“The Krakow Film Festival is a wave!” say KFF organisers as they put out the call for submissions for the next edition, running 29 May to 5 June and online across Poland 3–12 June 2022.
Next year’s Krakow Film Festival will comprise 200 “carefully selected” films that will be presented within several thematic series and 4 competitions: the International Documentary Competition, the International Short Film Competition, the DocFilmMusic International Music Documentary Competition, and the National Competition. As every year, all competition films will be presented in Poland for the first time, and many of them will have their world premieres at the Krakow Film Festival.
“We’re happy that modern solutions and the ability to make the film program available online [benefits] both the Festival and filmmakers [who] continue to gain new audiences,” says Barbara Orlicz-Szczypuła, director of the Festival’s programming office. “The world has changed, the Festival is also changing. Not to, as Tadeusz Kantor used to say, ridethe wave, but to be the wave.”
Submissions for the film competitions will be accepted in two stages: until 30 November 2021 for films made before 31 October 2021, until 31 January 2022 for foreign films made after 31 October 2021, and until 15 February 2022 for Polish films made after 31 October 2021.
The number of awards will increase in 2022, organisers say. The festival’s oldest competition, the international Short Film Competition, will present Gold and Silver Dragons waiting for filmmakers as usual. In the International Documentary Competition, Silver Horns will be awarded to the director of a film with high artistic values and to the director of a film on social issues. The director of the best film in the competition will receive a Golden Horn. The winner of the hugely popular DocFilmMusic Music Documentary Competition will get the prestigious Golden Heynal. Films within the Polish Competition will compete for the Golden and Silver Hobby-Horses, and several other awards. The total prize pool is PLN 300,000 (approximately €66,000).
In addition to cash prizes, festival winners receive one-of-a-kind statuettes – sculptures designed by the artist Maciej Jurkowski-Lukas.
The Krakow Film Festival is on the exclusive list of qualifying events for the Oscars in the categories of short film (live action, animated, documentary) and documentary feature, as well as a recommending event for the European Film Awards in the same categories. This year, the Festival has also been included on the list of festivals qualifying short films for the British Academy Film Awards.
“As usual, we’re very excited about autumn. We want to be surprised – but above all moved – by the films submitted to the festival,” says Krzysztof Gierat, director of the Krakow Film Festival. “I must admit that – following the long months of the lockdown – I’m in the middle of an intensive period of international film festivals, where I have already managed to spot a few interesting productions I consider inviting to Krakow.”
The Krakow Film Festival is regarded as one of the world’s oldest and most recognisable events dedicated to documentaries, animated films, and short live-action films. Film screenings are accompanied by meetings with filmmakers, workshops and exhibitions, concerts, KFF Industry events, including presentations of new Polish documentary and animated projects.
Czech cinematography will be a special feature during the upcoming edition of the Festival. The ‘Focus on the Czech Republic’ section will present the latest and cult Czech documentaries and short films.
The 62nd Krakow Film Festival will take place in Krakow cinemas from 29 May to 5 June and online across Poland on 3–12 June 2022.
