17/10/2011

Two Polish films received top accolades at the 27th Warsaw International Film Festival, which ended yesterday (Sunday, October 16) - Polish director Wojciech Smarzowski's Rose [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] [photo] received the Warsaw Grand Prix for Best Feature, and Polish actor Robert Wieckiewicz was awarded the Special Jury Prize for his performance in Greg Zglinski's The Courage (which also collected the Ecumenical Award).

At Saturday's awards ceremony in Warsaw's Kinoteka-House of Culture Argentina's Santiagio Amigorena was named Best Director for Another Silence [+see also:
trailer
interview: Santiago Amigorena
film profile]. The international competition jury was presided over by Swiss sales agent Christa Saredi and included, among others, Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski.

"I see Rose and Courage as this year's best Polish films," explained festival director Stefan Laydun, "and without waiting for a new Wajda, Polanski or Kieslowski, I am sure that their directors, with other Polish names such as Malgoska Szumowska, Kasia Roslaniec, Andrzej Jakimowski or Slawomir Fabicki, will be able to capture the spirit of our changing times as no one else."

Both films started their international lives at Warsaw-Moscow's CentEast Market last year. Penned by Michal Szczerbic, Rose depicts the relationship between a Polish former home army soldier and a German soldier's widow in the summer 1945; the Wlodzimierz Niderhaus production with Agata Kuleszaand and Marcin Dorocinski in the leads will be domestically launched by Monolith Films in January 2012.

To be released in Poland in November through Best Film, Courage - which was scripted by Lucja Kedzior and Janusz Marganski - is the story of two brothers fighting over the family business until a violent incident changes their lives. The film was produced by Piotr and Lukasz Dzieciol.

This year unspooling 127 features and 97 shorts from 59 countries, Poland's largest festival registered around 101,000 admissions - slightly less than in 2010 - "and our blend of elements from the East, West, North and South has given us a very positive feedback from audiences, journalists and guests", Laudyn explained.

The festival's Competition 1-2, for new directors, was won by Russian director Angelina Nikonova's Twilight Portrait, while Argentine director Tamae Garateguy's Pompeya took first prize in the Free Spirit Competition. Russian director Marina Goldovskaya's A Bitter Taste of Freedom, about Russian assassinated journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya, was named Best Documentary.

The prize list also included the NETPAC Award: Hong Kong director Haolun Shu's No 89 Shimen Road. The FIPRESCI Award: Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov's Ave. The Short Grand Prix: UK director Will Anderson's The Making of Longbird. Best Animated Short: French director François Avril's Brandt Rhapsodie. Best Live Action Short: Romanian director Anca Miruna Lazarescu's Silent River.