May 11 marks the start of the 69th Cannes International Film Festival. At this year's edition, Polish filmmakers will participate in a number of festival events.
Klaudia Śmieja in Producers on the Move
Polish producer Klaudia Śmieja is among the participants of the prestigious Producers on the Move programme. This year's 17th edition of the programme, organised annually in Cannes by European Film Promotion, will be attended by 20 young producers from across Europe. Participation in this programme is aimed at networking among film professionals with an increasing presence in the European film industry. The programme is supported by Eurimages and Creative Europe.
Klaudia Śmieja served as co-producer on a number of projects, including Anne Fontaine's Innocentes, Adrian Sitaru's Illegitim, Rouzie Hassanova's Radiogram. She was also executive producer on Rams, Sweet Home, Pod Mocnym Aniołem (The Mighty Angel), and Warsaw by Night. She was one of the producers of Bartosz Prokopowicz's Chemia (Chemo). Currently, she is working on a number of international co-productions, including Agnieszka Holland's Gareth Jones, Hafsteinn Sigurdsson's Under the Tree, Janis Nords' Foam at the Mouth, and Sofia Exarchou's Park.
Polish Participants in Producers Network
The 13th edition of Producers Network, a series of industry events organised within the framework of the 69th Cannes International Film Festival, runs from May 12 to May 18, and will be attended by six producers from Poland. The Polish Film Institute is one of the official partners of the event. This sidebar of the Cannes festival is attended annually by about 550 representatives of the film industry from around the world. Producers Network creates opportunities for networking with potential co-production, distribution and promotion partners.
This year's edition of Producers Network will be attended by six producers from Poland, chosen by the Polish Film Institute:
- Magdalena Kamińska (Balapolis)
- Joanna Szymańska (SHIPsBOY)
- Marcin Wierzchosławski (Metro Films)
- Radosław Drabik (Gigant Films)
- Jan Kwieciński (Akson Studio)
- Agnieszka Dziedzic (Koi Studio)
Producers Network will be attended also by such producers from Poland as Radosław Bardes (Orka Postproduction Studio), Paweł Tarasiewicz (Amondo Films) and Anna Waśniewska (TVN).
Dekalog (The Decalogue) in Cannes Classics
Digitally restored television episodes of Dekalog (The Decalogue) — Decalogue 5 (A Short Film About Killing) and Decalogue 6 (A Short Film About Love) will screen in the prestigious Cannes Classics section of the upcoming 69th Cannes International Film Festival. The production of DCP prints of both films was financed by the Polish Film Institute. This year's Cannes film festival will screen the television versions (57 minutes and 58 minutes respectively) of the Decalogue series, made by Krzysztof Kieślowski in 1988 and produced by Telewizja Polska and Studio Filmowe TOR. The films were written by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, and scored by Zbigniew Preisner.
The digital reconstruction of both Decalogue episodes was supervised by their respective cinematographers. The DCP prints of both films were financed by the Polish Film Institute and produced by DI Factory.
The lineup of the 67th Cannes International Film Festival's prestigious Cannes Classics section in 2014 featured the digitally restored version of Krzysztof Kieślowski's Przypadek (Blind Chance; 1981).
Co-Production Meetings - Meeting Dates
Polish producers will participate in a series of industry co-production meetings.
- Meeting with producers from France, organised in cooperation with Centre National de la Cinématographie and Film France — Saturday, May 14 (4:30pm to 6:30pm)
- Meeting with producers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, organised in cooperation with the Czech Film Centre and the Slovakian Film Institute — Sunday, May 15 (10:30am to 12:00pm).
- Meeting with producers from Canada, organised in cooperation with the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) — Monday, May 16 (from 10:30 to 12:30).
The application process for these meetings, run jointly by the Polish Film Institute and Film Commission Poland, closed on April 28.
Polish Short Films at Short Film Corner
Polish films will feature in the lineup of the 13th Short Film Corner in Cannes. The 'Polish Shorts' programme will screen 13 films, including 7 owiec (7 Sheep) by Wiktoria Szymańska, Lokatorki (Tenants) by Klara Kochańska, Czerń (Black) by Tomasz Popakul, and Powrót (The Return) by Damian Kocur. The 'Films by Munk Studio' lineup features five films, including Trzy rozmowy o życiu (Three Conversations on Life) by Julia Staniszewska and Moloch by Szymon Kapeniak.
Further details are available on the Short Film Corner website: www.cannescourtmetrage.com.
Polish Cinema Stand in Cannes
This year the Polish hub in Cannes will be located on the 9th floor of Grand Hotel, La Croisette 45. This will serve as the venue for meeting of representatives of the Polish Film Institute, producers and other industry members with representatives of the international film industry, festival programmers, sales agents, distributors, and foreign press. The Polish Film Institute and Film Commission Poland stand is organised in partnership with the Kraków Film Commission, the Wroclaw Film Commission, the Łódź Film Commission, the Warsaw Mazovia Film Commission, the City of Gdańsk, TVP, Opus Film, Akson Studio, New Europe Film Sales, Munk Studio, and DI Factory.
Further details about the 69th Cannes International Film Festival are available at: www.festival-cannes.com.
Marta Sikorska
