{"id":73869,"date":"2026-03-19T12:01:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.krakowfilmfestival.pl\/?p=73869"},"modified":"2026-03-19T12:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:01:32","slug":"the-power-of-cinema-more-films-in-the-international-documentary-competition-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.krakowfilmfestival.pl\/en\/the-power-of-cinema-more-films-in-the-international-documentary-competition-revealed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Cinema! More Films in the International Documentary Competition Revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Krakow Film Festival programme would not be complete without stories celebrating the love of cinema itself. Fans of the moving image inhabit the bustling suburbs of Kolkata, yet they may also create cinematic narratives without ever leaving the editing room, weaving a singular, wholly original story from thousands of film fragments. Redlight to Limelight<\/em> by Bipuljit Basu, a work that transforms lives, and Michal Kosakowski’s bold and experimental Holofiction<\/em> are both going to be shown in the International Documentary Competition.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The filmmakers behind these two titles strongly believe in the power of cinema. Bipuljit Basu visits subjects for whom cinema serves as an instrument of genuine change, whilst Michal Kosakowski, editing thousands of film fragments into a new narrative, reveals the ways in which cinema moulds our collective memory. These are two different perspectives on the same essential question: why do we make films, and what do films do to us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cinema Changes Lives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAM ON is a small, entirely independent film production company founded by a group of amateurs. Their short fictional works brim with ingenuity and originality. Initially, this passion for filmmaking offers an escape from the reality of growing up and working in a Kolkata brothel. In time, however, it becomes an act of defiance against discrimination and social ostracism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Redlight to Limelight<\/em>, dir. Bipuljit Basu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Redlight to Limelight<\/em>, dir. Bipuljit Basu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Redlight to Limelight<\/em><\/strong>, Bipuljit Basu demonstrates that love for cinema is alive and well, and that films can still change lives. For the women working in the brothel, and for their children, the camera represents a real chance of transformation \u2013 a fresh start for an entire community. Screenings of CAM ON films become a remarkable experience; not only for those involved in making them or for the audiences, but equally for viewers of this self-reflexive documentary which emerged from the vibrant, teeming heart of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film Shapes Memory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were you aware that from 1938 to the present day, several thousand feature films have been made about the World War II and the Holocaust? Celebrated, Oscar-winning blockbusters, ambitious auteur statements, and long-forgotten modest pieces have more in common than you might assume. In his extraordinary video essay, Michal Kosakowski gets rid of superfluous commentary, juxtaposing thousands of similar film fragments to construct an utterly unique narrative about a cinema that governs our collective imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Holofiction<\/em>, dir. Michal Kosakowski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Holofiction<\/em>, dir. Michal Kosakowski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Holofiction<\/em><\/strong> can be viewed on multiple levels. As an arranged collage of both familiar and lesser-known cinematic images; as an account of the Holocaust refracted through the prism of narrative cinema; or even as an intellectual meditation on the moment when victim becomes executioner \u2013 much like the characters portrayed by Daniel Olbrychski and Christoph Waltz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The screening of Holofiction<\/em><\/strong> will be accompanied by a KFF Talks<\/strong> event What Images Do to Us<\/strong>, held under the patronage of the International Federation of Film Critics, FIPRESCI. The discussion will feature the Polish-German documentarian Michal Kosakowski (the film’s director), film scholar Dr Bartosz Kwieci\u0144ski (author of Obrazy i klisze. Mi\u0119dzy biegunami wizualnej pami\u0119ci Zag\u0142ady<\/em> [Images and Clich\u00e9s: Between Opposite Extremes of the Visual Memory of the Shoah]), and fellow film critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected titles from the International Documentary Competition:<\/p>\n\n\n\n