The contest Young About the Polish Film Festival settled!

This year for the first time in connection with the Polish Film Festival a contest for a review of a Polish feature film was announced.A hundred and two reviews have been sent in in response to “Młodzi o filmach FPFF!” (Young About the Films of the Polish Film Festival) contest. Everyone under the age of 25 was eligible to participate in it. The films to be reviewed were those presented in the Main Competition over the last five years. The contest – in collaboration with the Festival – was organised by the producers of Warsztaty krytyki filmowej i nowomedialnej, Film and New Media Criticism Workshop, (Gdynia Film School, the artistic quarterly “Bliza” and GSF “Script” notebooks).

An appointment to the jury was accepted by a film expert, professor Krzysztof Kornacki,

a young, prize winning film critic Grzegorz Fortuna and the WKFiN instigator and producer, Adam Kamiński – the chief editor of “Bliza” quarterly.

The first place – PLN 1000, the 43 PFF accreditation, an invitation to WKFiN and publishing of the film review won Joanna Krygier for her review of Kamper.

Two second places – PLN 500, the 43 PFF accreditation, an invitation to WKFiN and publishing of the film review went to Łukasz Kiełpiński for the review of Zjednoczone stany siłości (United States of Love) and Michał Kurowski for Królewicz Olch (The Erlprince).

The third place – the 43 PFF accreditation, an invitation to WKFiN and publishing of the film review won Olga Stolarczyk for her review of Zjednoczone stany miłości ((United States of Love).

In addition, eight reviews received the award of distinction. They will be published in the organiser’s media. Their authors are: Weronika Rzeżutka, Marcin Zwolan, Jan Brzozowski, Marysia Majewska, Iga Pękala, Łukasz Mańkowski, Kajetan Zgubieński, and Martyna Milewska.

The authors of the best four reviews – Joanna Krygier, Łukasz Kiełpiński, Michał Kurowski, and Olga Stolarczyk – were awarded financial prizes and accreditations for this year’s festival by the organizers. The awarded texts will be published in the media space of the organizers, as will the additional eight texts that received the distinction award.

The contest prize is also invitations to participate in subsequent sessions of Film and New Media Criticism Workshops, which are part of a wider program of training young art critics conducted by the Gdynia Film School. Under the guidance of well-known and experienced reviewers, young people aged 15-26 are honing their skills not only to write about the art of the screen, but also to create video reviews. The next edition of WKFiN will be hosted by Michał Oleszczyk and Kaja Klimek.

The aim of this initiative is to promote among young people staying up-to-date with contemporary Polish cinema and, more importantly, the skill of talking about it through critical narratives. More than one hundred entries that were received[1] testify to the great interest in the contest.