"MOTHER EARTH" AND "SUPER UNIT" AWARDED AT THE GO SHORT FESTIVAL!
Two Polish films are among the award-winners of the Go Short festival, which ended last Sunday, April 12. The film "Mother Earth" by Piotr Złotorowicz was awarded with the best student film award, while "Super Unit" by Teresa Czepiec – with a special mention in the documentary film category.
The seventh edition of the Go Short film festival, which was held in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, from 8 to 12 April, turned out to be very successful for Polish films. The festival jury, consisting of Claire van Daal, Edmund Jansons, Carmen Gray, Daniel Ebner and Philip Ilson, awarded two Polish productions.
The student film by Piotr Złotorowicz, "Mother Earth," won the Dioraphte Encouragement Award for the Best Student Film. In the justification of the jury's verdict, we can read: “It was impossible to ignore the power, raw emotion and impressive skill with which this film was made. We felt that the film touched on a classical theme, yet the filmmaker managed to surprise and move us within every aspect of this great piece of work.”
"Mother Earth" is the story of a conflict of a father's expectations with the power and sensitivity of his son. Maciek - the main protagonist of the film - is no longer a boy, but has not yet become a man. He wants to satisfy the ambitions of his father, and - as everyone in the family - be a butcher. But he is too sensitive to make an animal suffer. The boy directs all his warm feelings towards an old, neglected orchard - the only memory of his mother.
"Super Unit," made by Teresa Czepiec, won the Special Mention in the documentary film category. The jury emphasised that: “Thought-provoking parallels between cinema and architecture were drawn in this human and fluid portrait of an enclosed community.”
Superjednostka (Polish for Superunit) is a huge block of flats designed as a "housing machine". Up to three thousand people can live on 15 floors of the building. The lifts only stop every three floors so the residents must go through a maze of corridors and stairs in order to get to their flats. The main characters of the documentary are people living in Superjednostka and going through important moments of their lives there. This is where their emotions throb, their expectations engender, and their desires come true... or not.
More information about the festival can be found at its website.