Krakow Film Festival

64. Krakow Film Festival

The Krakow Film Festival is an event dedicated to documentaries, animated films, and short fiction films. Its core consists of three equal competitions: documentary, short, and Polish. During the 8 days of the festival, viewers have the opportunity to watch about 200 films from Poland and around the world. They are presented in competition sections and special shows. In addition, during the festival, participants have the opportunity to see various exhibitions, concerts, and outdoor shows and meet artists. Every year, the festival is visited by approximately 900 Polish and international guests: directors, producers, and festival programmers.

A few words about the Krakow Film Festival

It all started in 1961, when, the National Short Film Festival presented the achievements of Polish cinematography. Three years later, the Polish festival was joined by an international festival, and from a nationwide event it became an event of international importance. In 1998, the first award for lifetime achievement in the field of documentary and short films called the Dragon of Dragons Award, was granted. In 2001, the name of the festival itself changed and since then it has been known as the Krakow Film Festival.

Thet outstanding Polish documentarians began their careers in Krakow: Krzysztof Kieślowski, Wojciech Wiszniewski, Andrzej Fidyk and Marcel Łoziński. It was here that great creators of Polish animation became known: Ryszard Czekała, Jerzy Kucia, Julian Antoniszczak, Piotr Dumała and the Oscar winner for the film “Tango”, Zbigniew Rybczyński.

Over the course of several years, many new proposals have appeared in the festival program. Since 2006, the Festival has been accompanied by the Krakow Film Fair intended for professionals from the film industry. There are numerous non-competitive screenings every year, which have become a permanent part of the festival schedule, such as “Stories from the World”, “Somewhere in Europe”, “Festival Winners”, “The Sound of Music”, “Panorama of Polish Film”, “Shorts Matters!”, “Night of music videos”, “Night of student etudes”, “Kids&Youth”, “Docs+Science”.

Cycles and Competitions

One of the competitions taking place as part of the Krakow Film Festival is the International Documentary Competition. 15 films competing for the Golden Horn and Silver Horns. The anxieties of the modern world and returns to groundbreaking historical events, family secrets and deeply hidden, systemic omissions. People with no prospects and heroes of our times.

The next one is the Polish Competition, during which 39 Polish films from last year (19 documentaries, 10 animations and 10 feature films) will compete for the Golden Hobby-Horse and four Silver Hobby-Horses. Topics that thoroughly reconstruct our everyday life – divisions in families and among neighbors; reflecting the unrest among youth.

The oldest competition of the Krakow Film Festival is the International Short Film Competition. 13 documentaries, 13 features and 13 animations will present a wide range of styles and topics. From violence at home and at school, through struggling with the pressure of the environment and fulfillment in art, to a happy old age.

And finally, the International Music Documentary Competition – DocFilmMusic. Viewers can watch 11 documentaries with music as the main characters. From an astonishing opera and a biographical musical to something more than a simple “making of”, i.e. a film about the making of a film.

In addition, the organizers have prepared numerous non-competitive series, including: Dragon of Dragons Retrospective, Panorama Polskiego Documentu, KIDS&YOUTH, Short Matters!, Sounds of Music, KFF TALKS, etc.

The organizer of the Krakow Film Festival is the Krakow Film Foundation.

More info at https://www.krakowfilmfestival.pl/en/.