Festival Crossroads
Festival Crossroads
The Cracow Film Festival started in 1961 and is one of Europe's longest-running events dedicated to documentary, animation and other short film forms. It was a starting point for the impressive careers of the most renowned Polish documentary filmmakers: Krzysztof Kieslowski, Wojciech Wiszniewski, Andrzej Fidyk and Marcel Lozinski among others. We are happy to have the possibility to present some of the finest documentaries produced in recent years.
The oldest film in the selection is 89 millimeters to Europe by
Marcel Lozinski. It has already become a living legend among Polish
documentaries, winning numerous awards at international festivals
and an Academy Award nomination. "I wanted to make a possibly short,
concise and lucid film not only about a point of convergence of
two different worlds but also about the search for contact between
the two Europes," says Marcel Lozinski. This longing for contact
is visible not only in Lozinski's film; other directors, Michal
Bukojemski in Masha Mom or Jacek Blawut in Born Dead follow
the same path. Masha Mom focuses on two lesbians who want
a child in a world which does not approve of such dreams; the main
character of
Born Dead is a recidivist who undergoes a
personal transformation under the influence of the mentally disabled
children he is taking care of. A deep bond between the accidental
care worker and the alienated child initiates changes which will
bring the young man back to life. Despite constant debate over
the nature of the documentary, the main character remains its most
important element.
Unique protagonists are also present in two other films screened within the Polish program. A young but already acknowledged director, Maciej Cuske placed his camera in a second-hand bookshop in Warsaw. He succeeded in capturing not only comical everyday situations but above all, the true, wonderful and intriguing man behind them. Tomasz Wiszniewski and his protagonist Roman Janiszek - a miner and filmmaker in one, jointly tell the story of poverty in Silesia and people afflicted by fatal helplessness. They observe the same world in two dramatically different ways: Wiszniewski uses his professional equipment while Janiszek is an amateur who relies mainly on instinct and intuition. We are glad of the opportunity to share all these films with the Verzio Film Festival audience and hope you will find them as touching, thought-provoking and unique as we do.
Cracow Film Festival will be celebrating its 46th birthday between 30th May and 4th June 2006. It is our pleasure to invite you to join us next year in Krakow for a meeting with the Real Cinema. Be Moved by Moving Pictures!
Cracow Film Festival Team
