63rd KFF Films

dir. Hasmik Movsisyan

23′fab2022

‘The most difficult and the most important thing in life is to make a decision. The present depends on it and, what is more, it will always influence the future’, is what a father tells a teenage boy. When the first bombs fall, he will be faced with the choices determining the life of his family, friends, some completely unknown people and a turtle.

dir. Joanna Quinn

16′anim2021

In ‘Affairs of the Art’ everyone seems to be a freak of a kind. The narrator thinks she is the only normal person in her crazy family. Is that really true? The animation uses black humour to show, in an exaggerated way, our obsessions and persistent pursuit of our dreams.

dir. Ricardo Íscar

93′dok2022

For the protagonist, breathing therapy and anti-stress techniques become a starting point for a life change. He enters the world of freediving, i.e. diving while breadth-holding. Risking his life, he starts practicing holding his breath for increasingly longer periods of time. Where is the boundary of his capabilities?

dir. Janusz Morgenstern

9′fab1961

Janusz Morgenstern's short film touches on a rarely addressed and tabooed theme from World War II - the extermination of Jewish children.

dir. Asif Kapadia

127′dok2015

dir. Lea Glob

116′dok2022

Over the years, Lea Glob kept filming the charismatic artist Apolonia Sokol. The result is a fascinating portrait, spanning 13 years, of a young woman trying to find her place in the art world.

dir. Steve James

101′dok2022

Ted Hall did not partake in the joy of other scientists participating in the Manhattan Project. He was not delighted to see the artificial Sun burning over the New Mexican desert. He was concerned about the American monopoly on such a powerful weapon as a nuclear bomb. He thought the world would be safer if he shared what he knew with Russians. He was a fool, madman and enemy of the state. People spoke about him. His daughter refers to him as a designer of a better world. For Hall, compassion for humanity signified an ethically ambiguous act of rebellion.

dir. Jagoda Szelc

16′dok2015

The film was shot during a 40 min hectic interview in which the filmmakers are looking for a safe place to talk. Crossing the city they talk to a young man who fought for the pro-russian armed forces in the Dombass conflict. They learn a few simple facts about his life and how he become who he is.

dir. Piotr Krzysztof Kamiński

20′fab2023

Ukraine, 2022. Russian soldiers are committing war crimes on the civilian population. The occupied areas are cut off from the rest of the country and the residents face death if they try to escape. Volunteers, risking their lives, provide them with food supplies. One of them is Dmytro.

dir. Katarzyna Kościelak

91′dok2013

How well, if at all, did we know Jacek Kaczmarski, an outstanding Polish poet and singer? The documentary makes an attempt to draw a complex, multi-dimensional portrait of a singer-songwriter which reveals a tragic figure torn between the passion of creation, perfectionism and his own weaknesses. It also tries to confront the myth of the bard of the Solidarity movement, the moniker that tired the charismatic author of ‘Walls’, a protest song, and became a reason for later alienation.

dir. Mateusz Pietrak

30′dok2023

‘I have decided to die this year,’ - jokes Basia, who does not look like someone who turned 80. She fulfils herself in her role of a grandmother, mother and sister as well as on stage. The camera captures her preparations to the performance of her life.

dir. Andrzej Fidyk

59′dok1998

Mr. Battu, the film-loving owner of a travelling cinema, and his 80-year-old assistant Mama embark on another journey to show films in areas of India where there are no cinemas, no television, no electricity.

dir. Fábio Zilberman Iuchno

27′dok2022

Michal has been bed-ridden for over three years. She suffers from an uncurable disease which prevents her from normal functioning. Between hospital stays, the woman is also a wife and mother of two children. Her son is just 7 and although he does not understand much, he becomes her most important companion.

dir. Julian Tałandziewicz

25′fab2023

Tomek is a psychotherapist who requires help himself. His professional and personal life is in disarray and he needs to put it together again from scratch. His frustration is intensified by renovation work next door, an excessively difficult climbing route and an exceptionally well-informed patient - a stand-up comedian who approaches him with a surprising request.

dir. Maria Pisarek

33′dok2022

His name must be mentioned in any conversation about animated film. Jerzy Kucia is a film director, pedagogue and a total artist. He has received numerous international awards including the Dragon of Dragons for his contribution to the development of international animation.

dir. Vlad Petri

71′dok2023

Illustrated with fascinating archival footage, the correspondence between two friends who studied in Bucharest in the late 1970s serves as an excuse to go on a unique journey in time. What connects Iran in a revolutionary frenzy and socialist Romania where the society’s malaise is concealed by enthusiastic propaganda? In both countries, any hopes for a better future vanish in the shadow of ideological dogmas, always guarded by very much alike sad men in dark coats.

dir. Michał Toczek

26′fab2023

Together with his family, Wiktor moves into a recently bought flat, which turns out to have belonged to Lech Wałęsa, an ordinary electrician who became Poland’s president many years ago. When his wife learns about it, she comes up with a crazy idea. Suspended between a drama and a comedy, this perverse story shows what it means to ‘be someone’ or just yourself.

dir. Charlotte De Cort

15′dok2022

Dancing is everything for her. At the young age of 14, Mali leaves her family home and moves to a bigger city to live with her older sister and be closer to her dream school. The teenage girl is ready to make sacrifices but her body does not always want to follow her dreams.

dir. Mykola Shpykovskyi

44′dok1929

Not well-known Ukrainian silent film, resplendent in its avant-garde manner of production. Shot for propaganda purposes, it was formally ahead of its time, turning an agricultural tale into an epic poem.

dir. Gunhild Westhagen Magnor

70′dok2022

Balder and Haakon arrived at our planet just two years ago. They find it difficult to move around it. The social norms applied are not clear for them and the place has been beset by waves of emotions which are hard to express. These two creatures have a long way to go. A Norwegian documentarian spent one year observing them.

dir. Łukasz Iwanicz

16′dok2023

How much do you need to be happy? Three different characters from three different communities share their experiences of sadness, loss and unfulfillment. A poignant story about searching for sense when one thinks that nothing more will happen in one’s life.

dir. Vytautas Katkus

15′fab2022

A recently retired father invites his son to help him with the cherry picking in the garden. The father is in no hurry to finish the cherry job though, as he tries to catch up with his son. The cherries remain in the background. EFA nominee at the Cannes Film Festival.

dir. Oleksiy Radynski

20′dok2023

In 1986 there was an enormous nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. Another one could have happened in 2022 when Russian soldiers entered the site of the power plant. Their presence was recorded by an anonymous cameraman. The memories became revived.

dir. Liat Glick

19′fab2022

Life is made of repeatable stories, accounts and questions. Birth and death, joy and sickness, youth and old age. In ‘Clinging’, Liat Glick focuses the camera on herself to tell a tender story about a trio made of a mature 47-year-old daughter, her mother and beloved aging dog.

dir. Hana Umeda

18′fab2022

Watch VR from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm. "Close" is an attempt to confront the ambiguous position of contemporary traditional Japanese jiutamai dance. By creating an effect of intimate intimacy and giving the dancer / dance protagonist a voice, Hana Umeda attempts to reclaim both for herself and for the entire multi-generational community of jiutamai dancers, agency and subjectivity.

dir. Brett Morgen

132′dok2015

On 5 April 1994 the leader of Nirvana joined the ‘27 Club’, i.e. the group of rock artists who lived too fast and died too young. The film directors, who first reached mementoes left by Cobain, try to confront his dark legend. The executive producer is the musician’s daughter who was just 18 months old when her father committed suicide. The film was also approved by the widow after the artist, Courtney Love, who has been hostile to this kind of projects so far.

dir. Sławomir Shuty

21′fab2022

Kaja, a young and promising artist, is stuck in a creativity crisis. Overwhelmed by the pressure of the art market, with no support of her faithless partner, she organises a diabolic performance. A macabre jibe at the world of art brings her great success. Kaja overcomes her helplessness and confirms her artistic position.

dir. Paweł Szarzyński

10′fab2021

Watch VR from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm. "Cosmogonic" is the first VR experience inspired by the Polish science-fiction writer Stanisław Lem—known for investigating humanity and social justice through visions of faraway planets and mechanical beings.

dir. Yaser Talebi

25′dok2022

A father and daughter in a conservative Iranian town. She is expected to be obedient, take care of the aging man, give up her university plans in exchange for a quick marriage, while a new wife is being sought for him. Sarah is not very fond of the idea as no one can replace her late mom.

dir. Kazimierz Karabasz

12′dok1955

Rhythmic and indicative documentary that shows how every day 150 000 people hurry to work by public transport from their homes in the suburbs of Warsaw, Poland in the fifties.

dir. Sönje Storm

85′dok2022

A story of birds, butterflies, fungi, moss and people. All these creatures, both dead and alive, were photographed by Jürgen F. Mahrt (1882–1940) with the same degree of attention. The former were captured for eternity, while the latter were depicted motionless but as if in a death-defying manner. The photographer was possessed by an obsession to act against the chaos of wars and the disaster of an abruptly changing landscape.

dir. Krzysztof Grudziński

45′fab2020

Watch VR from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm. "Dead City" is a narrative experience with elements of singing, contemporary and operatic music, based on the eponymous poetic libretto by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

dir. Sławomir Rogowski, Stanisław Zawiśliński

62′dok2023

A multi-dimensional portrait of one of the most distinctive artists in the history of Polish cinematography. Wojciech Jerzy Has always hovered over the line where the mainstream met the avant-garde and his biography was marked by moments of artistic triumphs and personal tragedies.

dir. Jon Bang Carlsen

76′dok2022

‘A documentary fantasy played out by real people,’ – is how the director described his film bordering on observation and creation, cinema and theatre. The protagonists are five secondary school students from a town in Arizona and the main theme involves feelings, traumas and dreams of these young people.

dir.

16′anim1972

dir. Paweł Hejbudzki

78′dok2022

The world of kid karting is fascinating and at the same time raises many questions. This little-known extreme sport is governed by the same rules as competitions for adults – what matters is rivalry, a place on the podium and regular training. Not all children are ready for such a sacrifice.

dir. Lucija Mrzljak, Morten Tšinakov

16′anim2022

In the sea of crying funeral attendees and pouring rain, a woman who is bidding farewell to her husband seems unmoved. Only after successive glasses of wine when memories return, does she burst out with emotions and is provoked to demonstrate surprising behaviour. The absurd situation is intensified by a visit of a mysterious woodpecker.

dir. Sascha Just

96′dok2022

The Marsalis clan is considered the ‘first jazz family’. It was headed by legendary Ellis, who died of Covid three years ago. Brace yourself for a musical and biographical journey that starts in New Orleans and runs through a large part of the history of jazz music as well as America.

dir. Natxo Leuza

80′dok2022

Natxo Leuza’s music documentary can be best described using the words transformation, counterculture and music. The director allows the eponymous protagonist to take the audience on a journey through the underground world of the political transformation era in Spain. One of its symbols was El Drogas, the icon of the 1980s music counterculture.

dir. Anna Urbańczyk

52′dok2023

Natalka is a bright nine-year old narrator of this Silesian story. She lives with her family in the little village of Nieboczowy, which in fact disappeared in 2020 – all the residents were resettled as the area was to be used as a construction site for a retention reservoir.

dir. Małgorzata Kozera

72′dok2023

When she was 16, Agata heard that she would most likely bleed herself to death within 2 years. On that day she was born anew. After 20 years and over 30 face surgeries, she lives in London and works as an artist who turned her struggle with a lethal disease into art.

dir. Małgorzata Kozera

72′dok2023

When she was 16, Agata heard that she would most likely bleed herself to death within 2 years. On that day she was born anew. After 20 years and over 30 face surgeries, she lives in London and works as an artist who turned her struggle with a lethal disease into art.

dir. Yifan Sun

25′dok2019

Lola was adopted into a Belgian family eleven years ago when she was an infant. Over the years, she has been imagining the reunion with her birth family in China. This summer, her dream finally comes true. When Lola's two families finally meet for the first time, how will they spend the time together? What will Lola's birth parents tell her?

dir. Bartosz Paduch

77′dok2023

It is hard to imagine Polish science fiction without Maciej Parowski. He was the editor-in-chief of the Polish iconic monthly Fantastyka who stood behind the success of several generations of authors. People from across Poland were sending their texts to him. If it had not been for him, no one knows what would have happened to "The Witcher" or "The Cathedral", an Oscar-winning film by Tomasz Bagiński.

dir. Michael Dudok de Wit

9′anim2000

A bike leaning against a tree, the memory of the last hug and the image of a boat sailing into the expanse of a lake are everything that a little girl was left with after her father, who he disappeared without a trace one day. The daughter continues to return to the lake hoping to hug her father again one day. Oscar-winning animation about longing and the passing of time.

dir. Pau Faus

74′dok2023

The world of ‘Fauna’ is a reality of contrasts and contradictions. In Barcelona’s suburbs, two apparently unrelated stories are taking place – one in nature, while the other one – behind closed doors of a scientific lab. Can these worlds remain independent of each other?

dir. Nadiya Rodkina

22′dok2022

The political situation in Belarus forced Dima to flee the country. Fearing for his loved ones, he constantly maintains contact with those who had to stay there. Despite his various efforts to start a new life in Poland, he keeps fighting the shadow of his pas

dir. Marek Głuszczak

27′fab2023

A mother, activist daughter and a free cow meet somewhere in the forest. The latter decided, together with its herd, to start a new life on its own account. But now, cows are to be caught and sentenced to death. Sara refuses to accept it. The girl escapes from home to defend the herd. Her mother Alicia follows the daughter.

dir. Una Celma

72′dok2022

A poignant and painfully honest film about the generation of 60-year-old Latvian women, friends from secondary school born in the era of communism. Contrasting sentimental archival footage with the interviews conducted over the years, the documentary author reveals the divide between the official image of gender equality and the crude reality.

dir. Clara Kleininger-Wanik

76′dok2022

When a new law banning circus shows featuring animals enters into force, Adi and Mioara, animal trainers in a Bucharest circus, must come up with an idea of how to make their shows more attractive so that they do not lose their audience. A world-famous circus director arrives at Romania from as far as Las Vegas in order to help.