DECEMBER AT SHORT FILM FESTIVALS

December means that festivals are slowly leaving on the winter break. Nevertheless, there still will be a chance to see Polish shorts at international festivals – Colombia will host Polish documentary shorts and Mexico – animations.

An award for the biggest number of screenings in December goes to ”Pussy” by Renata Gąsiorowska. The animation will be presented at 12 international festivals including Kyoto International Student Film & Video Festival in Japan, Leuven Short Film Festival in Belgium, Arcipelago in Italy (together with ”Hanoi-Warsaw” by Katarzyna Klimkiewicz), Animacine in Brazil, Montefeltro in Italy and Animage in Brazil. At Animage we will also see „XOXO – Hugs and Kisses” by Wiola Sowa, which this month will also visit four other international festivals including Piccolo Animazone in Italy and Anilogue International Animation Festival in Hungary.

Already in November the 8th China International New Media Short Film Festival has started, at which the audience will see „If I Only Were a Spider” directed by Katarzyna Warzecha, Alex Casianov and Martyna Majewska. However, it is not yet the end of Polish cinema presence in China this month. From December 11th, during the Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, over 30 Polish productions will be presented, and among them a lot of documentary shorts like: ”Miss Holocaust” by Michalina Musielak and Irena Siedlar, ”Volte” by Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzała, ”American Dream” by Marek Skrzecz or ”Fortunately” by Piotr Januszkiewicz, which are taking part in the competition, as well as many others presented in the Focus on Poland programme, in the film retrospectives of Marcel Łoziński, Bogdan Dziworski, Wojciech Staroń and Marcin Koszałka. More information about the event is available here.

Also in November the French Festival Tous Courts has started, were among the presented films we will find ”Last Season” by Sławomir Witek, ”Frozen Stories” by Grzegorz Jaroszuk and ”Come Play with Me” by Milena Dutkowska. On the same day the Caminhos Film Festival, at which we will see ”Mother” by Piotr Gołębowski, started in Portugal, and one day later two other festivals began: Riga International FF in Latvia, which will show ”The Best Fireworks Ever” by Aleksandra Terpińska and the Wolves Independent International Film Award with the screening of ”Adaptation” by Bartosz Kruhlik. ”Adaptation” will also appear this month at the 17th FSF Festival of Student Films in Serbia and at the Amarcort Film Festival in Italy, together with the animation ”The Courtyard” by Grzegorz Wacławek.

A strong representation of Polish animated films will also visit this month the Animasivo Festival of Contemporary Animation in Mexico. The audience will see ”Beside Oneself” by Karolina Specht, ”Super Film” by Piotr Kabat, ”XOXO...”, ”Pussy”, ”Debut” by Katarzyna Kijek, ”Mr Minuscule and the Whale” by Andrzej Gosieniecki, ”Impossible Figures and Other Stories II” by Marta Pajek, ”Domestication” by Sylwia Gaweł and ”Locus” by Anita Kwiatkowska-Naqvi.

December begins with the Poitres Film Festival in France, where we will see ”Daniel” by Anastazja Dąbrowska, the animation ”Pussy” and ”Hot and Cold” by Marta Prus. On the same day in the USA the Sacramento Underground Film & Arts Festival will officially begin whose programme includes ”Theatrum Magicum” by Marcin Giżycki, while at the London International Film Festival, among the invited films we will find ”Impossible Figures...”, ”Beside Oneself”, ”Debut” and ”Moczarski's Case” by Tomasz Siwiński.

On December 2nd in Greece the Olympia International Film Festival will show ”Volte” by Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzała, and Saint Louis IFF in the USA will present: ”I've Got You” by Sebastian Drożak, ”Strange Case” by Zbigniew Czapla and ”The Escape” by Jarosław Konopka.

In India the New Delhi International Film Festival will host a screening of ”A Brave Bunch. Children of Warsaw Uprising” by Tomasz Stankiewicz, and in Iran the audience will see ”Collection” by Marcin Polar. ”Polonaise” by Agnieszka Elbanowska will be shown in December at the South Pole at the 9th Antarctic Short, Documentary and Animation Film Festival.

Six Polish animations can be seen in December in Slovenia. The Animateka festival will present: ”Hail Mary” by Aleksandra Wit, ”XOXO...”, ”Debut”, ”Moczarski's Case”, ”Vanilla//Whip” by Bogna Kowalczyk and ”Bernard” by Anna Oparowska. In the meantime in Italy the Piccolo Festival Animazione will show five short animations: ”XOXO…”, ”Pussy”, ”Impossible Figures...”, ”Black” by Tomasz Popakul and ”Evening” by Izabela Plucińska. Polish animations will also be present at the 12th Femina International Women’s Film Festival in Brazil – we will see there: ”Pussy”, ”Don't Lose Your Head” and ”The Shavings” by Agata Mianowska.

The big programme presenting Polish documentaries will also be presented in December in Colombia. At the Bogoshorts festival we will see films made by Polish documentary masters as well as recent documentaries that have received various awards at film festivals and short films that were invited to the competition. All the details of Polish presence at Bogoshorts are available here.

The festival season in December will finish with Les Arcs European Film Festival in France, which will present ”Pussy”, ”Milk” by Urszula Morga and ”The Frog King” by Arek Biedrzycki.

The up-to-date list of the festival screenings is available in the ”Festivals” section on our website.