INDUSTRY ZONE AT THE 55th KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL - SUMMARY
This year, the events of the Industry Zone - a section of Krakow Film Festival dedicated to film industry professionals - were held from 1st to 6th June. The programme of the Industry Zone included, among others, Krakow Film Market, the presentations Docs to go! and – for the first time Docs to Start, Animated in Poland, , masterclass by Priit Pärn, Focus on Lithuania conference and new section KRK Interactive. Just like last year, Industry Zone was located in MOS (Małopolski Ogród Sztuki).
KRAKOW FILM MARKET
There were about 1500 films submitted to participate in Krakow Film Market, which was organised already for the ninth time. Out of the 1500 productions, after a careful selections, the organisers chose 280 films. As every year, our partners - East Silver, DOK Leipzig, Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival, Swiss Films and Visions du Reel and this time also Lithuanian Film Center - prepared a selection of the most interesting and recommended by them documentary films arranged in special sections.
All qualified films are included in the market catalogue, and during the Festival, they can be watched in the digital video library. This year, the films in the Video Library were watched by 187 accredited guests, and the users of Krakow Film Market include, among others festival programmers: DOK Leipzig (Germany), Visions du Reel - Doc Outlook Market (Switzerland), DocuDays (Ukraine), Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (Czech Republic), Festival dei Popoli (Italy), Plus Camerimage Film Festival (Poland), Sarajevo Film Festival (Bosnia and Herzegovina), International Film Festival Message To Man (Russia), Festival Look&Roll (Switzerland), Trieste Film Festival (Italy), Filmfest Dresden – International Short Film Festival (Germany), IDFF Listapad (Belarus), International Festival of Film and Urbanism 86 (Ukraine), IDFA (The Netherlands), Cork FF (Ireland), Berlinale (Germany), Clermont-Ferrand SFF (France), Tempo FF (Sweden), Tallin Black Nights FF/Sleepwalkers Film festival (Estonia), SXSW (USA), Norwegian Short FF (Norwey), Animeteka (Slovenia), Budapest IDFF (Hungary), Rhode Island IFF (USA), Kyiv International Short FF (Ukraine), Flahertiana IDFF (Russia), Sakhalin IFF „On the Edge” (Russia), distributors and sales agents: Deckert Distribution (Germany), Java Films (France), Autlook Filmsales (Austria), Sideway Films (UK), 10Francs (France), Monoduo Films (Germany), Doc Alliance (Czech Republic), JMT Distribution (Israel), 86PROKAT (Ukraine), Wide House (France), Taskovski Films (UK), MusicFilmWeb (UK), as well as film experts and representatives of television channels: EDN (Denmark), HBO Europe (Hungary), ORF (Austria), Shorts TV (UK), IDF (Czech Republic)
The films included in the video library were watched a total of 2 339 times. Over 114 films were watched more than 10 times. The most frequently watched film is the documentary "Call me Marianna" by Karolina Bielawska, which was watched over 58 times.
The most frequently watched Polish films at Krakow Film Market:
- Call me Marianna, dir. Karolina Bielawska
- Plus Minus or fly’s trip to the East, dir. Bogdan Dziworski
- Amnezja, reż. Jerzy Śladkowski
- Love, love, dir. Grzegorz Zariczny
- Daughter, dir. Tomasz Wolski
- Dybbuk. A tale of wandering souls, dir. Krzysztof Koczyński
- Documentary film, dir. Marcin Podolec
- Snails, dir. Grzegorz Szczepaniak
- Casa Blanca, dir.. Aleksandra Maciuszek
- Paradise on Earth, dir.. Cecylia Malik
The most frequently watched foreign films at Krakow Film Market:
A Long Way From Home, dir. Jay Rosenblatt, documentary, USA A Portrait, dir. Aristotelis Maragkos, animated, Greece 10, dir. Marta Jurkiewicz, documentary, The Netherlands A Tale of Love, Madness and Death, dir. Mijael Bustos Gutiérrez, documentary, Chile The conversation, dir. Anastasia Novikova, documentary, Russia Love Hotel, dir. Philip Cox, documentary, United Kingdom, France Spring, dir. Jérôme Clément Wilz, documentary, France Don't Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll, dir. John Pirozzi, documentary, USA Hotel 22, dir. Elizabeth Lo, documentary, USA Master and Tatyana, dir. Giedrė Žickytė, documentary, LithuaniaThe majority of Polish films, shown in the video library, have been included in Krakow Film Market Online Video Library. This is an online platform, available all year round, which works in a similar way to the traditional film market. The Online Video Library gives the registered film industry professionals access to the latest Polish documentary, animated and short films - from any place in the world and at any time. It is also a perfect opportunity to get acquainted with the achievements of Polish filmmakers for film industry professionals who could not be present at Krakow Film Festival.
In addition to the Film Market, the rich programme of Industry Zone included also discussion panels, individual meetings and conferences.
ANIMATED IN POLAND
For the first time in the framework of Animated in Poland held a student project market, and the third time were presented Polish upcoming animations. The purpose of the student project market was to reinforce the collaboration between producers and the young animators; the event was attended by 5 animation studios and 5 students. Student project market debut was supported by Polish Animation Producers Association. In public presentations and one-to-one meetings 7 representatives of 7 different projects took part, including Wiola Sowa with XOXO - Hugs and Kisses and Paulina Ziółkowska with Oh Mother!. Filmmakers and producers had a chance to meet and talk with experts – representatives of TVP Kultura, Etiuda and Anima FF, z Cork FF, Rhode Island IFF, Shorts TV, Norwegian ISFF, FilmFest Dresden.
DOC LAB POLAND: DOCS TO START, DOCS TO GO!, COPRODUCTION MARKET
The presentation Docs to Go! organised for the fourth time in co-operation with Polish Film Institute, had a much more extensive programme this year thanks to co-operation with the consulting programme for Polish film-makers working on documentary film projects Doc Lab Poland, which was initiated by the recently founded Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation. 12 projects participated in the presentation of films at post-production stage. This presentation was preceded by a preparatory workshop with Irena Taskovski (producer and sales agent from Taskovski Films) and Paul Pauwels (director of European Documentary Network). Projects presented:
White Cube, dir. Wojciech Pustoła
21 x New York, dir. Piotr Stasik
Noislessly, dir. Maciej Mądracki, Michał Mądracki, Gilles Lepore
The End of the Valley of Tears, dir.. Jarosław Wszędybył
When you return, dir. Anna Zamęcka
Hypnotist, dir. Przemysław Kamiński
Trophy, dir. Mateusz Romaszkan, Marta Wójtowicz-Wcisło
At the bottom of the Sea dir. Marcin Sauter
The Dragon Spring, dir. Jarosław Wszędybył
Walking Sprak!, dir. Marcin Kopeć
Jarocin. The Rise of Freedom, dir. Marek Gajczak, Leszek Gnoiński
Land of the Homeless, dir. Marcin Janos Krawczyk
After the presentations, all representatives of the projects met with experts, festival selectors, distributors of, among others, DOK Lepzig, IDFA, Visions du Reel, Berlinale, Festival dei Popoli, SXSW, Autlook Filmsales, Deckert Distribution, Wide House.
For the first time, there were presentations of projects at development and post-production stages. The projects shown within the frames of Docs To Start were developed and consulted within the frames of the workshops DOC LAB POLAND during the first session, which was held in April in Warsaw with the participation of the documentary filmmakers: Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, Paweł Łoziński, Bartek Konopka, Wojciech Staroń, the director of the festival DOK Leipzig – Leena Pasanen, the production manager of HBO Polska – Izabela Łopuch and the PR manager of the New Horizons festival – Marcin Pieńkowski. In Krakow, the workshops before the presentations were supervised by: Leena Pasanen, the director of European Documentary Network- Paul Pauwels, and one of the best-known festival selectors - Rada Sesic. Docs to Start is a presentation of film projects which are currently developed, or the filming of which has just began, and its aim is to obtain business partners, co-producers and to search for funds. The participants will show their projects to producers, representatives of television channels, Regional Film Funds and institutions co-financing film production, but also to distributors and sales agents, who would like to join these projects at the early stage, and to the selectors of pitching platforms at the most important festivals. 9 projects from Poland were shown, and, as a guest, 2 projects from Lithuania.
Divines!, dir. Barbara Białowąs i Katarzyna Trzask
I would like to tell ypu everything, dir. Gregory Zvika Portnoy
Diagnosis, dir. Ewa Podgórska
Where are you Tereso O.? ,dir. Arkadiusz Bartosiak
New Blood, dir. Paweł Ziemilski
Mr Jan and his 40 girls, dir. Jacob Dammas
Such a Little town Batory, dir. Anna Dejczer
The Wind, dir. Michał Bielawski
Ahead of Bill, dir. Paulina Gawęcka
People, Animals and Things, dir. Aistė Žegulytė
El Padre Medico, dir. Vytautas Puidokas
After the presentations, the representatives of the projects had three-hour individual meetings with potential co-production and financing partners and the representatives of television channels.
The best projects of Docs to Start were given awards: DOK.Leipzig award - in the form of an invitation to Coproduction Market (the award went to the project The Wind), EDN - in the form of consulting workshop (the award went to the film Mr Jan and his 40 girls dir. Jacob Dammas), HBO award in the amount of 10 000 PLN (for the project The Divines!), the award of Krakow Film Cluster: contribution in kind in the amount of 10 000 PLN from the production companies associated in the cluster (the award went to the project I would like to tell you everything). The project Diagnosis was also awarded a year-long artistic supervision by Leena Pasanen and Rada Sesic.
The best presentation of Docs to Go! was honoured by the award founded by the Krakow Film Cluster in the form of a voucher to use for the film's post-production in Krakow up to the equivalent of 25 000 PLN. The award went to the project 21x New York.
in addition to both presentation, for the first time DOC LAB POLAND COPRODUCTION FORUM was organized as a networking event for Polish and international producer in order to establish new cooperation and meet the Polish documentary film industry.
FOCUS ON LITHUANIA CONFERENCE
This is the fifth time Krakow Film Festival hosts a guest country and embraces its cinematography with the special screening and an industry event. The special programme of Lithuanian films was accompanied by the Conference "Focus on Lithuania" the participants of which - the representatives of Lithuanian audiovisual industry - introduced the Lithuanian documentary cinematography to Polish audience and professionals. The conference held with the participation of guests representing different branches of documentary filmmaking will investigate current strategies that are prevailing for the documentary industry in Lithuania: Izolda Keidosiute (Television LRT), Rolandas Kvietkauskas (Lithuanian Film Centre), Vilma Levickaitė (Vilnius International Documentary FF), Audrius Stonys (Filmmaker), Asta Tumaitė (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre), Dagne Vildziunaite (Producer).
MASTERCLASS, PRESENTATIONS, SEMINARS, MEETING WITH EXPERTS
This year's Dragon of Dragons winner, Priit Pärn - Estonian animated film-maker and illustrator awarded at many international film festivals - gave a master class about his method of work on animated film, focusing on the process of developing own style in drawing and the issue of stylization of line.
Eric Wójcik, one of the programmer and director of Clermont-Ferrand ISFF presented the project Euro Connection - the marketplace for short film co-production in Europe. It consists of the pitching sessions open to active European producers, TV commissioners, fund representatives, and distributors and individual coproduction meetings. It is held during Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Market in France.
Traditionally, the FilmPro Magazine was the co-organiser of individual meetings with invited industry experts at a week-long FilmPro Industry Meeings. Filmmakers from around the world, visiting Krakow Film Festival, had the opportunity to meet distributors and sales agents, among others, Monoduo Films (Germany), Deckert Distribution (Germany), HBO, Europe (Hungary), 10 Franc (France), JMT Distribution (Israel), Sideway Films (UK), Taskovski Films (UK), Java Films (France), Wide House (France), as well as film festival programmers, among others IDFA (the Netherlands), FILMFEST DRESDEN - ISFF (Germany), 86 International Festival of Film and Urbanism (Ukraine), Cork Film Festival (Ireland), Visions du Reel (Switzerland) and many others.
KRK INTERACTIVE
Magazine FilmPro in the role of co-organizer also joined the new section of the festival dedicated to webdocs and interactive projects. KRK Interactive event opened with a lecture by Professor William Uricchio from MIT, then held 4 presentations of interactive projects (4stars Hotel, The Trip, Love Hotel Xperience, Warsaw Rising 1944) and a panel discussion moderated by Marcin Marczyk (FilmPro). The panel discussion was attended by both webdocs creators and theorists of subject, including director Phil Cox, producer Malwina Antoniszczak, a representative of IDF’s DocTank (supported by Visegrad Fund)- Zdenek Blaha. KRK Interactive was joined by numerous audience, it is one of the few events in Poland dedicated to new forms of audiovisual narrative in the era of digital technology. The section will be developed in future editions of the festival.
Contact: Katarzyna Wilk - Industry Zone co-ordinator - industry@kff.com.pl;www.krakowfilmfestival.pl
Industry Zone Producer: Krakow Film Foundation.
Partners: Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation, Krakow Festival Office, Krakow Film Commission,, FilmPRO, Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna w Krakowie (Krakow Public Library), Małopolski Ogród Sztuki, Krakow Film Cluster.
The project was made thanks to the financial support of: Polish Film Institute, Polish Filmmakers Association, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Kraków Municipality, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
Media patronage: Film PRO, Film &TV Kamera , Polish Docs, Polish Shorts, Polish Animations.
Photos: Tomasz Korczyński