18/09/2006

The 31st Gdynia Polish Film Festival awards ceremony brought no surprises. As critics predicted, the Golden Lion went to Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze, directors of Saviour’s Square.

Following the international success of My Nikifor (see news), and despite their relative lack of success in Poland, the Krauzes won top honours.

Saviour’s Square – a tale of the breakdown of an average Polish family grappling with the vagaries of the property market – won several other awards, including Best Actress (Jowita Budnik), Best Supporting Actress (Ewa Wenzel) and Best Score (Paweł Szymański). The directors also picked up the TVP (Polish public broadcaster) Special Award from the President of the Polish Republic and the Journalists’ Prize.

The second biggest prize-winner at the closing ceremony was Extras by Michał Kwieciński (producer and owner of Akson Studio, Tilsa and Arka Film). The director was presenting his debut feature at Gdynia. The jury awarded the comedy, which is tainted with a hint of bitterness, Best Script (Jarosław Sokół), Best Photography (Arkadiusz Tomiak), Best Supporting Actress (Anna Romantowska) and Best Supporting Actor (Krzysztof Kiersznowski).

It was not without satisfaction that Marek Koterski (2002 Grand Prix winner for Dzień świra) came away from Gdynia this year with Best Director, for We're All Christs (Wszyscy jesteśmy Chrystusami), a confessional film whose main character – the director’s alter ego – has to deal with alcoholism. Audiences at the festival expressed another opinion by voting for Jan Jakub Kolski’s Jasminum, a lyrical tale about unrealizable love, whose production design by Joanna Doroszkiewicz was appreciated by the jury.

"The festival’s programme shows that 2006 is an exceptional year for Polish cinema. We’ve had the opportunity to see intelligent, beautiful and professionally-directed films. It’s true than all these new films share a similar theme. But this trend is fortunately offset by the variety of the genres present: drama, comedy, thriller, and so on," Agnieszka Odorowicz, director of the Polish Film Institute (PISF), told Cineuropa.

(Translated from French)