09/06/2005

The Golden Dragon at the Cracow International Film Festival went to two winners ex-aequo, two documentaries focusing on the condition of women in Iran: Prostitution behind the Veil, a Danish production directed by Nahid Persson and The Other Side of Burka by Mehrdad Oskouei. Persian cinema was certainly the strongest challenger this year, with six films out of 56 productions selected for the festival.

The international competition also awarded three Silver Dragons, distinguishing Morir de Amor, an animated comedy by the German director Gil Alkabetz, Mirnaja żizn (Life in peace) a documentary by Pavel Kostomarov (Russia) and Antoine Cattin (Switzerland), and Moje miejsce (My place), by Leszek Dawid (Bar na Wiktorii - Silver Dragon 2004), a documentary about a young provincial man in search of something to do with his life.

The Best Polish film of the year is Herkules, a harrowing documentary by Lidia Duda about a son’s dedication to his family. Krystian Matysek's Olter, a portrait of Jacek Olter, a young Polish drummer who died tragically in 2001, came second.

For six days, Cracow became the European centre of attention for all those who work in documentary films, shorts, experimental films and animation. The Presidents of the Juries of the 45th Cracow Film Festival were the English director Andrea Arnold (international competition) and Witold Stok (national competition) who was behind the camera for great filmmakers, such as Krzysztof Kieslowski.

The international competition did not only give a chance to young directors to show their films, but it also give the public the opportunity to see the latest movies of famous filmmakers, such as Phill Mulloy, Georges Schwizgebl, Sergiej Loznica, and the Silver Bear 2005 in Berlin for the Best Short, Izabela Plucinska's Jam Session. In the national competition famous masters like Kazimierz Karabasz, Stanislaw Rozewicz, Pawel Kedzierski, and Jacek Blawut alternated with students' films.

(Translated from French)