POLISH TRIUMPH IN ZAGREB

Another international success of Polish documentary filmmakers - "Returns" by Krzysztof Kadłubowski wins the "Big Stamp" award while "Decrescendo" by Marta Minorowicz and "Paparazzi" by Piotr Bernas receive special mentions at 8th International Documentary Festival Zagreb DOX, that has just came to an end in the capital of Croatia.

Along with the above mentioned "Returns" and "Decrescendo" by Marta Minorowicz precisely five Polish films were selected to the competition of Zagrebian festival. Piotr Bernaś ("Paparazzi"), Paweł Kloc ("Phnom Penh Lullaby") and Piotr Sułkowski ("The Conversation") visited Zagreb to present their films in person to the festivals' audience. There were also two additional films screened in the non competitive sections - "Bon Appetit" by Kuba Maciejko and "The contest" by Jakub Cuman. A strong representation of Poles were visible also on the jury teams - Krzysztof Gierat - the director of Krakow Film Festival lead the work of regional jury while Piotr Złotorowicz - last year's laureate of the "Little Stamp" - was a member of the jury judging films presented in the competition for the young filmmakers.


Again lots was said about how strong is Polish contemporary documentary now. "It was very interesting to overhear the enthusiastic discussions that jury of the international competition ran on which of the Polish documentaries was to be praised the best. In the end it will be hard to forget the poignant silence after the screening of "Returns"" - says Krzysztof Gierat.


Poles dominated the main competition, scoring two of three main awards. What is worth mentioning that there were precisely 29 films of long and short lenght competing for the "Big stamp" award and majority of them was already screened at many international festivals. The jury comprised of Tomislav Radić - the best known Croatian filmmaker, Aleksander Gutman - an outstanding Russian documentary filmmaker and Norwegian Truls Lie - the head of European documentary magazine DOX decided to choose "Returns" by Kadłubowski and award it the "Big Stamp". On giving reasons to their decision they appreciated the concise structure of this 7 minutes long, poignant report shot during the preparation for the reception of the victims that died in the Smoleńsk air catastroph. Another distinguished film was "Paparazzi" shot by Piotr Bernaś, that in one of the final scenes also refers also to the subject of this national tragedy. This portrait of the ruthless paparazzi was awarded last year in Krakow where it received the nomination for EFA. The last but not the least awarded film - "Decrescendo" by Marta Minorowicz - also screened in Krakow last May, received the special mention in the section for the young filmmakers.


150 films were screened in this year's programme of Zagreb DOX that was held between 26th February and 4th March.


More information on festival to be found at its official website

You can read the festival's overview here