08-06-2020

FNE at Krakow Film Festival 2020: Prize Winners

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    Acasa, My Home by Radu Ciorniciuc Acasa, My Home by Radu Ciorniciuc

    KRAKOW: The 60th Krakow Film Festival of documentary, short and animated film was held 31 May - 7 June 2020 and ended with a special online gala.

    The festival awarded its top prize in the International Documentary Competition to Acasa, My Home (Romania, Finland, Germany) directed by Radu Ciorniciuc, about a Roma family that has lived in the swamps of Bucharest’s nature reserve for many years. The Golden Dragon for Best Film in the Short Film Competition went to Just a Guy (Germany) directed by Shoko Hara.

    The 60th Krakow Film Festival was the first Polish festival held entirely online due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Sixty in 'Krakow years' means early youth and that is probably why the festival was so successful in entering the online world, because we know young people these days are just born with this ability. I want to congratulate the winners and I congratulate the festival director Krzysztof Gierat and everybody who worked on the successful organisation of this event in the new form of the pandemic era. Maybe this is not just an episode and we are faced with times when live and real connection with another person will become our highest value," the Director of the Polish Film Institute Radosław Śmigulski said during the gala.

    "This year's selection was extremely good, the jury was perfect as well the festival audience. Only the image of the world that emerges from these films is not fantastic at all, but we need to remember that one of the goals of documentaries is to show us that we don't want to recognise states that we are not comfortable with, ask questions that we don't give answers to. (...) The jury work was a very interesting process, we didn't have real conflicts, of course we had little differences in opinions and finally we found solutions to be almost unanimous. What is interesting is that documentaries in the USA are driven mostly by the character of the story while in Europe we still have very strong additional storytelling through image and impressions. So we had the chance to confront our international background and one of the most interesting things that came out of our discussions is how our cultural conditions shape our preferences and judgements." said Łukasz Żal, Head of the International Documentary Competition.

    The most-awarded film was The Whale From Lorino directed by Maciej Cuski (Poland), winner of the Silver Horn for the director of a film with high artistic value, the Award of the President of the Polish Filmmakers Association for editing for Katarzyna Orzechowska and the Award for the Best Producer of Polish Short and Documentary Films, funded by the National Chamber of Audiovisual Producers, for Mikołaj Pokromski and Aldona Pokromska. "I am very happy to showcase my film once again at the Krakow Film Festival, I knew I would come back here. This is a great honour and great joy, this award goes out to our whole wonderful crew. This film exists thanks to your passion and our wonderful cooperation, thank you" said director Maciej Cuske.

    As Poland allowed the reopening of cinemas on 6 June 2020, the final day of the festival was held both online and in screening rooms in Krakow. 

    International Documentary Competition

    Golden Horn for Best Film
    Acasa, My Home (Romania, Finland, Germany)
    Directed by Radu Ciorniciuc
    Produced by Manifest Film
    Coproduced by HBO Europe, Corso Film, Kino Company
    Supported by the Romanian Film Centre, Romanian Television, Creative Europe, Cinelab, Beep Studio


    Silver Horn for Best Medium-length Documentary
    The Whale from Lorino (Poland)
    Directed by Maciej Cuske
    Produced by Pokromski Studio

    Silver Horn for Best Feature-length Documentary
    Sunless Shadows (Iran, Norway)
    Directed by Mehrdad Oskouei

    Special Mention
    Hey! Teachers! (Russia)
    Directed by Yulia Vishnevets   

    FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Prize
    The Self Portrait (Norway)
    Directed by Margreth Olin, Katja Hogset, Espen Wallin

    International Short Film Competition

    Golden Dragon for Best Film
    Just a Guy (Germany)
    Directed by Shoko Hara

    Silver Dragon for Best Documentary
    Golden Buttons (Russia)
    Directed by Alex Evstigneev

    Silver Dragon for Best Animated Film
    He Can’t Live Without Cosmos (Russia)
    Directed by Konstantin Bronzit

    Silver Dragon for Best Short Fiction Film
    Chubby (Canada)
    Directed by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli

    Special Mention
    Dad You’ve Never Had (Poland)
    Directed by Dominika Łapka
    Produced by Polish Filmmakers Association, Munk Studio, Gdynia Culture Centre, Studio Obrazu, Furia Film

    Special Mention
    Nina (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Hristo Simeonov
    Produced by Screening Emotions

    Jury Award for the Best European Film (Krakow Candidate to the European Film Award 2020 in the short film category)
    Golden Buttons (Russia)
    Directed by Alex Evstigneev

    The International Federation of Film Societies (FICC)  Don Quixote Award
    Innocence (Great Britain)
    Directed by Ben Reid

    Special Mention
    I Need the Handshakes (Poland).
    Directed by Andriej Kuciła
    Produced by Belsat TV

    International DocFilmMusic Competition

    Golden Heynal Best Film
    Pearl of the Desert (India, South Korea)
    Directed by Pushpendra Singh

    Special Mention
    White Riot (Great Britain)
    Directed by Rubika Shah

    Polish National Competition

    Golden Hobby-Horse for Best Film
    An Ordinary Country (Poland)
    Directed by Tomasz Wolski
    Produced by Kijora Film

    Silver Hobby-Horse Best Documentary Film
    Sonny (Poland)
    Directed by Paweł Chorzępa
    Produced by Munk Studio, Bees Film House, TVP, Mandla Media, Silesia Film, Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School

    Silver Hobby-Horse Best Animated Film
    Your Own Bullshit (Poland)
    Directed by Daria Kopiec
    Produced by Munk Studio, Liakon

    Silver Hobby-Horse for Best Fiction Film
    Beyond Is the Day (Poland)
    Directed by Damian Kocur
    Produced by Tomcat, King House

    The Award of the Polish Filmmakers Association for the best film editing
    Katarzyna Orzechowska for The Whale from Lorino


    Maciej Szumowski Award for remarkable social awareness funded by the National Broadcasting Council
    xABo: Father Boniecki (Poland)
    Directed by Aleksandra Potoczek
    Produced by Fundacja Tygodnika Powszechnego


    The Award for the best short and documentary films producer in Poland funded by the Polish Producers Alliance (KIPA)
    Mikołaj Pokromski i Aldona Pokromska from Pokromski Studio for The Whale from Lorino (Poland)

    Best Cinematography Award under the patronage of The Polish Society of Cinematographers funded by Coloroffon Film and Naima Film
    Kamil Małecki for Last Days of Summer (Poland)
    Directed by Klauida Kęska
    Produced by Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School

    Special Mention
    Pollywood (Poland)
    Directed by Paweł Ferdek
    Produced by East Beast, HBO Europe

    Special Mention
    I’m Here (Poland)
    Directed by Julia Orlik
    Produced by Lodz Film School

    Special Mention
    Noamia (Poland)
    Directed by Antonio Galdamez
    Produced by Munk Studio, 34 film!, TVN Film, Coloroffon

    Special Mention
    Julia Kuzka for Last Days of Summer

    Audience Award
    The Self Portrait (Norway)
    Directed by Margreth Olin, Katja Hogset, Espen Wallin

    Student Jury Award
    Sunless Shadows (Iran, Norway)
    Directed by Mehrdad Oskouei

    KFF Industry and Doc Lab Poland Awards
    Animated in Poland

    Animated in Poland Best Pitch Award
    Gonâve (Poland)
    Directed by Róża Duda and Michał Soja
    Produced by Krakow Film Klaster

    Animated in Poland Special Mention
    Slow Light (Poland)
    Directed by Kijek/Adamski
    Produced by Animoon

    DOC LAB POLAND AWARDS 2020 FOR THE PROJECTS
    PRESENTED AT DOCS TO START

    HBO Award
    Debut (Poland)
    Directed by Aleksandra Maciejczyk
    Produced by Marta Gmosińska, Lava Films

    ColorOffOn Award
    Don’t Mess with Gienek (Poland)
    Directed by Grzegorz Szczepaniak
    Produced by Joanna Popowicz WF Anagram

    DOK Leipzig Special Mention – invitation to Co-pro Meetings in Leipzig
    Gypsy Gadji
    Directed by Dasa Raimanova
    Produced by Rafał Sakowski, Story Vehicle

    FIPADOC Special Mention – invitation to pitch the project at FIPADOC Industry Days
    Easy Rider Behind the Iron Curtain (Poland)
    Directed by Andrzej Miękus
    Produced by Olga Bieniek, FilmIcon

    Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation Special Mention
    Nina Gets Married (Poland)
    Directed by Andrzej Szypulski
    Produced by Anna Reichel, Fine Day Promotion

    Polish Docs Pro Special Mention
    When Harmattan Blows
    Directed by Edyta Wróblewska
    Produced by Marta Dużbabel, With Passion Production

    DOC LAB POLAND AWARDS 2020 FOR THE PROJECTS
    PRESENTED AT DOCS TO GO!

    ColorOffOn Award
    Until the Wedding (Poland)
    Directed by Daniel Stopa
    Produced by Małgorzata Staroń, Joanna Tatko, Staron-Film

    Institute of Documentary Film Special Mention – invitation to East Doc Platform
    Workcenter (Poland)
    Directed by Aniela Gabryel
    Produced by Agnieszka Dziedzic, Koi Studio

    Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation Special Mentions

    I Am One Of Them (Poland)
    Directed by Nadim Suleiman
    Produced by Jacek Bławut, Luiza Pietrzak, Palmyra Films

    Lesson of Freedom
    Directed by Tadeusz Chudy, Bartosz Łuniewski
    Produced by Rafał Sakowski, Story Vehicle