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News

  • Submissions for 16th edition of Gdańsk DocFilm Festival are now open

    17th November 2017

    The 16th edition of Gdańsk DocFilm Festival will be held from 6th to 10th June 2018 at the European Solidarity Centre. During the Festival's five days we will watch the world's most interesting documentaries produced from 2016 to 2018. They will compete for the Gate of Freedom. The competition for Polish short fiction films will be a new element introduced at the Festival's next edition. Producers are welcome to enter films for both competitions of Gdańsk DocFilm Festival 2018. Films can be submitted from 15th November 2017 until 10th February 2018. The selection committee will chose the most interesting works which we will screen during the 16th GDFF.

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  • The winners of the 15th Gdańsk DocFilm Festival

    3rd June 2017

    The Awarding Ceremony of the 15th GDFF was held on Saturday, 3rd June at 7.00 PM in the European Solidarity Centre. The jury composed of: its head Maciej Pieprzyca as well as Michał Oleszczyk and Martina Parenti granted the festival's main award - the Gate of Freedom and financial award of PLN 20,000 which was funded by the Mayor of Gdańsk to a Polish documentary "Communion" (2016) by Anna Zamecka for the extraordinary directorial skill and delicacy of approach, as well as a deeply sympathetic portrait of human dignity within a family and society at large. The editor, Agnieszka Glińska collected the award on her behalf. The jury has also awarded three competition films special mentions: "Sand Men" (dir. Tal Amiran | Great Britain | 2016) Jury's justification for the verdict: For simplicity of form and the power of the message, as well as for the portrait of people who find their dignity and endurance in creating fleeting, extraordinary artworks. "Shepherd" (dir. Joost van der Wiel | 2016 | 22 min. Jury's justification for the verdict: For an inspiring portrayal of a man whose spirit, endurance and working ethics should be exemplary for all humans around the world. "First Pole on Mars" (dir. Agnieszka Elbanowska | Poland | 2016) Jury's justification for the verdict: For its skilful mixture of seriousness and humour, which results in a touching portrait of a man who dares to dream of a journey literally out of this world. The film's editor, Katarzyna Boniecka received the special mention for Agnieszka Elbanowska's film. The audience award went to "The First Pole on Mars". Izabela Reszka, one of the viewers who voted for their favourite films, won a blu-ray DVD player in a prize-drawing. Gdańsk DocFilm Festival's jury has also awarded the Polish filmmakers nominations for Jan Machulski Young Cinema Award. The 2017 edition is the first Gdańsk DocFilm Festival during which the winner film also received the nominations in three categories. "Communion" was nominated for the awards as: the Best Documentary, the Best Director (nomination for Anna Zamecka), the Best Cinematography (nomination for Małgorzata Szyłak). Katarzyna Boniecka was nominated for the Best Editing of Agnieszka Elbanowska's "First Pole On Mars". After the Festival's closing ceremony, Anna Zamecka's "Communion" was screened. See you next year!

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  • Masterclass

    Masterclass

    3rd June 2017

    3rd of June at noon Michał Oleszczyk will give an open Masterclass lecture entitled "From zero to one hundred: the first minutes of the film as an introduction to the story" which will be held in the ESC’s Temporary Exhibition Hall.

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  • 15. GDFF: day four

    3rd June 2017

    The festival's last day will begin at 12.00 in the ESC's temporary exhibition hall. Michał Oleszczyk, a film expert and critic as well as a jury member at the 15th GDFF will give a masterclass entitled "From zero to one hundred: the first minutes of the film as an introduction to the story". After the lecture, at 2.00 PM the film screenings will begin. First, we'll see a competition documentary "Two Worlds" (dir. Maciej Adamek). We'll also see the last block of short fiction films. The block will begin with the Romanian film "A Night in Tokoriki" (dir. Roxana Stroe). Next, the audience will see the Oscar nominee and Cannes Palme d'Or winning Spanish "Timecode"(dir. Juanjo Gimenez). Balbina Bruszewska's "The Wizard of US" is the last fiction film we are going to see today. At 4.00 PM we will return to the main competition and a short, slightly surreal non-fiction film "Nutag – Homeland" (dir. Alisi Telengut). At 4.15 PM we'll see a Polish production "The Gift". After the screening we'll meet the documentary's director, Przemysław Kamiński. We'll end the competition screenings with a meaningfully titled film, "A Farewell to All This" (dir. David Munoz). The Awarding Ceremony will begin at 7.00 PM. Then, we're going to find out who receives the Gate of Freedom. Apart from the main award, the Jury will also grant Jan Machulski Young Cinema Award Nominations . During the Awarding Ceremony we'll also find out which film was the audience's favourite. After the official part, the 15th Gdańsk DocFilm Festival's winner film will be screened.

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  • I’m a Killer (2016) joins our programme!

    I’m a Killer (2016) joins our programme!

    2nd June 2017

    I’m a Killer directed by Maciej Pieprzyca has been added to the programme of the 15th Gdańsk Doc Film Festival. On the grounds of public displays injunction of a documentary film I’m a Killer… from 1998 we cannot present it during the festival. At the director’s request we will show a feature film from 2016. The showing will take place in the historical BHP Hall of the Gdansk shipyard during Maciej Pieprzyca’s Retrospective which begins at 2 p.m. Having shown two documentaries and the feature film we will hold a meeting with the author with whom, among other things, we will discuss the reasons of judicial embargo on the documentary from 1998. Admission to the displays in the BHP Hall is free. Awarded with Silver Lions at the Gdynia Film Festival I’m a Killer is a thriller inspired by the true story of Zdzisław Marchwicki sentenced in the circumstantial trial in the renowned case of the “Vampire of Zagłębie”. The roles played with bravura by Arkadiusz Jakubik and Agata Kulesza were awarded with Eagles, the Awards of the Polish Film Academy.

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  • Review of Maciej Pieprzyca’s Film

    Review of Maciej Pieprzyca’s Film

    2nd June 2017

    Maciej Pieprzyca’s movies will be presented 2nd of June at 2 p.m. in the historic Sala BHP of the Gdańsk Shipyard. After the screening of "By Knockout" (1995), "A Legend Will Remain" (1998), and a feature film from 2016 "I’m a Killer", there will be z meeting with the director, during which we will talk about his documentary and feature work.

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  • Teleconference with Tal Amiran

    2nd June 2017

    Due to unexpected circumstances Tal Amiran, the director of "Sand Men" won't be able to get to 15. Gdańsk DocFilm Festival. Today's conference will be held remotely.

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  • 15. GDFF: day three

    2nd June 2017

    The third day of Gdańsk DocFilm Festival begins at 1.00 PM with the screening of an Israeli competition film "Who's Gonna Love Me Now?" (dir. Tomer Heymann, Barak Heymann). At 2.00 PM a retrospective of Maciej Pieprzyca's films will begin. We will also talk to the 15th GDFF's head of jury after the screenings. We'll see the director's documentaries as well as his feature film which won the Silver Lions Award at Gdynia Film Festival 2016. Just as on the previous days, we will screen a block of three short fiction films at 3.00 PM in ESC: "Mother" (dir. Łukasz Ostalski, GDF), "Grandma's Day" ( dir. Miłosz Sakowski, GDF) and a French film "Enemies Within" (dir. Selim Azzazi). At 4:30 PM we'll return to the main competition with the animated "Whatever the Weather" (dir. Remo Scherer). After that, we'll watch a Polish production by Paweł Ziemilski, "Urban Cowboys" with whom there'll be a teleconference after the film. At 6.00 PM we'll screen "The Sea I Have to Love" (dir. Patrick Wally). Agnieszka Elbanowska, the author of the next film is the festival's guest and after the screening of "First Pole on Mars" a Q&A will give us a chance to talk to her. At 8.00 PM we'll screen a very warm and touching documentary by Roger Ross Williams about an autistic boy who begins to communicate with his family and learns to function in the world thanks to Disney's cartoons. Today will end with the film "Sand Men" about three non-typical artists. After the screening, we'll have a Q&A with Tal Amiran, the festival's guest.

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  • Irena Kamieńska In memoriam

    Irena Kamieńska In memoriam

    1st June 2017

    The historic Gdańsk Shipyard’s Sala BHP in ul. Popiełuszki 6 will be the location of special screenings. 1st of June at 2 p.m. there will be In memoriam screenings of the films by the eminent Polish documentary maker, Irena Kamieńska, who died on 3rd April 2016. After the directors documentaries: "Workers" (1980), "Day After Day" (1988) and "Voices From Far Away" (1992) there will be a meeting with a film historian and theoretician, Prof. Mirosław Przylipiak, a university professor and an author of many publications on documentary cinema.

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  • 15. GDFF: day two

    1st June 2017

    During the festival's second day we'll see seven competition films at the ESC. We'll start at 1.00 PM today, with a documentary essay "Dogs of Democracy", after which we'll have as teleconference with its author, Mary Zournazi. At 2.30 PM "The Shepherd" (dir. Joost van der Wiel) will be screened. It's a story of a 92 year old family doctor. Simultaneously, in the historic Sala BHP of the Gdańsk Shipyard at ul. Popiełuszki 6, at 2.00PM there will be In memoriam screenings of documentaries by an eminent Polish director, Irena Kamieńska. After presenting three of her documentaries, we'll meet a film expert and historian, Professor Mirosław Przylipiak, to talk about her work. At 3.00 PM, between the competition screenings, a review of short fiction films will be held in the ESC. We will watch two productions from the Gdynia Film School: "In the Corner" (dir. Maciej Kruk) and "Real Honey" (dir. Sławomir Witek) as well as the Dutch "Import" (dir. Ena Sendijarevic). At 4.00 PM we'll return to the main competition in the ESC. Anna Zamecka's famous "Communion" will be presented. After the screening there will be a Q&A with the director. Next we'll see a documentary "The Sound of Winter" (dir. Tizian Büchi) and right after it an Italian image, "2 Girls". After the screening, there will be a video conference with the author, Marco Speroni. At 8.00 PM, do join us at the screening of "Kis" by Svetlana Bolycheva. We'll end the second day of Gdańsk DocFilm Festival with the screening of "League of Exotique Dancers" documentary (dir. Rama Rau) about retired burlesque dancers.

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  • Screening of „Mr. Gaga” at opening of the 15th edition of Gdańsk DocFilm Festival

    Screening of „Mr. Gaga” at opening of the 15th edition of Gdańsk DocFilm Festival

    31st May 2017

    The opening of the 15th edition of Gdańsk DocFilm Festival will take place on Wednesday, May 31 at 19:00. After the opening gala a documentary film about Ohad Naharin Mr. Gaga, will be shown.

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  • 15. GDFF: day one

    31st May 2017

    We're beginning the 15th Gdańsk DocFilm Festival at the European Solidarity Centre as early as at 2.00 PM with a screening of "Little Bucharest" (dir. Sam Geyskens), which is one of the competition films. Then, we'll see Anna Wiśniewska's road movie, with its main character, the Szczecin composer Piotr Klimek. After the next documentary "My Daughter Nora" there will be a teleconference with its director, Jasna Krajinovic. Just after the Q&A we'll screen an experimental project "Methane Ghosts" (dir. William Randall). It explores human impact on the environment. At 4.30 PM the audience will see "Borderline Miracles" by Tomasz Jurkiewicz. The image is a story of Wiesław Koneczny who failed to appear at a mine one day and it was the very day when a fatal accident happened at his workstation. Aleksandra Marchenko's documentary "Mirrored Mountains. Altay" is the last competition picture to be presented today. All the GDFF viewers are welcome to the Festival Opening Ceremony at 7.00 PM. After the official part, we'll watch two fantastic non-competition films. The 2017 Hungarian Oscar winner "Sing" is a vanguard of the festival's new element - a review of short fiction films, which next year will become a competition. A screening of the European Film Award Nominee "Mr. Gaga" is going to be the highlight of the evening. It is a story of a genius choreographer, Ohad Naharin, who has been the head of Batsheva Dance Company, the most famous contemporary dance theatre from Israel.

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  • Maciej Pieprzyca the Chairperson of the Jury of 15th GDFF

    8th May 2017

    Maciej Pieprzyca – the Chairperson of the Jury Photo by Szymon Nawrat A scriptwriter and director, born on 5th May 1964 in Katowice. He graduated from journalist studies at the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Graduate of Film and Television Directing at the Faculty of Radio and Television at the University of Silesia in Katowice. For his picture Splinters, he received an Award for Directing Debut at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. His two subsequent feature films: Life Feels Good (2013) and I'm a Killer (2016) were awarded Silver Lions at the same festival. His films have received many awards, not only at Polish but also at international film festivals in Houston, New York, Chicago, Montreal or Moscow, etc. He made the She is Different, By Knockout, A Legend Will Remain, I Am a Murderer documentaries which have been appreciated at multiple documentary festivals. Apart from that, he is the author of the following TV theatre productions: Hairdresser, Down, Family Show and Who Do You Believe. Michał Oleszczyk Photo by Krzysztof Harańczyk, The Kosciuszko Foundation Born in 1982 in Tarnowskie Góry. Graduate of the Jagiellonian University's Institute of Audiovisual Arts. Film critic and a translator, assistant professor at the Faculty of Artes Libertates at the University of Warsaw. His articles have been published in many Polish and foreign periodicals. The author of The Bitterness of Exile. Terence Davies's Cinema book and co-author of tens of publications on film. In 2013-16,the Artistic Director of Gdynia Film Festival. Martina Parenti Martina Parenti was born in 1972 in Milan. An Italian documentary maker who has worked on documentaries together with Massimo D'Anolfi for 10 years. The author of awarded and documentaries which have been appreciated at many renowned film festivals (in Locarno, Toronto, Los Angeles, Venice, Berlin): I promessi sposi (The Betrothed) (2007), Grandi Speranze (Great Expectations) (2009), Il Castello (The castle) (2011), Materia oscura (Dark Matter) (2013), L’Infinita fabbrica del Duomo (2015), Spira Mirabilis (2016).

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  • 24 films in the competition of this year’s Gdansk DocFilm Festival

    20th April 2017

    15th Gdansk DocFilm Festival's selection committee qualified 24 films out of 260 entries for the competition. Life, Animated, an Oscar best documentary feature nominee is one of them. We will see the following titles competing for the main award: 1. Urban Cowboys | Poland | dir. Paweł Ziemilski | 2016 | 30 min. 2. Whatever the Weather | Switzerland | dir. Remo Scherer | 2015 | 11 min. 3. Always Ready to Travel | Poland | dir. Anna Wiśniewska | 2017 | 53 min. 4. Kis | Russia | dir. Svetlana Bolycheva | 2015 | 21 min. 5. The Sea You Have to Love | Austria, Croatia | dir. Patrick Wally | 2016 | 28 min. 6. The Shepherd | Netherlands | dir. Joost van der Wiel | 2016 | 22 min. 7. The Sound of Winter | Belgium, Switzerland | dir. Tizian Büchi | 2016 | 27 min. 8. Little Bucharest | Belgium | dir. Sam Geyskens | 2016 | 21 min. 9. League of Exotique Dancers | Canada | dir. Rama Rau | 2016 | 91 min. 10. Methane Ghosts | USA | dir. William Randall | 2016 | 10 min. 11. Two Worlds | Poland | dir. Maciej Adamek | 2016 | 50 min. 12. Mirrored Mountains. Altay | France, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom | dir. Aleksandra Marchenko | 2016 | 41 min. 13. Sand Men | United Kingdom | dir. Tal Amiran | 2016 | 14 min. 14. Nutag – Homeland | Canada | dir. Alisi Telengut | 2016 | 6 min. 15. 2 Girls | Italy | dir. Marco Speroni | 2016 | 52 min. 16. A Farewell to All That | Spain | dir. David Munoz | 2017 | 29 min. 17. Dogs of Democracy | Australia | dir. Mary Zournazi | 2016 | 57 min. 18. Communion | Poland | dir. Anna Zamecka | 2016 | 72 min. 19. My Daughter Nora | Belgium, France | dir. Jasna Krajinovic | 2016 | 15 min. 20. Borderline Miracles | Poland | dir. Tomasz Jurkiewicz | 2016 | 50 min. 21. Life, Animated | USA | dir. Roger Ross Williams | 2016 | 92 min. 22. First Pole on Mars | Poland | dir. Agnieszka Elbanowska | 2016 | 37 min. 23. Who's Gonna Love Me Now? | Israel | dir. Tomer Heymann, Barak Heymann | 2016 | 86 min. 24. The Gift | Poland | dir. Przemysław Kamiński | 2016 | 58 min.

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  • Short fiction films

    11th March 2017

    At the 15th Gdańsk DocFilm Festival we will introduce screenings of short fiction films. This part of the festival will become permanent and next year there will be a special competition for such forms. From Wednesday 31st May till Saturday 3rd June we will present short films between the competition screenings. Among them, you will be able to see productions by the Gdynia Film School students, like the famous „Grandma's Day” by Miłosz Sakowski, „Mother” by ‎‎Łukasz Ostalski, „In the Corner” by Maciej Bartosz Kruk and Sławomir Witek's „Real Honey”.

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  • Competition entries from 48 countries

    7th March 2017

    We were receiving films for the 15th Gdańsk DocFilm Festival’s competition for 3 months. Ultimately,  260 films from all around the world were submitted. The USA, Australia, Canada, Senegal, Brazil, Argentina Mexico, Colombia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, China, Sri Lanka, India, Afghanistan, Russia, Switzerland, Portugal, Croatia are only some of the countries from which documentaries were sent. We received the largest numbers of entries from European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain. The pre-selection committee has began work and the films they chose will compete for the Gate of Freedom award.

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Gdańsk DocFilm Festival
ul. Wały Piastowskie 24, 80-855 Gdańsk

info@gdff.pl

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realizacja: Studio-a-Propos & Piotr Kawecki