Cinema Eye Honors awards have been given to the best documentary films since 2008. For a film to be nominated for the award, it must be shown at any on the following film festivals: Sundance, Berlin, True/False, SXSW, Full Frame, Tribeca, Hot Docs, Cannes, Silverdocs, Los Angeles, Toronto, Sheffield and IDFA. Candidates for Cinema Eye Honors awards are selected by the representatives of large documentary film festivals, and the winners are chosen every year by about 200 representatives of documentary film industry, invited to vote by Cinema Eye.
Ten shortlistees, among them "Polonaise" by Agnieszka Elbanowska, were announced at the opening ceremony of the Camden Film Festival. However, five films from this list will be shown at SFFILM Doc Stories in San Francisco; these films will be nominated for the Cinema Eye Honors award. The award ceremony will be held on January in New York.
In the small, central Polish town of Aleksandrów Kujawski, the director of the local culture centre announces a competition. The theme … a creative presentation of your personal patriotic attitude. Entrants are free to demonstrate their creativity in whatever form they like; in song, recitation or gesture, by giving a speech or staging their piece. Anything goes. There’s just one requirement; entrants may only present their own, original work. The eleventh day of the eleventh month arrives … Poland’s Independence Day. And on this very day, the jury, consisting of the director, the mayor, a priest and a local poetess, will select the region’s number one patriot.
Full shortlist is available here.