Friday, 22nd September. The fifth day of the 42nd PFF

The last premiere of the 42nd Polish Film Festival’s Main Competition is ahead of us. The film “Beyond Words” by Urszula Antoniak is one of the three press screenings which have been planned for 22nd September 2017. Apart from that, there will be presentations of “Spoor” by Agnieszka Holland and “The Art of Loving. Story of Michalina Wisłocka” by Maria Sadowska.

You can do some festival catching up on Friday. All the remaining films of he Main Competition will be screened: “The Damned One” by Konrad Łęcki, “Pannick Attack” by Paweł Maślona, “The Best” by Łukasz Palkowski, “Silent Night” by Piotr Domalewski, “Catalina” by Denijal Hasanowić, “Loving Vincent” by Dorota Kobiela, “Birds are Singing in Kigali” by Krzysztof Krauze and Joanna Kos-Krauze, “The Man with the Magic Box” by Bodo Kox, “Amok” by Kasia Adamik, “Chain Reaction” by Jakub Pączek, “The Reconciliation” by Maciej Sobieszczański, “Tower. A Bright Day” by Jagooda Szelc, “Volta” by Juliusz Machulski and “Be Prepared” by Robert Gliński.

Journalists Award

Journalists with accreditations to the Festival are invited to the Journalists’ Jury’s session on Friday, 22nd September 2017, directly after the press conference of “The Art of Loving. The Story of Michalina Wislocka”, which begins at 5:50 PM. The session will be held in the Press Office on Gdynia Film Centre’s first floor.

The Young Gala

Leszek Możdżer’s concert will open the awarding ceremony of the Short Film Competition and off-the regulation awards for the Main Competition and Visions Apart Competition Films. The Young Gala begins at 8.30 PM on the Musical Theatre’s New Stage. By invitation only.

Screening of film by Platiunum Lions’ winner

Jerzy Gruza who will receive Platinum Lions for his lifetime achievements during the gala ending the Festival will have a meeting with audience on Friday. The meeting will take place after the special screening of “The Woodpecker” from 1970. The screening will begin at 4.00 PM in Multikino’s screening room no. 8.

Special screening

The program of 42. FPFF’s special screenings will be complemented by presentation of a film from 1985 called “Killing Auntie”. Grzegorz Królikiweicz, it’s director, was supposed to be the Festival’s guest. We received the news of the artist’s death at night of 21st September 2017 with great sadness.

In Memoriam

As a part of the Special Screenings – In Memoriam section, a block devoted to to the remembrance of Edward Żebrowski, an eminent director who died in 2014, will begin at 11.30 AM in Multikino’s Screening Room 8. Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz will present her documentary “LIFE NOTES. Edward Żebrowski”. Among others, Małgorzata Jaworska, Filip Bajon, Krzysztof Zanussi, Wojciech Marczewski, Agnieszka Holland, Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Michał Komar, Michał Klinger and Herbert Distel talk about the director in the film. The audience will also watch two short films directed by Edward Żebrowski: “School of Feelings” from 1963 and “Evening” from 1964

At noon, in the Goplana screening room Wojciech Jerzy Has’s “The Saragossa Manuscript” will start. It is a commemoration of Zbigniew Cybulski’s 50th death anniversary. In the Pure Classics– In Memoriam section, you can also see Janusz Morgenstern’s film “To Kill This Love” based on a script by Janusz Głowacki. The screening commemorates him. It will begin 12.00 in Multikino’s screening room no. 4 too.

Krakow Film Festival Catching Waves

Friday night provides a perfect opportunity for those who would like to see the winning films of this year’s Krakow Film Festival. Two titles will be presented as one block in Multikino’s screening room 8 at 7.00 PM. “The Ugliest Car” by Grzegorz Szczepaniak is a documentary road film awarded with the Golden Hobby-Horse in Krakow Polish Competition. The Gdynia Krakow Film Festival Catching Waves will be closed by “Strange Case” by Zbigniew Czapla awarded at the 57the KFF with Silver Dragon and Silver Hobby-Horse for the best animated film.

Polonica

Join us at the last screening of the oldest Festival section, beside the Main Competition. The film “Garden Store. A Family Friend” is a Czech, Slovakian and Polish co-production by Jan Hřebejk. Bartosz Cierlica is its director of photography, while Agnieszka Kurzydło (MD4) is its co-producer. The screening will start at 4.00 PM in Gdynia Film Centre’s Goplana screening room. After the screenings, there will be a meeting with its authors.

Screening in sign language

The competition film “The Best” by Łukasz Palkowski can be watched with a translation into sing language during the Festival The screening will begin at 6.10 PM in Multikino’s screening room no. 2.

Gdynia Industry

More meetings held as a part of Gynia Industry will take place at Gdynia Musical Theatre’s Small Stage. A discussion on the Polish animation market “Nothing is happening, sir. Nothing?” will begin at 11.00 AM. The panel entitled “Historical film’s development” has been planned for 1.00 PM. At 5.00 PM a discussion “Panoptikum – On cinema economics, clusters and festivals”will begin. The Warsaw Rising Museum presents a film project about Jan Nowak Jeziorański.

More about the Gdynia Industry debates

Nothing is happening, sir. Nothing? – discussion on the Polish animation market

The jubilee of Polish animation’s 70th anniversary is a good moment for summing up the direction in which Polish animation market has been going in the recent years and reflecting on what is ahead of us in the near future. On the one hand, animated films are subject to the same rules as other players on the media production market. On the other hand, the unique character of their production, much larger budgets and prolonged time of their production makes every step on their way from the author to the viewer relatively difficult.

What will the institutions which finance animation, producers, TV stations, industry institutions and animation distributors be faced with? How do we increase chances of feature-length films being produced, what do we do about international co-productions of shorts and how do we give animation, which is automatically considered a genre for children by general audience, its well deserved position among other masterpieces of Polish cinema.

Practitioners, journalists, animators, producers and representatives of film environments were invited to participate in the discussion. Polish Animation Producers Association wants to start a discussion on what should be done, for Polish animation to get the well-deserved position on the domestic film production market. It has had one on the international market for a long time. Moderator: Aneta Ozorek

Historical film’s development

Poles love historical cinema. We could all be called Hoffman’s children. Historical films are a large proportion of the projects financed by the Polish Film Institute. However, according to the director of the Warsaw Rising Museum (who is a film producer too), the phase of development is the biggest challenge. Literary works are one thing. But the project has to be well prepared, perfectly documented and backed by historians’ opinions. It must be consulted on. It is a great challenge to obtain budget, especially outside the public money.

The audience of the 42nd PFFF will be the first ones to get to know the background of the preparations for the production of a film about Jan Nowak Jeziorański produced by the Wartas Rising Museum directed by Władysław Pasikowski. Jan Ołdakowski and Joanna Lang from the Museum will present the project’s historical documentation to the audience. It consists of elements like a catalogue of historical locations, description and photographic documentation of the characters, which constitute the historical sphere of the film. The director of the Warsaw Rising Museum will present the path which led from the draft idea to the current advanced stage of this unique film project. Participants: Anna Wróblewska, Jan Ołdakowski

“Panoptikum”. On cinema economics, clusters and festivals

Ever since the beginning of its existence, cinema was highly dependent on all sorts of economic, social and political conditions. Focusing on these issues and not seeing films as autonomous text of culture but as a product which was made in particular conditions allows to complement the conclusions from the traditional methods of film studies and reach facts which could otherwise be omitted.

The nomographic issue of the Panopticum periodical on the ECONOMIC OF CINEMA collects the results of research into the aspects of the cinema which are inextricably linked with finances. Its authors focused both on issues connected with production or distribution and on those which in a way remain beside cinema itself but have a large impact on its functioning, like marketing, dubbing or censorship. The widely understood economics of prestige, positive critics’ opinions and festival awards, which are a substitute for purely commercial success in the world of European cinema, are equally important. A discussion on film clusters, festivals and research on film industry will be held to accompany the periodical’s premiere. Participants: Marcin Adamczak, Krzysztof Stachowiak, Grażyna Świętochowska. Moderator:Anna Wróblewska

The meetings of Gdynia Film Industry are organised by Polish Feature Film Festival.
Partners and co-organisers: Polish Film Institute, Polish Animation Producers Association, Panoptikum, Onet.pl, the Warsaw Rising Museum, LSW Leśnodorski Ślusarek and Partners

Meeting with Beata Poźniak

A meeting with Beata Poźniak – actress, director, scriptwriter and producer of a short animation “People on the Bridge”, inspired by Wisława Szymborska’s poem will begin at 1.30 in Gdynia Film Centre’s Morskie Oko screening room. The meeting will be moderated by Barbara Hollender.

ELLE’s debate

“Rare birds in Polish films. On women’s leading roles in Polish cinema”. This is the motto of the ELLE monthly’s debate which is held as a part of the Festival for the second time. This time it will be devoted to the presence and status of actresses in Polish cinema. Its participants will be women who will answer the question if they can count on as many leading roles as man. The meeting will be held in Multikino’s screening room 8 at 2.00 PM.

Books at the Festival

On Friday at 3.00 PM there will be a promotional event for the book “Filmoterapia” (“Filmotherapy”) by Małgorzata Kozubek. Michał Oleszczyk will interview its author.

At 4.30 PM a promotional meeting for “F/5,6” , an album by Bogdan Dziworski will be held. The meeting with Bogdan Dziworskiwill be moderated by Magda Sendecka. Noth that the albums release is accompanied by a retrospective exhibition under the same title organised by its publisher, Leica 6×7 Gallery Warszawa.

The day will end at 6.00 PM with Piotr Kurpiewski talking about his new book: “Historia na ekranie Polski Ludowej” (“People’s Poland’s History on Screen”). Tadeusz Stegner, a historian, as well as film experts Krzysztof Kornacki and Mirosław Przylipiak will also participate in the meeting.

World Smile Archive

the Mayor of Gdynia, Wojciech Szczurek as well as actors Tatiana Sosna-Sarno, Anna Czartoryska and Eryk Lubos will visit the children in the Gdynia Vincent de Paul’s Hospital. The meeting will begin at 11.00 AM. It is another edition of the World Smile Archive – a project which has been a part of the Polish Feature Film Festival for years. It collects smiles of actors and actresses, directors as well as Festival audience in posters. However, first of all, it makes children patients from Gdynia smile. Marek Wysoczyński, whose idea the project was and who works on it, collects smiley faces drawn by Polish film stars during the Festival.