26/03/2019 - Paweł Pawlikowski’s period love story received seven gongs, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress

Some of the winners of the 2019 Polish Film Awards (© East News)

During this year’s Polish Film Awards ceremony, the most frequently used words were “cold” “war” and “success”. TV personality and film expert Grażyna Torbicka, who hosted the evening, as well as several other presenters and recipients, stressed that Polish cinema is doing great on both a local and an international level. Proof of this can be found in the myriad accolades for Cold War [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile] at Cannes, the European Film Awards and, last but not least, the Oscars (Paweł Pawlikowski’s film received three nominations), and the growing number of admissions to local productions, including a record-breaking box-office result for Clergy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Wojciech Smarzowski
film profile] by Wojciech Smarzowski (with over 5.5 million tickets sold).

Furthermore, these two titles – Cold War and Clergy – received seven and four Polish Film Awards (also known as the “Eagles”), respectively. Unsurprisingly, Smarzowski’s film received the Audience Award, while Cold War won Best Film. Clergy also triumphed in the following categories: Best Actor (Jacek Braciak), Best Supporting Actor (Janusz Gajos) and Best Music (Mikołaj Trzaska). 

Cold War snatched most of the prizes singling out the work of individuals: Best Director (Pawlikowski), Best Screenplay (Pawlikowski and Janusz Głowacki), Best Actress (Joanna Kulig), Best Cinematography (Łukasz Żal), Best Editing (Jarosław Kamiński) and Best Sound (Maciej Pawłowski, Mirosław Makowski).

Filip Bajon’s period drama The Butler [+see also:
trailer
film profile] won two awards: Best Costumes (Małgorzata Braszka, Ewa Krauze, Małgorzata Gwiazdecka and Izabela Stronias) and Best Production Design (Zbigniew Dalecki and Paweł Jarzębski), while Janusz Kondratiuk’s A Cat with a Dog [+see also:
trailer
film profile] was crowned with the Best Supporting Actress Award (Aleksandra Konieczna). Best Documentary was deemed to be The Prince and The Dybbuk [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski, while Krzysztof Skonieczny’s Blinded by the Lights was voted Best TV Series. Accomplished actress Gabriela Muskała won the Discovery of the Year Award for the script for Fugue [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agnieszka Smoczyńska
film profile], while the UK-US production Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] was voted Best European Film.

As usual, the ceremony provided an opportunity to bring up important issues for the industry – such as the need to include make-up designers among the recipients of the Polish Film Awards. Some artists emphasised the importance of diversity, referring to the current public debate on women and LGBT rights. Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Krzysztof Zanussi said in his acceptance speech that people don’t have dreams any more and that “we should dream that the world is inhabited by beautiful and noble people, whom we can then tell apt stories about”. 

The Polish Film Awards were presented for the 21^st time this year. Here is the full list of winners:

Best Film
Cold War [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile] – Paweł Pawlikowski (Poland/UK/France)

Best Director
Paweł Pawlikowski – Cold War

Best Screenplay
Paweł Pawlikowski, Janusz Głowacki – Cold War

Best Actress 
Joanna Kulig – Cold War

Best Actor
Jacek Braciak – Clergy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Wojciech Smarzowski
film profile]

Best Supporting Actress
Aleksandra Konieczna – A Cat with a Dog [+see also:
trailer
film profile]

Best Supporting Actor
Janusz Gajos – Clergy

Best Sound
Maciej Pawłowski, Mirosław Makowski – Cold War

Best Cinematography 
Łukasz Żal – Cold War

Best Editing
Jarosław Kamiński – Cold War

Best Music 
Mikołaj Trzaska – Clergy

Best Costumes
Małgorzata Braszka, Ewa Krauze, Małgorzata Gwiazdecka, Izabela Stronias - The Butler [+see also:
trailer
film profile] 

Best Production Design 
Zbigniew Dalecki, Paweł Jarzębski – The Butler

Audience Award 
Clergy – Wojciech Smarzowski

Best Documentary
The Prince and the Dybbuk [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski (Poland/Germany)

Discovery of the Year
Gabriela Muskała

Lifetime Achievement Award
Krzysztof Zanussi

Best European Film ​
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Martin McDonagh (UK/USA)

Best TV Show
Blinded by the Lights – Krzysztof Skonieczny