ALCINE – Festival de Cine de Alcalá de Henares / Comunidad de Madrid, took place from 5th to 13th November in Alcalá de Henares. This is one of the oldest festivals in Spain and one of the most important European film events dedicated to short films. This year, Alcine celebrated its fortieth anniversary.
Just like almost every international festival, ALCINE is based mostly on the competition programme, divided into Spanish and European parts. During this year’s edition, three Polish films took part in the European Short Film Competition: the documentary “Plain landscape with a cradle” by Arkadiusz Biedrzycki, and two short feature films: “The Foundation” by Rafał Kapeliński and directing debut “Hanoi-Warsaw” by Katarzyna Klimkiewicz, who won the first prize in this competition.
“Hanoi-Warsaw” is a story about a young Vietnamese woman, Mai Anh, who comes to Poland through the green border. Her final destination is Warsaw, where he fiancé awaits her. However, the journey through Poland turns out to be a dramatic struggle for dignity and survival.
Katarzyna Klimkiewicz is a graduate of the Film and Television Directing Department at The Leon Schiller National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź, as well as a scholarship holder of Binger Film Institute in Amsterdam. Together with Andrew Friedman she made “Wasserschlacht – The Great Border Battle” which won the Berlin Today Award at Berlinale 2007. Her script won the “Young Staff – the Debutantes” competition organized by Kino Polska Television.
It is worth adding that at this year’s ALCINE festival, apart from the competition films, 17 other Polish short films were presented, within the frames of the “24 Polish Hours” programme, organized in cooperation with Krakow Film Foundation and the Institute of Polish Culture in Madrit.
Detailed information on the websites: