In the Focus on Polish Docs program one can find not only Polish documentary classics but also new films from the younger generation of directors, which already gained recognition at international festivals.
First section called Masters from Krakow consists of films, made by Polish documentary masters, which were awarded the Golden Dragon or the Golden Hobby-Horse at the Krakow Film Festival: "The Musicians" by Kazimierz Karabasz, "On a Railway Line" by Bohdan Kosiński, "Primary School" by Tomasz Zygadło, "Hair" by Marek Piwowski, "Seven Women of Different Ages" and "The Hospital" by Krzysztof Kieślowski, "The Primer" by Wojciech Wiszniewski, "A Few Stories About Man" by Bogdan Dziworski, "Anything Can Happen" by Marcel Łoziński and "The Sisters" by Paweł Łoziński.
In the second section Argentinean audience will have a look at the contemporary documentary shorts made by young, ambitious and talented filmmakers. Some of these films have already won awards at the prestigious festivals like Sundance, IDFA or DOK Leipzig and have been either nominated for The Oscars or shortlisted by the Academy.
During the Young Talents screening we will see eight Polish films that have been recently achieving success at international film festivals: "Object" by Paulina Skibińskia, "The Whistle" by Grzegorz Zariczny, "Rogalik" by Paweł Ziemilski, "A Documentary Film" by Marcin Podolec, "Super Unit" by Teresa Czepiec, the Oscar nominated film "Our Curse" by Tomasz Śliwiński, "Starting Point" by Michał Szcześniak and "Close Ties" by Zofia Kowalewska.
Also this year in Buenos Aires, during the special retrospective, we will see films by Wojciech Staroń: "Argentinean Lesson", "For a While", "El Misionero", "The Siberian Lesson" and his last documentary "Brothers", which was awarded a Golden Dove – Grand Prix at the DOK Leipzig Festival and Prix SSR for the best documentary film of La Semaine de la Critique section at the Festival in Locarno.
Wojciech Staroń is a recognized Polish director, screenwriter and cameraman, who won various awards, among others Silver Bear at Berlinale. Together with the retrospective Staroń will give a special master class entitled "About documentary fiction and fictional truth".
One of the guests of this year's Buenos Aires International Documentary Film Festival will be Katarzyna Wilk, assistant director of KFF Sales&Promotion which will join the jury of the Panorama Argentino section, as well as Polish director Teresa Czepiec who will determine the winner of the Opera Prima section.
Krakow Film Foundation is an organizer of Focus on Polish Docs prepared as a part of Polish Docs / Polish Animations Intercontinental project supported by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and Polish Film Institute.
More information at the festival website.
in the main picture: "The Siberian Lessons", dir. Wojciech Staroń