosłaniec
- The Miracle Seller, dir. Bolesław Pawica and Jarosław Szoda
- I am Yours, dir.Mariusz Grzegorzek
- Forest, dir. Piotr Dumała
- Simple Story about Love, dir. Arkadiusz JakubikLittle Rose, dir.Jan Kidawa-Błoński
- Reverse, dir. Borys Lankosz
- Scratch, dir. Michał Rosa
- Expelled, dir.Adam Sikora.
Films were screened in two cinemas - the Hudojestvena, which hosted the premiere of Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin 85 years ago, and Kino Faker.
For the second year running, the festival has partnered up with the Łodzią po Wiśle - Along the Vistula series - a showcase of the works by talented students and graduates of the National Film School in Łódź. The Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing has also been a partner of the festival since the fourth edition of the event. This year the school helped arrange screenings of several of Wajda's films on the occasion of his 85th birthday anniversary, alongside pictures from the newest film school graduates.
This year, the Animations from Se-ma-for studio" presented new films from the famed studio, including Ichthys and Danny Boy by Marek Skrobecki and the Quay Brothers' Mask.
To commemorate the 15th anniversary of the death of renowned Polish film director Krzysztof Kieślowski, the festival payed homage to the director by playing two of his best-known works: Krótki film o miłości / A Short Film about Love and Krótki film o zabijaniu / A Short Film about Killing. This year's edition was also dedicated to the memory of former deputy foreign minister Andrzej Kremer, who tragically died in the Smolensk crash.
The 4th Wisła Polish Film Festival took place in Moscow between April 15-22, 2011. It is set to travel on to the cities of Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod.
The Wisła Film Festival - derived from the name of Poland's Wisła/Vistula River, is the largest-scale cinematography review in Russia. The event comes under the honorary patronage of: Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Polish Film Institute, The National Film Archive, Marshall of the Masovian Region, The President of Warsaw.
For more information and a detailed programme, see: www.festiwalwisla.pl.
Also see: Polish Cinema Series in St. Petersburg
Source: press materials