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FESTIVALS / AWARDS Poland

EO emerges victorious at the Polish Eagles

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- Jerzy Skolimowski’s Cannes-awarded movie has taken home six of the Polish prizes, including Best Film; Johnny and Below the Surface also scooped trophies

EO emerges victorious at the Polish Eagles
The winners of the 2023 Polish Eagles (© Piętka Mieszko/AKPA)

The Polish Film Awards, dubbed the Eagles, have been handed out for the 25th time, and this year, there was one big winner: the Oscar-nominated and Cannes-awarded EO [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. Incidentally, last year, Skolimowski was given a Lifetime Achievement Award, which just goes to show that such an accolade is not always the last one that an artist will win.

Filmmakers like their prizes, which became even more evident in Skolimowski’s awkwardly bitter acceptance speech for Best Director – he said in a live stream from Los Angeles, where he is awaiting the imminent Oscars ceremony, that this award is “some kind of compensation for other event”, alluding to the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, which he left empty-handed. Back then, the Grand Prix went to The Silent Twins [+see also:
film review
interview: Agnieszka Smoczynska
film profile
]
by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, who, despite garnering several nominations, won nothing this time around.

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However, on this occasion, Skolimowski pulled off a hat-trick, winning Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay (which was shared with Ewa Piaskowska). On top of that, three more nods from the Polish Film Academy went to EO: Best Cinematography (Michał Dymek), Best Editing (Agnieszka Glińska) and Best Music (Paweł Mykietyn). The first runner-up was Johnny by Daniel Jaroszek, a tear-jerking biopic on priest Jan “Johnny” Kaczkowski, which snagged four Eagles: Best Actor (Dawid Ogrodnik), Best Supporting Actress (Maria Pakulnis), Best Make-up (Liliana Gałązka) and the Audience Award.

The submarine-set psychological thriller Below the Surface [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
made off with two Eagles, for Best Sound (Radosław Ochnio and Michał Fojcik) and Best Production Design (Marcelina Kunikowska-Początek). Andrzej Seweryn’s performance in Backwards [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
earned him a Best Supporting Actor gong, while Dorota Pomykała picked up another prize (Best Actress) for her tour-de-force role in Woman on the Roof [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anna Jadowska
film profile
]
. One Eagle flew to The Pawnshop [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
by Łukasz Kowalski, named Best Documentary, and another, for Discovery of the Year, was bestowed upon Damian Kocur, the writer-director of Bread and Salt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damian Kocur
film profile
]
. Dorota Roqueplo won her second Eagle in a row (and her fifth overall) for Brigitte Bardot Forever, and so did Jan Holoubek, who triumphed again in the Best TV Series category for the Netflix-produced show High Water, which he co-directed with Bartłomiej Ignaciuk.

There were also some moving parts of the Polish Film Awards gala, when producer and Ukrainian Film Academy co-founder Julia Sinkevych took to the stage to thank the Polish Film Academy and Polish filmmakers for their support. She also handed the Eagle for Best European Film to Ennio [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile
]
by Giuseppe Tornatore. The other touching moment was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award, which went to composer and Oscar winner Jan AP Kaczmarek. Owing to his poor health, he wasn’t able to attend the ceremony in person, so his wife, Aleksandra Twardowska-Kaczmarek, accepted it on his behalf. “He deeply believes that love is the only way, and he wishes us all to remember that,” she said, commenting on his involvement in the social and political debate. Well, it’s love for some, while for others, it’s bitterness.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Best Film
EO [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Jerzy Skolimowski (Poland/Italy)

Best Director
Jerzy Skolimowski – EO

Best Screenplay
Jerzy Skolimowski, Ewa Piaskowska – EO

Best Actress
Dorota Pomykała – Woman on the Roof [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anna Jadowska
film profile
]
(Poland/France/Sweden)

Best Actor
Dawid Ogrodnik – Johnny

Best Supporting Actress
Maria Pakulnis – Johnny

Best Supporting Actor
Andrzej Seweryn – Backwards [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]

Best Sound
Radosław Ochnio, Michał Fojcik – Below the Surface [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]

Best Cinematography
Michał Dymek – EO

Best Editing
Agnieszka Glińska – EO

Best Music
Paweł Mykietyn – EO

Best Costumes
Dorota Roqueplo – Brigitte Bardot Forever

Best Make-up
Liliana Gałązka – Johnny

Best Production Design
Marcelina Kunikowska-Początek – Below the Surface

Audience Award
Johnny - Daniel Jaroszek

Best Documentary
The Pawnshop [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
Łukasz Kowalski

Discovery of the Year
Damian Kocur – Bread and Salt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damian Kocur
film profile
]

Lifetime Achievement Award
Jan AP Kaczmarek

Best European Film 
Ennio [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile
]
– Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy)

Best TV series
High Water – Jan Holoubek, Bartłomiej Ignaciuk

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