The 34^th edition of the Warsaw Film Festival (WFF) will get going on 12 October with a special Gala Screening of A Tramway in Jerusalem [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Amos Gitai. During the press conference, WFF director Stefan Laudyn said that there are those festivals that “are leading the way and those that imitate other festivals”, and added that this year, the WFF is joining the former group. “What is important is the freshness of the programme,” he said.

The festival will present 15 world, 18 international, five European, 39 Eastern European and 28 Polish premieres. 30% of the films selected for the WFF were directed by female helmers. There are a few more interesting figures, though: there were almost 5,000 film submissions (1,858 full-length ones) from 61 countries for the programme, which features five competitive sections (International Competition, 1-2 Competition, Documentary Film Competition, Free Spirit Competition and Short Film Competition) and five non-competitive ones (Special Screenings, Classics from Poland, Discoveries, Family Cinema Weekend and the Best Shorts from Poland 2018).

Out of the 15 International Competition contenders, nine are European: 7 Emotions [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Agustina Macri. The non-European films are: The Goose Goes South by Jae-ho Baek and Hee-seop Lee, We Are the Heat by Jorge Navas, Working Woman by Michal Aviad, Eight out of Ten by Sergio Umansky Brener, School Service by Luisito Lagdameo Ignacio and The Fall by Zhou Lidong. 

The 1-2 Competition will present 15 films, and again, nine are European: Break [+lire aussi :
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interview : Nikos Labôt
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interview : Pääru Oja
fiche film] by Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon, Thou Shalt Not Kill [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Liina Trishkina-Vanhatalo. The rest of the world is represented by Pure Land by Zhenyu Sun, New Life by André Carvalheira, Hot Ashes by Junji Kojima, Mate by Dae-gun Jung, Satash by Tulegen Baitukenov and The Third Wife by Ash Mayfair. 

For the 14^th time, the Warsaw Film Festival is organising its industry event, which since 2017 has been called the Warsaw Industry Days. The highlight of this section will be a panel focused on the financial incentives for audiovisual production that Poland will introduce later this year. Another special event is a meeting with long-time Toronto IFF director Piers Handling, who, as one of his duties, selected Polish films for the Canadian festival. Handling, Tolga Karacelik, Joanna Kos-Krauze, Nik Powell and Marek Rozenbaum form the International Competition jury. The Warsaw Industry Days also includes: the Warsaw Screenings (a presentation of ten new Polish films, both shorts and full-length titles), Warsaw Works in Progress, Warsaw Next (a training programme for young filmmakers), the FIPRESCI Warsaw Critics Project (a workshop for young film critics), Doc Lab Poland (a presentation of documentary works in progress), and an Open Workshop entitled “The Art of Film Editing”. 

The festival will be brought to a close by Antonio Morabito’s Forgive Us Our Debts on 20 October.