WEEKEND AWARDS FOR POLES

Last weekend brought Polish short films more awards. Polish films won awards at festivals in Armenia, Brazil and Italy.

As many as two awards went last weekend to the film by Vahram Mkhitaryan, called "Milky Brother" at the Golden Apricot Festival in Yerevan. It was the first screening abroad of the film, which had its première in May, and was also awarded at the 54th Krakow Film Festival.  This Polish-Armenian coproduction was given the Golden Apricot for the Best Short Film in the Armenian film competition as well as the Best Script Award. Golden Apricot is the largest festival in Armenia. This year, its 11th edition was held.

"Milky Brother" is a story of a little boy called Seto, who lives in a small village in Armenia. Soon, a new member of the family is to be born. Seto dreams about a brother, but the newborn baby dies. Instead of a little brother, a lamb appears in the boy's life. The film was produced within the frames of the "30 minutes" of Munk Studio, operating within the frames of Polish Filmmakers Association. Wajda Studio is the film's co-producer.  Krakow Film Foundation supports the promotion of "Milky Brother" at festivals. 

Apart from "Milky Brother", two other Polish films were shown in Yerevan: "Games" by Maciej Marczewski and "Brother Dog" by Maria Zbąska.

Another award-winner of the weekend was the film by Katarzyna Klimkiewicz and Dominga Sotomayor "The Island".  The film, which screened at the Brazilian women's film festival FEMINA in Rio de Janeiro, was given the Best Director award in the international competition. "The Island" is an intimate portrait of a family which meets in a summer cottage on an island. The film, co-produced by Denmark, Chile and Poland, enjoys huge popularity at festivals, and has already won awards at the festivals in Rotterdam and Huesca to name a few.

In the same competition, two other Polish films were shown: animated "To Thy Heart" by Ewa Borysewicz and "Ab ovo" by Anita Kwiatkowska-Naqvi.  This year, the festival was held for the eleventh time. 

The last winner of the weekend is Bartek Ignaciuk and his 30-minute fiction film "The Hamster". The film received the invitation to the Italian festival Euganea. This year the festival celebrated its thirteenth edition.  As every year, the films were screened in four competition categories, within the frames of which the best documentaries, animations, short fiction films and Italian documentaries which addressed the subject of the Euganea area were awarded. This is the first special mention abroad for the film "The Hamster," which was made within the frames of the "30 minutes" programme by Munk Studio, operating within the frames of Polish Filmmakers Association. The film was coproduced by Film Proudkcja while its festival distribution is supported by the Krakow Film Foundation. The film by Ignaciuk is a grotesque portrait of a small community whose life is shaken by a sudden disappearance of a hamster called Przemek.

Two other films were screened as a part of the very same competition –  “The Mother” by Łukasz Ostalski and “Brother dog” by Maria Zbąska.

You can read more about the festivals on the official websites of the festivals Golden Apricot, Femina and Euganea IFF.