Child of Dust by Weronika Mliczewska and Silver by Natalia Koniarz were the big winners of the 65thKrakow Film Festival.
Child of Dust won the Golden Horn in International Competition and shared the Golden Hobby-Horse in National Competition (with Wojciech Staroń for The Passion of Agnieszka). Silver meanwhile won a Silver Horn for its artistic merit, the FIPRESCI prize, the Audience prize and the Maciej Szumowski Award for social awareness, while its producer Maciej Kubicki (TELEMARK) received the award for best producer of a Polish documentary.
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM COMPETITION
- The recipient of this year’s Golden Horn – funded by Telewizja Polska S.A. – was Weronika Mliczewska, director of Child of Dust, who also won the Golden Hobby-Horse. The documentary competition jury granted the award in recognition of “the sincere and moving portrayal of one person’s search for identity amidst the enduring wounds of war, and for creating a documentary that provides deep insight into the relationship between an individual and history, between past and present. This film, in its silence, carries a voice that resonates universally.”
- The Silver Horn for directors of a film on social issues went to Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc for the film Tata. The jury’s verdict reads: “Thanks to the directors’ brave effort to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma, this film moved us deeply, and its universal theme deserves a conversation The jury decided to award the Silver Horn for the director of a film on social issues to an intimate, first-person documentary that combines an investigation into illegal practices and abuses.”
- The Silver Horn – for the director of a film of high artistic merit – was given to Natalia Koniarz for the film Silver. The jury justified their pick: “For a hypnotic, silent story in which the image becomes a prayer for those who descend underground every day. The jury appreciates the extraordinary visual and formal strength of the film and the courage in creating a world of darkness, dust. and tenderness – a world that chooses feeling over speaking. This cinema is like an echo from inside a mountain – deeply moving and unforgettable.”
- Natalia Koniarz’s Silver was also recognised by the jury of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), granting her the award “for an immersive, demanding, yet captivating portrait of the lives of Bolivian miners in a post-capitalist reality.”
- On the domestic front, Silver won the Maciej Szumowski Award– under the patronage of the Authors’ Association ZAiKS – for demonstrating remarkable social awareness. The jury recognised her “noble empathy in describing a world existing on the margins of our daily lives. For a quiet cry proclaiming that every, EVERY human being is the most precious ore of this world, even if we lack easy solutions to break the fate of those born outside the circle of privilege.”
- The Best Cinematography Award was given to Stanisław Cuske for his work on Silver. The jury justified the merits as follows: “A camera that, both literally and metaphorically, brings people forth from darkness. It portrays them with profound tenderness and humanism. It keeps appropriate distance. It accompanies them on every journey. It becomes an integral part of this narrative about people suspended between light and darkness.”
- Furthermore, Maciej Kubicki (TELEMARK) received the award for Best Producer of a Polish documentary for Silver. Jury: “For the producers’ courage, evident in tackling a challenging subject and entrusting the Creators’ artistic choices to tell it with such nobility and originality.”
- Silver is also Krakow Film Festival’s recommendation for the European Film Awards.
- The Human Rights in Motion Award, awarded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for a film addressing contemporary challenges to democracy and human rights went to the film The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy directed by Håvard Bustnes. Jury: “More than ever, we need to be challenged in how we filter truth and how we deal with the delicate, nuanced balance between good and evil. The film sks this extremely important question and provokes viewers to confront the complexity of the twisted stories that constantly surround us. The Special Mention went to Luuk Bouwman for the film The Propagandist.
NATIONAL COMPETITION
- The jury of the National Competition awarded two Golden Hobby-Horses for feature-length documentary films ex aequo. The first recipient was Weronika Mliczewska for Child of Dust. The jury recognised “a fully realized film that transforms the fate of an individual searching for their father into a universal parable about confronting historical injustice. For the painful beauty of a film depicting the severing and reclaiming of the most important human bonds. We are all children cast into a world that wounds us, but to which we cannot surrender.”
- The creators of Child of Dust were also recognized by the Polish Filmmakers Association, which awarded Marcin Sucharski and Mateusz Romaszkan for editing. The jury granted this award “for creating a multi-layered and incredibly moving narrative. For prioritizing respect and profound tenderness toward the protagonists, while simultaneously displaying mastery and courage in dramatic means.”
- The second recipient of the Golden Hobby-Horse is Wojciech Staroń for the film The Passion of Agnieszka. Jury: “For an intimate yet remarkably capacious film about imbuing every moment with meaning. For reminding that a world where people truly see and hear each other, and thus grow, is possible. Film is exposed from both sides. We thank the creators for reminding us of this magnificent metaphor for human relationships.”
- The jury of the National Competition – short film section awarded three Golden Hobby-Horses. Best short fiction film went to Artem Rachkelyuk, creator of Look Homeward, receiving the award “for a beautifully acted, mindful journey into the interior of a protagonist at a crossroads.” In addition, the Wrocław Feature Film Studio decided to award Jakub Prysak for his film Nothing Else. Meanwhile,Wojciech Węglarz won the Golden Hobby-Horse for the best short documentary film: Bloodline, “a visually impressive, focused, and disciplined metaphor of solitude and rejection.” The third short production that received the Golden Hobby-Horse was the animation The Pool or Death of a Goldfish directed by Daria Kopiec, who created ‘a touching and plastically suggestive story about how one cannot endlessly pretend their own non-existence,’ said the jury.
INETRNATIONAL DOCFILMMUSIC COMPETITION
- The jury of the music film competition – chaired by Urszula Śniegowska – awarded the Golden Heynalfor Best Film to Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg. Jury: “First, we would like to express our gratitude for the invitation into the diverse world of artists in the DocFilmMusic competition. We have picked a film that takes us on a cinematic journey into the world of an unjustly forgotten singer/artist/creator. Despite the lack of film footage showing the protagonist, the creators of this documentary managed to craft a multi-dimensional portrait of the artist in a convincing and original way. Her story is both universal and extraordinarily relevant.”
STUDENT JURY AWARD
- Sanatorium directed by Gar O’Rourke picked up the Student Jury Award. The jury justified its choice as follows: “We have decided to recognise Sanatorium for a subtle and innovative way of reminding us about matters we have no right to forget. We recognize that the world is in urgent need of healing. Therefore, we honour a work that finds remedy in the sense of community – waging a heroic battle for the beauty of every moment, even the most difficult ones. By portraying the daily lives of its protagonists, this deeply humanistic film humanizes the victims of war far more effectively than any martyrology ever would.”
AUDIENCE AWARD
- This year, Silver directed by Natalia Koniarz was voted the favourite film of viewers gathered in Krakow’s arthouse cinemas.
Krakow Film Festival is on the exclusive list of film events qualifying for the Academy Awards® in short film categories (fiction, animation, documentary) and feature-length documentary, the European Film Awards in the same categories, and serves as a qualifying event for the BAFTA Awards.
