Films awarded at the 63rd Krakow Film Festival

21 films
Films awarded at the 63nd Krakow Film Festival

  • Basia: Three Short Stories (Trzy opowiadania o Basi)

    dir. Mateusz Pietrak
    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.

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    film still Basia: Three Short Stories
    Awards:Golden Hobby-Horse / Special Award
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Be Somebody (Być kimś)

    dir. Michał Toczek
    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.

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    film still Be Somebody
    Awards:Golden Hobby-Horse
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Daughter

    dir. Yaser Talebi
    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.

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    film still Daughter
    Awards:Silver Dragon
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Early Apex (Wiraż)

    dir. Paweł Hejbudzki
    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.

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    film still Early Apex
    Awards:Special Mention / Special Award

  • Faces of Agata (Twarze Agaty)

    dir. Małgorzata Kozera
    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.

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    film still Faces of Agata
    Awards:Golden Hobby-Horse
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Iriy (Wyraj)

    dir. Jakub Stoszek, Magdalena Mistygacz
    dok2023

    War is never far away, as Wojciech Młynarski wrote. The residents of Shestovitcha, a village liberated from under the Russian occupation, are trying to move on with their lives. Nevertheless, it is difficult to live in peace when danger is lurking just behind the corner. A terrifyingly true portrayal of people who are trying to remain normal in abnormal times.

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    film still Iriy
    Awards:Special Mention
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Is There Anybody Out There? (Czy jest tam ktoś?)

    dir. Ella Glendining
    dok2023

    The film director and protagonist in one defies stereotypes related to otherness and disability. Despite a severe body deformity, she lives her life to the fullest and finds fulfilment as a woman and artist. To find out whether there are people with a similar affliction elsewhere in the world, she sets off on a journey.

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    film still Is There Anybody Out There?
    Awards:Silver Horn / Special Award

  • La Singla

    dir. Paloma Zapata
    dok2023

    As a teenager, she was a great discovery in the flamenco world, not only because this Roma girl from the outskirts of Barcelona was deaf. Due to her exceptionally passionate expression she became a star of Europe’s stages, and then she disappeared for fifty years. Today. a contemporary dancer walks in the footsteps of La Singla.

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    film still La Singla
    Awards:Special Mention
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Mariupol. A Hundred Nights (Mariupolʹ. Sto nochey)

    dir. Sofiia Melnyk
    anim2023

    A dramatic and shocking picture of the Russian invasion in Ukraine presented from the perspective of a four-year-old girl. To create the animation, authentic photographs of destroyed buildings and drawings of war made by children were used. This terrifying film does not allow the viewer to remain indifferent.

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    film still Mariupol. A Hundred Nights
    Awards:Silver Dragon / Special Mention
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Motherland

    dir. Alexander Mihalkovich, Hanna Badziaka
    dok2023

    The practice of hazing in the Belarussian military has a lot in common with political terror. This is why Svetlana does not believe that her son committed suicide in the barracks. Somewhere else, another young man is putting on a uniform. Their parallel lives make a shocking image of the post-Soviet reality.

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    film still Motherland

  • My Name Is Happy

    dir. Nick Read, Ayse Toprak
    dok2022

    In 2015, Turkish-Kurdish singer Mutlu Kaya was shot in her own house. The film authors follow the life of the girl who decided to bring the culprit to justice and put up a fight for the recovery of her voice becoming the symbol of opposition against the impunity of perpetrators of honour killings.

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    film still My Name Is Happy
    Awards:Golden Horn
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • No Elephant in the Room (Globus)

    dir. Clara Kleininger-Wanik
    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.

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    film still No Elephant in the Room
    Awards:Special Mention

  • Polar Bears (Misie polarne)

    dir. Bartek Stankiewicz
    fab2023

    Powerful clutches, full concentration, sweat, a blanket and a bicycle. No head start. Two brothers and two paths that cross one evening, extremely important for the younger one. Kuba is preparing for his first half-professional wrestling fight. Unexpectedly, his elder brother comes to his aid. However, his intentions are not entirely selfless.

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    film still Polar Bears
    Awards:Special Award
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Radical Move

    dir. Aniela Gabryel
    dok2023

    A theatre or a sect? Art or violence? For the first time the members of the legendary theatre collective Workcenter founded by Jerzy Grotowski speak so frankly about their experiences related to work using the methods devised by one of the greatest revolutionaries in Polish and international theatre.

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    film still Radical Move
    Awards:Special Award

  • Songs of Earth

    dir. Margreth Olin
    dok2023

    Many years go the director left her family home. Today, she returns to the mountainous region of Western Norway with a camera, walking in the footsteps of her parents and ancestors in order to answer the question: where do I come from? Her family story is transformed into a breadth-taking poem, both visual and auditory.

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    film still Songs of Earth

  • There Are People in the Forest (W lesie są ludzie)

    dir. Szymon Ruczyński
    anim2023

    Polish-Belarusian border from a bird’s eye view. Refugees, who are trying to cross it to get to Poland, are hiding in the forest. As if in a computer game, they need to go back to square one when they encounter an evil character or the game is over. Based on the author and witnesses’ accounts, the animation depicts the terrifying humanitarian crisis which has been going on since 2021.

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    film still There Are People in the Forest
    Awards:Special Award
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Ula

    dir. Agnieszka Iwańska
    dok2023

    ‘This is the cradle of our beloved music. We need to verify our skills there’, said Michał Urbaniak to Polish jazz vocalist Urszula Dudziak to convince her to go and conquer the US with him. The film is a recording of the fascinating and tumultuous journey reported from off-screen by the artist herself.

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    film still Ula
    Awards:Golden Heynal
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Underdog (Charbon)

    dir. David Arslanian
    fab2022

    Winter, by night. Mirko, a 23-year-old student, has only a few hours left to pay back his unpaid rent or he will be evicted. As a bicycle deliveryman at night, he must succeed in making a maximum of orders to pay off his debt.

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    film still Underdog
    Awards:Silver Dragon / Special Award
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Who I Am Not

    dir. Tunde Skovran
    dok2023

    Sharon was a finalist of the Miss South Africa beauty pageant, while Dimakatso is a well-known activist. What they share is intersexuality, i.e. they possess traits of both sexes. Meanwhile, the world requires them to unambiguously declare their identity, which is not always in line with their subjective feelings.

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    film still Who I Am Not
    Awards:Silver Horn

  • Who Will Clean Your Windows? (Kto Ci będzie okna mył?)

    dir. Dariusz Janiczak
    dok2022

    Darek is 24 and after 10 years of education at a school for students with intellectual disabilities he needs to confront himself with adulthood. At a film workshop, he receives a camera that will enable him to tell the story of the final weeks at his favourite place from his own perspective.

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    film still Who Will Clean Your Windows?
    Awards:Special Award
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Zima

    dir. Tomek Popakul, Kasumi Ozeki
    anim2023

    A cat lover, Jesus leaving the cross and Christmas carollers holding pitchforks in a snowy and icy scenery. ‘Zima’, a psychedelic journey to a small fishing village, collects as if in a lens the behaviour, customs and vices of the Polish provinces. A horror-like animation in the convention of magic realism.

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    film still Zima
    Awards:Golden Dragon / Golden Hobby-Horse / Special Award
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD