Krakow FF Doc Comp: Tooth and Nail by Radu Mocanu, Mihai Gavril Dragolea
Directors Mocanu and Dragolea follow charismatic environmental activist Tiberiu Boșutar as he tries to stop illegal (and highly lucrative) logging in Romania’s forests. “Our way of dealing with issues [in Romania] is a tragic-comical way,” says Dragolea. “We have a saying that you laugh and you cry…we didn’t search for the humour but the humour was just there for us to uncover with our camera.”
KFF Docs to Go: Hide Me in the Light by Markiian Miroshnychenko/Natalia Kovalyova
Although the events of Hide Me in the Light are set in Ukraine, the film does not focus directly on the war. Rather, it is a character-driven documentary centered around the story of childhood friendship. Nevertheless, the theme of loss is very much in evidence. “Told from the children’s perspective, the story is emotional and deeply moving,” producer Kateryna Ptashka tells BDE. “Viewers can connect with these children because they will recognise something of their own childhood in them."
Krakow FF Industry: Awards of Docs to Go and Docs to Start
On May 30, the awards of the 20th Krakow FF Industry were handed out, with the top cash award (the Polish Film Institute Award for a project nearing completion) going to Inner Landscapes directed by Zofia Sawicka. In total, nine Polish and Ukrainian projects were pitched in the advanced Docs to Go Section, while 14 new projects were pitched in the Docs to Start. All awards…
Krakow FF Documentary Competition: Sanatorium by Gar O’Rourke
Yes, Gar O’Rourke did himself try the mud treatment when he was preparing his new feature doc Sanatorium (selected for Documentary Competition at KFF and sold by MetFilm Sales). He has also done the salt pools the electro-massages and everything else between. Many docs have been made in Ukraine since the invasion but this is surely the gentlest, funniest and most surprising. O’Rourke gets the full treatment from BDE.
Child of Dust and Silver big winners of 65th Krakow FF
Weronika Mliczewska’s 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). Natalia Koniarz’s Silver meanwhile won a Silver Horn for artistic merit, the FIPRESCI prize, the Audience prize, and the Maciej Szumowski Award for social awareness, while its Maciej Kubicki received the award for Best Producer of a Polish documentary. All winners…
Krakow FF Doc Comp: Tata by Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc
When journalist Lina Vdovîi, estranged from her violent father, agrees to help him expose the injustices perpetrated by previous employer, the process reopens the wounds of their past relationship. Nevertheless the experience also proves to be cathartic. Making the film convinced her that “running away” from him wasn’t “healing the wounds from your past,” she tells BDE. She was, instead, giving herself a chance to make peace with him.
KFF Docs to Go: Maestra by Magda Nabiałczyk
Maestra tells the story of the legendary Lidia Grychtołówna who, at the age of 96, remains the world’s oldest active concert pianist. But now she is preparing for her final concert. “What begins as the story of a quiet, nearly forgotten woman becomes a powerful portrait of a radiant artist reclaiming her place in the spotlight,” says producer Iwona Harris. “Her transformation into the vibrant, commanding maestra is the emotional core of the film.”
KFF Docs to Go: The Herd by Mariusz Biernacki
Polish Mariusz Biernacki’s feature doc debut The Herd takes on the thorny issue of what it means to be a man in the 21st Century. “Unlike women, who have had clear directions for change through feminist movements and numerous support networks, men today frequently lack guidance,’ the director tells BDE. “Many feel lost, and this has contributed to the rise of phenomena such as incel communities and broader issues of male isolation and frustration.”
KFF Docs to Go: Every Death Diminishes Me by Sergiusz Bażenov
Ukrainian Sergiusz Bażenov’s feature project tells a story that should never have had to be told. It tells of a filmmaker who becomes a military paramedic in a team with a Dutch volunteer. Together, they witness how war changes people — and themselves. “I’m aiming for a more universal message about war itself, and how it transforms people,” the director tells BDE. “I was certainly transformed by it, and I believe that in today’s world, no one is truly safe, that war can reach anyone. That’s why I want the viewer to imagine themselves in our place. To feel that every death, however distant, diminishes us all.”
KFF Docs to Go: The Curse by Jakub Jakubik
“Jakub Jakubik is a director of remarkable sensitivity—he listens carefully to his characters and the spaces they inhabit,” says Polish producer Michał Sadowski ahead of the KFF Industry Docs to Go presentation of his latest project. In the film, yet another person has drowned in the river near the synagogue converted into a liquor store. Waldek, a long-time teetotaler, the homeless Marek, and the Polish Jew Dawid must confront what more and more is being to resemble a curse.
