GRZEGORZ ZARICZNY’S DOCUMENTARY CONQUERS MADRID

A film „The Whistle” directed by Grzegorz Zariczny has been awarded with the main prize in the Short Length Documentary Competition at Documenta Madrid festival that celebrated its Closing Gala on Sunday, May 12th. Congratulations!

A winning streak of „The Whistle” continues – after being awarded with the main prizes of Sundance Film Festival, Vilnius International Film Festival and Slovak Febiofest Film Festival, the time has come to win in Spain. 10th edition of International Madrid Documentary Festival ended last Sunday, May 12th, bringing next award for „The Whistle”.

The Jury of Short Length Documentary Film Competition, formed by Ana Herrera Isasi, Luis Mariano González Mazarrón and Tiziana Pelusi has decided to award Zariczny’s documentary with the First Prize of the Jury. The jury members justified their verdict saying that: “This film constantly keeps up the audience’s interest with its magnificent use of the cinematographic language, its rhythm and sense of humour, building up the universal story of an individual’s fight against its reality through a personal specific history”

“The Whistle” portrays Marcin – a young man that comes from a small village near Krakow. The film pictures him from three perspectives – his private life, his work life and his hobby – which is football. In each of these fields he seems to be quite clumsy. He doesn’t rush his way towards adulthood – which his mother doesn’t approve of. She expects him to make life-changing decisions, finding a better job and a wife. Marcin is also a burgeoning football referee – every week he has to bear unrefined comments and remarks about his work, made by players and fans alike of amateur teams.

Documenta Madrid Film Festival is an event dedicated to “strengthen and disseminate the documentary genre”. It has been organized for the last 10 years by the City of Madrid. Apart from competitive sections for short and feature length documentaries, there are also retrospectives and special screenings within the frames of the festival.

 

Full list of the awarded films can be found here.