KFF Industry is one of the major hubs for the Polish and CEE doc industry and its interaction with the wider documentary community. This year sees the event’s 20th edition. The wider festival Krakow Film Festival itself celebrates is 65th anniversary in 2025.
Core to Industry proceedings are the Docs to Go and Docs to Start presentations of new Polish projects, and the CEDOC market which focuses on projects from the overall CEE region.
“Poland is very open to co-productions. This is because of the diversification of funding sources and the search for opportunities to raise funds abroad,” Industry Head Katarzyna Wilk tells BDE on the eve of her event. “Polish producers, particularly those working in the documentary film industry, essentially have no choice but to rely on the Polish Film Institute and TVP for funding. These two institutions are the primary and often the only sources of film budgets.”
“There are also quite resilient regional funds, but priority is given to productions with strong regional ties. However, this is a prosaic reason,” she underlines of the international outlook she observes among local doc practitioners. “More important is the fact that Polish documentary filmmakers are extremely curious about the world and often make films outside Poland, looking for interesting stories and subjects on other continents. This has led to a natural openness to cooperation, resulting in numerous co-produced films and an increasing number of such productions.”
The Polish doc industry is in rude health, Wilk adds. Over past years, there has been no lack of political docs, given the turbulence on Polish borders, but the recent cohort of projects selected for KFF’s Doc Lab Poland indicate a further need/desire to tell a wider range of stories.
“Polish documentary cinema is known for its focus on people and personal stories, and this is reflected in the projects developed during Doc Lab Poland,” says Wilk. “The diversity of these projects is notable, but what unites them is their commitment to artistic excellence.”
“There is surprisingly little politics in the subjects taken up [this year], which means that in the future, when these films are made, we will have another portion of great universal stories,” she adds. “There is also the aforementioned openness to international collaboration, which wasn’t present 20 years ago when we started, at least not to this extent. I’m delighted that our KFF Industry, which has supported the Polish film industry for 20 years — including the last 11 in partnership with Doc Lab Poland — is where ideas are born and these future films take their first steps in the international industry.”
“This is why it is so important to us that so many great experts and decision-makers from all over the world visit us, as this undoubtedly shortens the path to an international career for many Polish films, directors and producers. They have become more self-confident and shed their complexes. Yes, I can confidently say that for almost a quarter of a century, we have been producing world-class modern documentary cinema in Poland.”
The Docs to Go and Docs to Start selections also place strong emphasis this year on art and artists. These include projects about Arkadius, a world-famous fashion designer whose clothing designs are artworks in their own right; Olena Leonenko, a singer who still lives in her late husband’s shadow and is trying to find herself again; Ida Kaminska, the first actress from behind the Iron Curtain to be nominated for an Oscar; Christopher Morris, a war photojournalist for Time magazine and winner of 20 World Press Photo awards, and Lidia Grychtołówna, a legendary pianist who is still performing at the age of 96.
“There are also quite a few stories about outsiders seeking their own path in life and living on their own terms, such as Inner Wild by Kama Czudowska and Mzungu: The Path by Michał Gruszczyński,” Wilk observes.
“As I mentioned earlier, Polish filmmakers also travel around the world, taking their cameras to places such as Mexico, Uganda and Kazakhstan. Marcin Koszałka, an acclaimed Polish cinematographer and director who has worked on feature films for several years, is returning to documentaries. His project The Pillar promises to be interesting and will once again tell the story of the mountains, this time seen through the eyes of an ageing climber who is fighting his weaknesses.”
This year’s festival programme includes 11 films that were developed at Doc Lab Poland and presented in previous editions of KFF Industry. Some have already been screened and awarded at major festivals, such as Letters from Wolf Street by Arjun Talwar (Berlinale), Child of Dust by Weronika Mliczewska which premiered Thessaloniki IDFF (winning a Special Mention in International Competition), The Town That Drove Away by Natalia Pietsch and Grzegorz Piekarski and The Big Chief by Tomasz Wolski, both of which were selected for Visions du Réel.
“Great success was achieved by Agnieszka Zwiefka’s Silent Trees,” Wilk enthuses. “After its world premiere at CPH DOX, the film was screened and awarded all over the world, including such prestigious festivals as Slamdance and Hot Docs. The Guest by Zuzanna Solakiewicz and Zvika Gregory Portnoy, awarded at the last edition of IDFA (Best Cinematography), was presented previously at CEDOC Market in Krakow.”
The pandemic may be a thing of the past with fewer hybrid presentations at most fests. Nevertheless, all pitches at KFF Industry are recorded and will be available for international execs to watch onsite.
Aside from the Polish projects on offer, the CEDOC – Central European Documentary Co-Production Market seeks to connect international CEE documentary filmmakers, “with a focus on building creative partnerships between East and West, North and South, and with a special focus on Central European projects and talents. During two days in the very middle of Europe, in the historical city of Kraków we offer you a set of opportunities to develop your projects and build new professional alliances,” Industry writes.
“I am very pleased with the growing popularity of the CEDOC Market, an event that brings together producers from all over the world to network,” Wilk adds.
Panels this year will cover legal issues (such as bestseller clause, AI algorithm training and other changes in copyright law); Green Education in Media and a Meet the Festival Programmers/Sales Agents session.
Meanwhile, the country in focus this year is Scotland. Does Wilk see any particular similarities between the two countries, at least doc-wise? “It’s hard to say as I am not so much familiar with the documentary industry from Scotland – we invite them to know more [she sends a smiley emoji]. But I am so happy about this collaboration. The same for V4 Co Production Meetings for producers from the Visegrad countries. Exchanging experiences and ideas is always a priority at KFF Industry.”
