19/09/2017 - Seventeen titles are duking it out for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lions

The 42nd edition of the Polish Film Festival (PFF) kicked off yesterday, 18 September, with the screening of Loving Vincent [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dorota Kobiela
film profile] by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. The animated, entirely hand-painted biopic of Vincent van Gogh was selected for the festival’s Main Competition along with 16 other feature films. 

This year’s programme is even more diverse than usual. Eight movies were directed by debutants, while seven were helmed by women – an unusually high number in the male-dominated Polish film industry. Eight of the competition films will have their world premieres in Gdynia, while a handful of others have already begun their festival run: Agnieszka Holland and Kasia Adamik’s Spoor [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agnieszka Holland
interview: Zofia Wichlacz
film profile] was awarded a Silver Bear at the 2017 Berlinale, and Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze’s Birds Are Singing in Kigali [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joanna Kos-Krauze
film profile] bowed at Karlovy Vary and went home with an acting prize for leading ladies Jowita Budnik and Eliane Umuhire. Urszula Antoniak’s Beyond Words [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Urszula Antoniak
film profile] had its world premiere at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, and Maciej Sobieszczański’s The Reconciliation [+see also:
trailer
interview: Maciej Sobieszczański
film profile] received the Best Director Award at the Montreal Film Festival. Incidentally, Loving Vincent won the Audience Award at Annecy.

The other titles in the Main Competition are Amok [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Kasia Adamik, The Art of Loving [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Maria Sadowska, Be Prepared [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Robert Gliński, Catalina [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Denijal Hasanović, Chain Reaction by Jakub Pączek, The Damned by Konrad Łęcki, The Fastest by Łukasz Palkowski, The Man with the Magic Box [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Bodo Kox, Panic Attack [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pawel Maslona
film profile] by Paweł Maślona, Silent Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dawid Ogrodnik
interview: Piotr Domalewski
film profile] by Piotr Domalewski, Volta by Juliusz Machulski and Tower. A Bright Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jagoda Szelc
film profile] by Jagoda Szelc.

The Golden Lions winner will be chosen by a jury headed up by veteran Polish director Jerzy Antczak (the Oscar-nominated Nights and Days) and consisting of directors Paweł Pawlikowski (Ida [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile]), Andrzej Jakimowski (Imagine [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Once Upon a Time in November [+see also:
trailer
interview: Andrzej Jakimowski
film profile]), cinematographer Witold Stok (Gladiatress, Mall Girls [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), actress Agnieszka Grochowska (Strange Heaven [+see also:
trailer
film profile], In Darkness [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Child 44 [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Grammy-winning composer Włodek Pawlik (Suicide Room [+see also:
trailer
interview: Jakub Gierszal - Shooting S…
interview: Jan Komasa
film profile]), editor Beata Walentynowska (United States of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tomasz Wasilewski
film profile]) and production designer Anna Wunderlich (Demon [+see also:
trailer
film profile], The Erlprince [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kuba Czekaj
film profile]). The festival’s honorary award, the Platinum Lions, will be presented to director Jerzy Gruza.

The other competitive sections of the 42^nd PFF are Visions Apart – established in 2014 to promote more experimental films and filmmakers – and the Short Film Competition. Gdynia’s programme also includes the screening of digitally restored classic films, foreign movies made with the involvement of Polish filmmakers, a growing industry section and discussion panels. The winners will be announced on Saturday 23 September.