Monday, 17th September 2018, the 43rd PFF
Camera, action! Six days completely filled with film screenings and meetings with the Polish filmmakers are ahead of us. We will present 50 films in three competitions. In total, during the 43rd Polish Film Festival, over 130 titles will be shown during over 350 screenings in several screening rooms.
We will officially open the Festival at 7.00 PM with the Opening Gala which will be held on the Large Stage of the Musial Theatre in Gdynia. The opening film is “The Butler” from the Main Competition. Just before that, we will present a few minutes long animation entitled “Masterclass”, inspired by the figure of Roman Polański, produced in the Krakow Fine Arts Academy.
Luckily, there is no need to wait for films until the evening. The first screenings – including press screenings of films from the Main Competition – begin at 9.00 AM. All the press conferences after the screenings will be streamlined in the Internet (YouTube, FPFFGdynia).
The Festival Centre invites for receipt of accreditation on Monday from 8.30 AM. On the first day of the Festival, the viewers can choose from over a half of the films of the Main Competition. These are: “Autsajder” directed by Adam Sikora, “A Hole in the Head” by Piotr Subbotko, “Fugue” by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, “A Cat with a Dog” by Janusz Kondratiuk, “Julius” by Aleksander Pietrzak, “The Butler” by Filip Bajon, “Once Upon a Time in November” by Andrzej Jakimowski, “Mug” by Małgorzata Szumowska and “Cold War” by Paweł Pawlikowski.
Already on Monday, the Festival guests will have the chance to watch all of the films from the Visions Apart Competition, which are: „53 Wars” directed by Ewa Bukowska, „The Day of Chocolate” by Jacek Piotr Bławut, “Another Day of Life” by Damina Nenow and Raul de la Fuente, “My Friend the Polish Girl” by Ewa Banaszkiewicz and Mateusz Dymek, “Monument” by Jagoda Szelc, “Leave Me Not” by Grzegorz Lewandowski, “Nina” by Olga Chajdas and “Windows, Windows” by Wojciech Solarz.
We invite to screenings complemented by meetings with the filmmakers: at 3.30 PM, „A Hole in the Head” directed by Piotr Subbotko in Mulitkino, screening room 2, and at 4.00 PM „My Friend the Polish Girl” by Ewa Banaszkiewicz and Mateusz Dymek on the New Stage of the Musical Theatre.
We kindly remind that this year, Internet booking of seats covers also the Large Stage of the Musical Theatre. It is identical to the rest of the screening rooms. Each day, from 8.30 AM, the owners of accreditation and passes can book selected screenings for the given day and the following day.
Breakthrough events from the recent history of Poland, the dilemmas of Poles during the trying times, and the profiles of outstanding patriots are presented in films that have been included in the special non-competitive section of the 43rd Polish Feature Film Festival “100 Years of Independence”. On Monday, we invite to screenings in Konsulat Kultury where we will present “Warsaw 44” by Jan Komasa, “Ashes and Diamonds” by Andrzej Wajda and a documentary by Wincent Ronisz, “Wymarsz”. Entry to film screenings from this section is free of charge.
We encourage to come to Grunwaldzki Square and visit the installation Culture on View where you can access films, music, books and theatrical plays or take virtual tours of selected museums. The nationwide project is aimed at mapping legal sources and providing users with equal chances to access culture.
„A Note from the Uprising” is Poland’s first period drama based on true events and produced in VR technology. A story about Warsaw insurgent Captain Władysław Sieroszewski, aka Sabała. In August 1944, when Sabała was leaving home to join the Uprising, his daughter gave him a piece of paper with a prayer. He couldn’t know that it will change his fate. Director uses VR technology so the audience can join the fighters and share their feelings. Virtual reality combines stereoscopy, a technique for creating the illusion of depth and distance, with ambisonic sound. The ensuing unique experience will allow the contemporary audience to answer such questions as “what would I do in their place?” and “would I stay and fight or would I run?”. The spectacle was produced by the National Centre for Culture and VR Heroes and financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
The 43rd PFF would be incomplete without classes of the School Film Archive prepared especially for teenage students. The programme entails, among other things, film debates Criticise!, lectures based on the festival films, film reportage classes School Film Archive Studio, Film City Game, training for the 3rd edition of the School Contest on Knowledge of Film and Mass Communication and curator tours of festival exhibitions. All that for the students of primary schools and older. Sounds interesting? Then come and visit us at the gallery of the Gdynia Film Centre! School Film Archive is a programme of the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute launched in co-operation with the Polish Film Institute. The meetings of the School Film Archive are held from Monday to Friday, from 9.00 AM in the Gallery of the Gdynia Film Centre.
It is the 15th time Gdynia for Children invites the young audience of the Polish Film Festival to screenings and accompanying events tailor-made for them. As usual, the Polish Filmmakers Association, the main organiser of Gdynia for Children, selected the finest Polish films dedicated to children and teenagers. For a few festival days, kids can watch recent full-length features and short animations such as Double Trouble by Marta Karwowska, Jim and Screw from the Animated Movies Studio, Basia from Gdansk-based Grupa Smacznego, Pompik the Bison from EGoFILM, the animated musical The Treflik Family by Marek Skrobecki of Studio Trefl and Polish Fairy Tales created by the excellent animators of the TV Studio of Animation Films (Robert Turło, Andrzej Kukuła and Joanna Jasińska-Koronkiewicz, to name but a few). The opening of the review will be held at 10.00 AM in Gdynia Film Centre (Goplana screening room). Next screenings will be held in Gdynia Helios cinema. School groups need to register.
On Monday evening, at Grunwaldzki Square, the Festival Outdoor Screenings begin. At 8.00 PM, we will present the winner of the Golden Lions from 2014, “Gods” by Łukasz Palkowski. Entry free of charge! Telewizja Kino Polska is the co-organizer of the event.
Detailed information about films and Festival events are available on the webpage www.festiwalgdynia.pl, in the PROGRAM section.
