The new Artistic Director of the Polish Film Festival has been chosen

Tomasz Kolankiewicz is to become the Artistic Director of the Polish Film Festival. Film expert and film historian won the contest announced by the Organizing Committee of the Polish Film Festival.

Directors and film producers, winners of Golden and Silver Lions, selected by the FPFF Program Council: Renata Czarnkowska-Listoś, Jan P. Matuszyński, Ewa Puszczyńska, Małgorzata Szumowska, Janusz Zaorski, and Xawery Żuławski worked in the Contest Committee chaired by Joanna Kos-Krauze.

Nine applications have been submitted for the contest. Eight candidates who submitted the complete set of required documents took part in the contest stage including a meeting with the Contest Committee. Due to the current situation, all talks, as well as the deliberations of the Commission, took place in the form of videoconferences. When giving the reasons for the Commission’s decision, Joanna Kos-Krauze emphasizes that the decision was taken unanimously.

– In our opinion, Tomasz Kolankiewicz has phenomenal knowledge of Polish and world cinema, supported by deep knowledge of sociology, psychology and anthropology. His high ethics of own and team work go hand in hand with independence of judgment. She also has the necessary experience in this position in people management and managerial skills – says Joanna Kos-Krauze, Chairwoman of the Contest Committee.

Tomasz Kolankiewicz is a film expert and film historian, curator of film series, lecturing and talking about film. As a film programmer, he has many years of experience in cooperation with television, film festivals, cinemas and cultural institutions (including the New Theatre, National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute, European Solidarity Centre). In the years 2008–2017 he was a program editor at the TV editorial department of TVP Kultura.

In the work of the selector and film programmer, he tries to familiarize viewers with the widest possible picture of cinematography: from classics and artistic cinema to genre cinema. The film cycles in which he specializes in presenting the history of cinema refer to contemporary socio-political realities.

Tomasz Kolankiewicz is the author of several dozen film reviews, among them: Polish and foreign reviews of women’s cinematography, Swedish and American silent cinema, films of outstanding world directors and cinematographers, new wave currents in world cinema, horror cinema, retrospective of little known film currents, several retrospectives of Polish cinema species.

– The most important task of the Artistic Director will be the selection for the Main Competition and for the Short Film Competition. In both cases, he can support the opinion of the selection teams he will set up. In addition, it will also affect the composition of jurors’ bodies. He also faces the challenge of creating conditions for a broad environmental discussion during the Festival, expected by filmmakers, including proposing a program of industry meetings – says Leszek Kopeć, Director of the Polish Film Festival.

Let us remind you that the position of Artistic Director of the Polish Film Festival was restored as part of the organizational reform of the Festival, carried out as a result of extensive consultations with the Polish filmmakers’ community. According to the Festival Regulations, a new Artistic Director is to be officially appointed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage by mid-May at the request of the Organizing Committee.

The 45th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia is scheduled for September 14-19, 2020. Due to the current epidemiological situation in Poland and in the world, the organizers are analysing alternative options, including a possible change in the date of the event. All decisions on this matter may be taken by the Organizing Committee, however not earlier than at the end of May.