Competitions

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

It collects the most moving and shocking stories that concern current social and political problems around the world, but they are also not indifferent to the fate of the individual.

The films of the international documentary competition at the 61st Krakow Film Festival
  • “No Hero at All,” dir. Michał Kawecki, Poland, 2021
  • “The Red Ring,” dir. Joonas Berghäll, Finland, 2021
  • “Far Eastern Golgotha” dir. Julia Sergina, Russia 2021
  • “North by Current,” dir. Angelo Madsen Minax, the USA, 2021
  • “Children of the Enemy,” dir. Gorki Glaser-Müller, Sweden, 2021
  • “The Wheel,” dir. Nomin Lkhagvasuren, Mongolia, 2020
  • “Blue Code of Silence,” dir. Magnus Skatvold, Gregory Mallozzi, Norway, 2020
  • “Courage”, dir. Aliaksei Paluyan, 90’, Germany, Belarus 2021
  • “Writing with Fire,” dir. Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh, India, 2021
  • “The Man Who Paints Water Drops,” dir. Oan Kim, Brigitte Bouillot, France, South Korea, 2020
  • “Radiograph of a Family,” dir. Firouzeh Khosrovani, Norway, Iran, Switzerland, 2020
  • “Walk with Angels,” dir. Tomasz Wysokiński, Poland, 2021
  • “Lost Boys,” dir. Joonas Neuvonen, Sadri Cetinkaya, Finland, 2020
  • “Dad Shot Them,” dir. Per Anders Rudelius, Sweden, 2020
  • “Inside the Red Brick Wall,” dir. Hong Kong Documentary Filmmaker, Hong Kong, 2020
  • “Lobster Soup”, dir. Pepe Andreu, Rafá Moles, Spain / Iceland / Lithuania 2020
  • “Life of Ivanna,” dir. Renato Borrayo Serrano, Russia, Norway, Finland, Estonia, 2021

 

NATIONAL COMPETITION

The oldest competition, which has aroused great emotions from the very beginning. Films that compete in it include Polish documentary films (short, medium and full-length), animated and feature films (up to 30 minutes).

The national competition
The documentary films:
  • “1970,” dir. Tomasz Wolski, 70’, 2021
  • “No Hero At All,” dir. Michał Kawecki, 75’, 2021
  • “Borderland,” dir. Andreas Voigt, 97’, 2020
  • “High Maintenance – The Life and Work of Dani Karavan,” dir. Barak Heymann, 71’, 2020
  • “One More Day,” dir. Monika Meleń, 50’, 2020
  • “Balcony Concert,” dir. Diana Kadłubowska, Krzysztof Kadłubowski, 15’, 2021
  • “Light Years,” dir. Monika Proba, 27’, 2021
  • “@Miriamfrompoland,” dir. Piotr Szczepański, 77’, 2021
  • “Walls,” dir. Andrei Kutsila, 17’, 2020
  • “Nature Is My Homeland,” dir. Marek Gajczak, 54’, 2021
  • “Invincible,” dir. Tom Koliński, 83’, 2021
  • “Last Chance,” dir. Wiktoria Niewiadomska, 25’, 2021
  • “Polański, Horowitz. Hometown,” dir. Mateusz Kudła, Anna Kokoszka-Romer, 75′, 2021
  • “Tanaka’s Diary,” dir. Filip Jacobson, 22’, 2021
  • “Cigarettes,” dir. Maja Markowska, 18’, 2020
  • “Solar Voyage,” dir. Adam Żądło, 18’, 2021
  • “Walk With Angels,” dir. Tomasz Wysokiński, 84’, 2021
  • “A Little Bit of Paradise,” dir. Andrzej Cichocki, 19’, 2020
  • “Only the Wind,” dir. Zofia Kowalewska, 58’, 2021
  • “The Soil,” dir. Zuzanna Solakiewicz, 75’, 2021
The animated films:
  • “98 kg,” dir. Izabela Plucińska, 5’, 2021
  • “Prince in a Pastry Shop,” dir. Katarzyna Agopsowicz, 16’, 2020
  • “Love in Times of Coal-Based Economy,” dir. Tomasz Siwiński, 12’, 2021
  • “The Place,” dir. Sylwia Zawiła, 7’, 2020
  • “On Time,” dir. Zbigniew Czapla, 5’, 2021
  • “Dog’s Field,” dir. Michalina Musialik, 12’, 2020
  • “Turbo Love,”  dir. Alicja Jasina, 7’, 2021
  • “The Visit,” dir. Mateusz Jarmulski, 7’, 2021
  • “Too Late,” dir. Kinga Syrek, 16’, 2021
  • “Green,” dir. Karolina Kajetanowicz, 8’, 2021
The short feature films: 
  • “Just for a While,” dir. Zuzanna Gorczycka, 19’, 2021
  • “My Son Locks Himself In the Bathroom,” dir. Kuba Januszewski, 30’, 2021
  • “First Last Summer,” dir. Nastazja Gonera, 24’, 2020
  • “The Case of Jan Pampuch,” dir. Mikołaj Piszczan, 18’, 2020
  • “Headfish,” dir. Jakub Prysak, 24’, 2021
  • “The Last Room On the Left,” dir. Adrian Apanel, 30’, 2021

 

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION

It presents short documentaries, feature films and animations (up to 30 min) of artists from the farthest corners of the world, which makes it the most diverse and intriguing competition section of the festival.

The films qualified for the international short competition
SHORT ANIMATED FILMS
  • “Clara with a Mustache,” dir. Ilir Blakcori, 10 min., Kosovo, 2021
  • “The Hangman at Home,” dir. Michelle Kranot, Uri Kranot, 14 min., Denmark, France, Canada, 2021 
  • “Affairs of the Art,” dir. Joanna Quinn, 16 min., Great Britain, Canada, 2021
  • “Mother,” dir. Subarna Das, 5 min., India, 2020
  • “Have a Nice Dog!,” dir. Jalal Maghout, 13 min., Germany, Syria, 2020
  • “Love in Times of Coal-Based Economy,” dir. Tomasz Siwiński, 12 min., Poland, Croatia, 2021 
  • “On Time,” dir. Zbigniew Czapla, 5 min., Poland, 2021 
  • “The Last Matador,” dir. Katariina Lillqvist, 7 min., Finland, 2020 
  • “Comeback,” dir. Vladimir Leschiov, 8 min., Latvia, Lithuania, 2021
  • “Salvia at Nine,” dir. Nari Jang, 7 min., South Korea, 2020  
  • “Too Late,” dir. Kinga Syrek, 16 min., Poland, 2021 
  • “Bad Mood,” dir. Loris Giuseppe Nese, 12 min., Italy, 2020 
  • “Hide,” dir. Daniel Gray, 11 min., Hungary, France, Canada, 2020
SHORT FEATURE FILMS
  • “Asbestos,” dir. Javier Marco, 18 min., Spain, 2020
  • “Like the Ones I Used to Know,” dir. Annie St-Pierre, 18 min., Canada, 2021 
  • “Branka,” dir. Ákos K Kovács, 24 min., Hungary, Serbia, 2021 
  • “Rough,” dir. Declan Lawn, Adam Patterson, 13 min., Ireland, 2020
  • “Come Here,” dir. Marieke Elzerman, 26 min., Belgium, 2020 
  • “Georgia,” dir. Jayil Pak, 30 min., South Korea, the USA, 2020 
  • “You Are Here,” dir. Orkhan Abulov, 24 min., Russia, 2020 
  • “Homecoming,” dir. Raffi Movsisyan, 19 min., Armenia, 2020 
  • “The Last Room On the Left,” dir. Adrian Apanel, 30 min., Poland, 2021
  • “In the Dark,” dir. Mehdi Zarei, 12 min., Iran, 2020 
  • “The Danger in Front,” dir. Alexis Chartrand, 17 min., Canada, 2020

SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILMS

  • “Locked Out,” dir. Julien Goudichaud, 24 min., France, 2020 
  • “God Was Here!”, dir. Raluca Lupascu, 27 min., the Netherlands, 2020
  • “Joe Buffalo,” dir. Amar Chebib, 16 min., Canada, 2020
  • “When We Were Bullies,” dir. Jay Rosenblatt, 30 min., the USA, Germany, 2021 
  • “Mutha & The Death of Ham-ma Fuku,” dir. Daniel Suberviola, 26 min., Spain, 2020
  • “Mao’s Ice Cream,” dir. Brindusa Nastasa, Jialu Zhang, Annabella Stieren, 29 min., China, Germany, the Netherlands, 2020
  • “My Uncle Tudor,” dir. Olga Lucovnicova, 20 min., Belgium, Moldova, 2021 
  • “Khoniyar’s Children,” dir.  Arman Gholipour Dashtaki, 30 min., Iran, 2020
  • “Solar Voyage,” dir. Adam Żądło, 18 min., Poland, 2021
  • “Mom’s Hair,” dir. Alexey Evstigneev, 8 min., Russia, 2021
  • “Testimony of Ana,” dir. Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda, 24 min., India, the USA, 2020 
  • “Snowy,” dir. Kaitlyn Schwalje, 12 min., the USA, 2020

 

Non-competing series:

SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE

This section presents films produced on our continent, but showcasing the less known and explored faces of Europe.

Somewhere in Europe
  • “Fellinopolis”, reż. Silvia Giulietti, 79’, Italy, 2020
  • “Prince of Dreams”, reż. Jessica Nettelbladt, 90’, Switzerland, Dennmark 2021
  • “Who’s Afraid of Alice Miller?”, reż. Daniel Howald, 101, Switzerland 2020
  • “The Filmmaker’s House”, reż. Marc Isaacs, 75’, Great Britain 2020 

 

WORLD STORIES

In this series we are moving into a variety of less and more known corners of our globe, following interesting stories, expressive characters and still current themes, told by great directors but also by debutants.

World stories
  • “Life in a Day 2020” dir. Kevin Macdonald, Great Britain, 2021
  • “Room without a View” dir. Roser Corella, Austria, Germany, 2020
  • “Shtetlers” dir. Katya Ustinova, USA, Russia, 2020
  • “Marry Me However” dir. Mordechai Vardi, Israel, 2020
  • “Buromsky Island” dir. Olga Stefanova, Russia, 2020

 

DRAGON OF DRAGONS RETROSPECTIVE

A section presenting the achievements of the Dragon of Dargons Award recipient, awarded to documentary and animated filmmakers for their unique contribution to the development of world cinematography.  At the 61st Krakow Film Festival, on the 1st of June, the award will be given to

Piotr Dumała – the international master of animated film and the creator of original film techniques.
  • “Little Black Riding Hood”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 1983
  • “Dr Charakter presents’’, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 2010
  • “Dr Charakter presents II”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 2012
  • “Ederly”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 2015
  • “Franz Kafka”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 1991
  • “Hippos”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 2014
  • “Lullaby”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 2012
  • “The Gentle One”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland , 1985
  • “The Forest”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 2009
  • “Flying Hair”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 1984
  • “Lycanthropy”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 1981
  • “Nervous Life 1”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 1992
  • “Nervous Life 2”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 1994
  • “A Nervous Life of Cosmos”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 1986
  • “The Last Supper”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 2019
  • “The Last Supper”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 1987
  • “Fight, Love and Work”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 2009
  • “Freedom of the Leg”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 1988
  • “Crime and Punishment”, dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland, 2000

 

PANORAMA OF THE POLISH DOCUMENTARY FILM

A careful selection of the most interesting Polish documentaries that have already noted their first significant successes and those for whom the premiere at the festival may be a pass to an international career.

The Panorama of the polish documentary film
  • “Fury,” dir. Krzysztof Kasior, 85’, 2021
  • “Common Place,” dir. Karolina Anna Kuta, Patrycja Skorupska, 27’, 2021
  • “The Disappearance of Johanna Langefeld,” dir. Władysław Jurkow, Gerburg Rohde-Dahl, 53’, 2020
  • “An Actress in Wonderland,” dir. Maciej Kowalewski, Piotr Konstantinow, 83’, 2021
  • “Universes,” dir. Dorota Roś, 16’, 2021
  • “Over the River,” dir. Andrei Kutsila, 43’, 2021
  • “It’s a very pretty picture,” dir. Jakub Ciosiński, 30’, 2020
  • “In a knot,” dir. Aleksandra Sykulak, 32’, 2021

 

DOCS+SCIENCE

Docs+Science is one of the youngest sections of the Krakow Film Festival. Each year it follows film expressions focusing on fascinating natural phenomena and the biggest scientific discoveries, follows the greatest minds of the era, and takes a closer look at complicated relations between people and technology and nature.

  • “Green Bank Pastoral”, dir. Federico Urdaneta, Great Britain, Columbia, USA, 2020
  • “The Mushroom Speaks”, dir. Marion Neumann, Switzerland, 2021
  • The World of Thinking, dir. Misha Wessel, Thomas Blom, Netherlands, 2019
  • The Wakeful Sleeper, dir. Boris Van der Avoort, Belgium, 2020
  • “Lost in Face”, dir. Valentin Riedl, Germany, 2020
  • “MS”, dir. Suzanne Raes, Holland, 2019

 

KIDS&YOUTH 

During the festival, we also planned a space for the youngest audience. Kids & Youth is a film program initiated in 2005 for children and youth prepared jointly with foreign partners. The series includes shows for primary school, junior high and high school students as well as family film screenings for individual viewers.

 

SHORTS MATTER!

A review of short films nominated for the European Film Awards prepared by the European Film Academy and presented at film festivals and retrospectives throughout Europe and abroad.

  • “Genius Loci”, dir. Adrien Mérigeau, France, 2019
  • “People on Saturday”, dir. Jonas Ulrich, Switzerland, 2020
  • “The Best City Is No City at All”, dir. Christoph Schwarz, Austria, 2019
  • “Invisible Hero”, dir. Cristèle Alves Meira, Portugal, France, 2019
  • “Memorable”, dir. Bruno Collet, France, 2019
  • “Nina”, dir. Hristo Simeonov, Bulgaria, 2019
  • “The Shift”, dir. Laura Carreira, Portugal, Great Britain, 2020
  • “Things that Happen in the Bathroom”, dir. Edward Hancox, Great Britain, USA, 2018
  • “Sun Dog”, dir. Dorian Jespers, Belgium, Russia, 2020
  • “It Wasn’t the Right Mountain, Mohammad”, dir. Mili Pecherer, France, 2019
  • “All Cats Are Grey in the Dark”, dir. Lasse Linder, Switzerland, 2019
  • “Uncle Thomas, Accounting for the Days”, dir. Regina Pessoa, Portugal, Canada, France, 2019
  • “The Golden Buttons”, dir. Alex Evstigneev, Russia, 2020

 

Focus on Norway

The main protagonist of this retrospective is the cinematography from a chosen country. A trade conference with filmmakers and representatives of film institutions is also organized in addition to presenting the latest film achievements.

The films in the programme Focus on Norway
  • “No Man Is an Island,” dir. Ali Parandian, FF. 28’ Norway 2017
  • “Virgins4lyfe,” dir. Thea Hvistendahl, FF. 17’,  Norway 2018
  • “Water Bears,” dir. Yenni Lee, FF. 10’, Norway 2017
  • “Farce,” dir. Robin Jensen, AF. 11’ Norway 2019
  • “Gunda,” dir. Victor Kossakovsky, doc. 93’ Norway, the USA 2020
  • “The Committee,” dir. Gunhild Enger, Jenni Toivoniemi, FF. 13’, Norway, Sweden, Finland 2016
  • “Mother Didn’t Know,” dir. Anita Killi, AF. 12’, Norway 2020
  • “Generation Utøya,” dir. Aslaug Holm, Sigve Endresen, doc. 101’, Norway 2021
  • “Where Man Returns,” dir. Egil Håskjold-Larsen, doc. 71’ Norway 2019
  • “Descent into the Maelstrom,” dir. Jan Vardøen, doc. 66’  Norway 2019
  • “War of Art,” dir. Tommy Gulliksen, doc. 102’ Norway, Germany 2020
  • “Exit,” dir. Karen Winther, doc. 85’ Norway, Germany, Sweden 2018

 

SOUND OF MUSIC

The ever-popular screenings of open-air music films at the foot of Wawel Castel. The films showcased at the Cinema Pod Wawelem, are filled with rhythm and sounds that are the essence of life: musical classics, biographies of artists and bands, genre stories.

  • “Agony”, dir. Tomasz Knittel, Poland, 2020
  • “What I’ve Never Lost”, dir. Marina Thomé, Brazil, 2021
  • “Faith and Branko”, dir. Catherine Harte, Serbia, 2020
  • “Hands of God”, dir. Barna László, Hungary, 2020

 

FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS 

The series includes films already appreciated and awarded at prestigious documentary and short film festivals around the world. It is a great opportunity to catch up and see the most recognized titles of the year.

  • “Acasa, My Home”, dir. Radu Ciorniciuc, Romania, Finland, Germany, 2020
  • “The Self Portrait”, dir. Margreth Olin, Katja Hogset, Espen Wallin, Norway, 2020
  • “Sunless Shadows”, dir. Mehrdad Oskouei, Iran, Norway, 2019
  • “Leaving Paradise”, dir. Ofer Freiman, Israel, 2021
  • “Lift Like a Girl”, dir. Mayye Zayed, Egipt, Germany, Denmark, 2020