45. PFF online

The 45th Polish Film Festival will be held on-line in December. Everything indicates that due to the new restrictions related to the pandemic, the internet platform will be the only space for festival events.

Selected competition films and additional multimedia materials will be available on the online platform. – Due to licensing restrictions, we cannot, unfortunately, show all films from the Main Competition online to the general public. Some distributors already have contracts with other VOD platforms. In turn, the distributors of those films that have not yet had a theatrical premiere want to maintain the traditional sequence, in which there are first screenings on the big screen, and then other forms of distribution. We, as the organizers of the Festival, do not have the rights to the competition films – says Leszek Kopeć, Director of the Polish Film Festival.

On-line screenings of films made available to the festival platform will take place in virtual cinema halls according to the agreed screening schedule. The festival platform will also allow audience to watch press conferences with the participation of the creators and access accompanying events: debates, meetings, webinars and others. The full program will be announced soon.

The number of accreditations entitling to use the on-line platform will be limited. Their sales will start on November 15. The awards ceremony this year will take the form of a television program broadcast on national TV station TVP and on the festival platform.

– Both the organizers and the film industry are very keen to hold festival competitions this year, despite the difficulties, to award the best with the Golden Lions and other prizes, so important for Polish filmmakers and their films. Let us remember that in the history of the Gdynia Festival it was cancelled only during martial law. However, no one has any doubts that this year’s festival will be completely different from those we know from recent years. The pandemic changed the world, we had to switch to a new, emergency mode in many areas of everyday life. The same happens with the Festival – says Tomasz Kolankiewicz, Artistic Director of the Polish Film Festival.

The 45th Polish Film Festival will be held on December 8-12, 2020.