International Documentary Competition winner named as Far Eastern Golgotha while Golden Hobby-Horse went to Walk with Angels during the Krakow FF awards ceremony June 5. The audience award was granted to Polański, Horowitz. Hometown. Plus all Industry awards.
Tomasz Wysokiński was the big winner of Krakow FF 2021 with his film Walk with Angels, receiving the highest award, the Golden Hobby-Horse, “for being an honest guide through the heart of darkness, professionalism in storytelling, conscious narration through a ruthless, distant world and a film that is hard to stop thinking about.”
The documentary was also recognised for its music, composed by Paweł Mykietyn, for its production (the Polish Producers Alliance Award for Piotr Kobus and Agnieszka Drewno) and also received the Krakow Film Festival’s recommendation for the European Film Award.
Far Eastern Golgotha (dir. Yulia Sergina) won the International Documentary Competition, thus receiving the opportunity to compete for an Oscar nomination. The jury, consisting of Mark Cousins (UK), Radu Ciorniciuc (Romania), Peter Kerekes (Slovakia), Margreth Olin (Norway), and Anna Wydra (Poland), “unanimously loved the vitality of this film and the mature talent of its young director. The film shows us a socially desperate but charismatic man using disobedience to fight for democracy.”
The audience award, granted by the Film Magazine of the Polish Filmmakers Association, went to Anna Kokoszka-Romer and Mateusz Kudła’s film Polański, Horowitz. Hometown.
The Silver Hobby-Horses went to Tomasz Wolski for the feature-length documentary 1970. (National Competition) and for the Short Documentary A Little Bit of Paradise by Andrzej Cichocki (also winning the Polish Society of Cinematographers award for best cinematography).
The Silver Horn for the director of the best film on social issues went to Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh for Writing with Fire, described as “a film full of bravery and the unstoppable energy of Indian women questing for truth and justice. Inspiring, and should be shown everywhere.”
The Silver Horn for the director of the film with high artistic values was awarded to Oan Kim and Brigitte Bouillot for The Man Who Paints Water Drops, described as “a beautiful, meditative essay film about a traumatised man and his precise art seen through the eyes of his fascinated, thoughtful son. Precise editing which captures shifting states of mind. Haunting.”
The Maciej Szumowski Award for Remarkable Social Awareness funded by Medicine went to Marek Gajczak for Nature is My Homeland for “broadening the field of social sensitivity to include a deep co-existence with nature and for bringing out the importance of poetry and art in building modern ecological awareness.”
The Award of the Student Jury was given to Inside the Red Brick Wall (dir. Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers) “for constructing a gripping narrative based on direct observation of the revolution of our time, where the struggle leads from a musical skirmish with the police to an exhausting siege and escape through the sewers. Focusing on a single, closed event, it records the universal emotions of young people – their courage, but also their fear in the struggle against an oppressive system.”
Gorki Glaser-Müller received the International Federation of Film Critics Award for the film Children of the Enemy (Sweden, Denmark).
DOC LAB POLAND AWARDS
Four Doc Lab Poland awards and three special mentions were given for the best Docs to Go! and Docs to Start!presentations.
In Docs To Go! the Lunapark Award, which entails image postproduction services worth of 15,000 PLN, went to Old Hippies Die Young, dir. and prod. Zofia Pręgowska (Prego Media).
The Institute of Documentary Film Special Mention, which includes an invitation to East Doc Platform was given to Leon, dir. Wojciech Gostomczyk, prod. Wojciech Gostomczyk, Anna Stylińska – Metrage Studio.
In Docs To Start the HBO Award, valued at 10,000 PLN for the film production, went to the project Papa Was King Of Kongo, dir. Joanna Ratajczak, prod. Maciej Kubicki, Joanna Ratajczak (Telemark).
The SMAKJAM Award (image postproduction services worth of 25,000 PLN) was handed to the project Step by Step, dir. Eliza Kubarska, Michał Woroch, prod. Monika Braid (Braidmade Films).
The MX35 Award (film equipment rental services worth of 10,000 PLN) went to the project Child of Dust, dir. and prod. Weronika Mliczewska (Ya-Man Studio).
The DOK Leipzig Special Mention (invitation to DOK Co‐pro Meetings in Leipzig) went to the project Girl’s Stories, dir. Aga Borzym, prod.Marta Dużbabel, Agnieszka Rostropowicz- Rutkowska (Pinot Films).
The Polish Docs Pro Special Mention (support of international promotion and invitation to one of the key world documentary industry events) went to the project Base 13, dir. Paweł Hejbudzki, prod. Wojciech Karubin (Movie Mates).
