15/09/2015 - 18 titles are duking it out for the Golden Lions statuette, the top prize at the Gdynia Film Festival, which kicked off yesterday

A total of 13 national premieres and six feature debuts are on the menu within the official competition of the 40th Gdynia Film Festival (14-19 September 2015). Among the most prominent titles, audiences will be able to discover the new films by Jerzy Skolimowski (the Venice competitor 11 Minutes [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jerzy Skolimowski
film profile] – read the interview), Jacek Bromski (Anatomy of Evil [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Marcin Wrona (Demon [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Janusz Majewski (The Eccentrics. The Sunny Side of the Street [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Kinga Debska (These Daughters of Mine [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Dariusz Gajewski (Strange Heaven [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Filip Bajon (Damaged [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]).

The feature debuts battling it out are The Lure by Agnieszka Smoczynska, Chemo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Bartek Prokopowicz (revealed in the competitive East of the West section at Karlovy Vary), The Here After [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Magnus von Horn
film profile] by Magnus von Horn (unveiled in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight – read the interview), Summer Solstice [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Michal Rogalski, Walpurgis Night [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Marcin Bortkiewicz, and New World [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by the trio of directors Elzbieta Benkowska, Lukasz Ostalski and Michal Wawrzecki. 

The competition is rounded off by films that are already well known to Polish audiences: the Berlinale-awarded Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
film profile] by Malgorzata Szumowska (read the interview), Influenza [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Lukasz Barczyk, Life Must Go On [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Maciej Migas, A Grain of Truth [+see also:
trailer
interview: Borys Lankosz
film profile] by Borys Lankosz (read the interview) and Karbala [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Krzysztof Lukaszewicz (which centres on Polish soldiers in Iraq and is being released in theatres on Friday).

This 40^th iteration of the biggest Polish film festival is not only an anniversary edition for the gathering itself, but also a special occasion for the Polish Film Institute (PISF), which is celebrating its tenth year of operations. And the Gdynia Film Festival will allow professionals to "bid farewell" to Agnieszka Odorowicz, the director of the PISF who, after two mandates (making a total of ten years), is handing over her position to Magdalena Sroka, who will officially take up her post on 3 October. 

(Translated from French)