Polish productions had a very good start in 2018. As soon as in January, three short films: the documentary film “Volte” by Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzała, the animated film “Black” by Tomasz Popakul and the feature film “Deer Boy” by Katarzyna Gondek were presented to the audience at the Sundance festival in the USA. Four Polish short films were shown at the Trieste Film Festival, and “60 Kilos of Nothing” returned from the festival with an award.
In February, the film “Bless You!” by Paulina Ziółkowska won the special mention at the festival Berlinale, and it was also the time of success of the films “Tremors” by Dawid Bodzak, the award-winner of the Grand Prix at the festival in Clermont-Ferrand and “Dust” by Jakub Radej, who was given the best documentary film award in the Lab competition in France.
In March, Polish short films featured as the special guest at the Film Festival Tampere in Finland. In a special programme, the viewers watched over 20 Polish short documentary, animated and feature films.
In the first half of the year, Polish animated films were very successful. “Oh, God!” by Betina Brożek was qualified for the Oberhausen festival, whereas “The Other” by Marta Magnuska and “III” by Marta Pajek were invited to the official selection of the 71st edition of the Cannes festival. In June, as many as six animated films participated in the competition sections at the festival Annecy. In July, seven Polish animated films were invited to the competition in Hiroshima, and “Xoxo – Hugs and Kisses” by Wiola Sowa brought the Special Jury Award from the festival.
Such a great presence of Polish films at film festivals abroad is to large extent the effect of the activities of the Agency KFF Sales & Promotion, run by the Krakow Film Foundation, which deals with, among others, international festival distribution of Polish documentary, short and animated films. KFF Sales & Promotion operates since 2006 (previously it was called the Film Promotion Agency). Since 2016, the Agency’s additional area of operation is the sale of medium-length and feature-length documentary films. The Agency also runs the projects Polish Docs, Polish Shorts and Polish Animations, the aim of which is on the one hand, the popularisation of the Polish cinematography at the international festivals, film reviews and independent film events, and on the other hand, the promotion of Polish film industry on the international film market and the facilitation of its access to the film markets all around the world. Every year, there are about 70 new films in the database of films represented by the KFF.
There are a couple of months left until 2018 ends, so the list of awards and festival selections will certainly increase. The list of festival screenings, which is constantly updated, can be found here.