KFF INDUSTRY AT THE 57TH KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL - SUMMARY

KFF MARKET, workshops, presentations, pitchings, discussion panels, networking meetings, special screenings. These and many other interesting events filled the industry section of this year's Krakow Film Festival.

KFF INDUSTRY is the part of Krakow Film Festival, dedicated to film industry professionals, within the frames of which the following events are held every year: KFF Market, the pitchings Animated In Poland, DOCS TO START, DOCS TO GO!, DOC LAB POLAND CO-PRODUCTION MARKET, KFF INDUSTRY Meetings, the screenings DOCS TO BUY and many others. In addition, this year's edition of KFF INDUSTRY offered professional workshops and discussion panels to the festival guests. The conference Focus on Germany DOC. BRIDGE, organised in co-operation with Krakow Technology Park, also turned out to be successful. All events of KFF INDUSTRY were held betweeen the 29th of May and the 3rd of June. The vast majority of them took place in Małopolski Ogród Sztuki, which was simultaneously the Festival Centre. KFF INDUSTRY was also present in Kijów.Centrum (DOCS TO BUY) and Krakow Technology Park (the Conference Focus on Germany, DOC LAB Co-production Market).

KFF MARKET

To this year's, twelfth edition of KFF MARKET, 1500 documentary, short and animated films were submitted, from among which the organisers chose about 250 films.

The selection of the most interesting documentary films from Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Eastern and Central Europe was prepared by the partners:  DOK Leipzig, East Silver, Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival, Swiss Films and Visions du Reel Film Festival. All qualified films were included in the market catalogue, and during the Festival, they could be watched in the digital video collection. This year, the films in the videolibrary were watched by 150 accredited guests, and among the users of Krakow Film Market, there were the festival programmers of such important festivals as: DOK Leipzig (Germany), IDFA (the Netherlands), Visions du Reel (Switzerland), Semaine de la Critique - Locarno FF (Switzerland), Tampere FF (Finland), Curtas Vila do Conde (Portugal), distributors and sales agents, as well as film experts and representatives of television channels.  The films collected in the video collection were played a total of 1850 times. 78 films were played more than 10 times. The most frequently watched film - 72 times - was the documentary film "THE BEKSIŃSKIS. A Sound and Picture Album," directed by Marcin Borchardt.

 

The most frequently watched Polish films:

THE BEKSIŃSKIS. A Sound and Picture Album, dir. Marcin Borchardt (documentary film)

Opera about Poland, dir. Piotr Stasik (documentary film)

Desert Coffee, dir. Mikael Lypinski (documentary film)

Dust, dir Jakub Radej (documentary film)

Pussy, dir. Renata Gąsiorowska (animated film)

The Ugliest Car in the World, dir. Grzegorz Szczepaniak (documentary film)

Miss Holocaust, dir. Michalina Musielak, Irena Siedlar (documentary film)

Festival, dir. Tomasz Wolski, Anna Gawlita (documentary)

Collection, dir. Marcin Polar (documentary film)

Zhalanash, dir. Marcin Sauter (documentary film)

Deer Boy, dir. Katarzyna Gondek (fiction)

 

The most frequently watched foreign films:

Age, dir. Nancy Camaldo, Veronika Hafner / Germany (documentary film)

95 and 6 to Go, dir. Kimi Takesue / the USA (documentary film)

Perfect Town, dir. Anaïs Voirol / Switzerland (animated film)

Retouch, dir. Kaveh Mazaheri / Iran (fiction)

The Lake, dir. Daria Blokhina / Russia  (documentary film)

My Father's Room, dir. Nari Jang / South Korea (animated film)             

Dead Horses, dir.  Marc Riba, Anna Solanas / Spain (animated film)

Across My Land, dir. Fiona Godivier / France (fiction)

Have Heart, dir. Will Anderson/ Great Britain (animated film)

The Origin of Trouble, dir.  Tessa Louise Pope / the Netherlands (documentary film)

ANIMATED IN POLAND

This year's edition of ANIMATED IN POLAND adopted a new formula  – on the 29th of May, a day before the pitching, all participants took part in a workshop preparing for presenting their projects, conducted by Wim Vanacker – the director of the Script Department at NISI MASA – European Network of Young Cinema and the co-ordinator of one of the most important short film pitchings – European Short Pitch. In this year's pitching session, moderated by Zofia Jaroszuk, participated eight animated film projects at the stage of post-production: Bug, dir. Jolanta Bańkowska, Komfort, dir. Weronika Banasińska, Eden, dir. Katarzyna Melnik, Last Stop is The Moon, dir. Birute Sodekaite, An eye for an eye, dir. Julia Płoch, Metro, dir. Natalia Krawczuk, Tango Tęsknot, dir. Marta Szymańska, Się zjada, dir. Edyta Adamczak. The award-winning project  – Last Stop is the Moon won the award in the form of a voucher for 10 days of sound post-production for the film, funded by the Studio Sound Mind, established by Michał Fojcik. After the presentations, all participants took part in individual meetings with the representatives of film industry from abroad.

Within the frames of ANIMATED IN POLAND, three discussion panels, organised in co-operation with the Polish Animation Producers Association were also held. During the first one of them: Where is the Money, the panelists – Wim Vanacker and Rich Warren from Encounters International Short Film Festival in Bristol talked about the most important European pitching platforms, where you can present your short- and feature-length animated film projects and where you can go with the first edition of your television series, which platform enables you to interest co-producers in your projects for children and teenagers, and also where to look for co-producers on the Scandinavian, Francophone or Spanish-speaking market. In the panel dedicated to new perspectives for the animated film industry, the following experts participated: Robert Baliński (PISF - Polish Film Institute), Robert Jaszczurowski (SPPA - Polish Animation Producers Association, Grupa Smacznego) and  Wojtek Leszczyński (SPPA, WJ Team, Likaon). The conversations focused on, among others, the long-term plan for developing the animated film market, and about programmes supporting the production of films for children and teenagers. The third panel presented the fruits of the co-operation between Polish Film Institute and the National Centre for Nuclear Research - NCBJ Sponsorship Program of Polish Film Art. Under this Programme, the beneficiaries of the Operational Programmes of Polish Film Institute are eligible for substantive discounts on the advanced Renderownia Świerk. Michał Findeisen (NCBJ) and Robert Baliński (PISF) talked about the requirements for joining the programme.

DOCS TO START, DOCS TO GO!,  DOC LAB POLAND CO-PRODUCTION MARKET

For the third time, within the frames of Krakow Film Festival, there were held the workshops DOC LAB POLAND (session II), co-organised by the  Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation. The participants of the workshops DOC LAB STARTunder the guidance of tutors and experts  - Paul Pauwels (European Documentary Network), Brigid O’Shea (DOK Leipzig) and Lise Lense-Møller (Magic Hour Films) worked on the projects at the state of development. The participants of the workshops DOC LAB GO, in contrast, were supported by Peter Jäger (Jäger Creative) and Rada Šešić (IDFA, Sarajevo FF).  The culmination of the workshops were two pitching sessions: DOCS TO START and DOCS TO GO !.

The pitching DOCS TO START  is a presentation of film projects at the stage of development or first shooting. Its purpose is to acquire potential co-producers and funding, necessary to continue the making of the film. The participants showed their projects to producers, representatives of television channels, Regional Film Funds and institutions co-financing film production, but also to distributors and sales agents, and to the selectors from the most important festivals. The meeting was hosted by Tue Steen Müller (DocsBarcelona / filmkommentaren.dk).

Within DOCS TO START, 10 projects were presented:

THE ART OF SURVIVAL - dir. KONRAD SZOŁAJSKI, produced by  ZK FILM – MAŁGORZATA PROCIAK

THE GRADUATE - dir. ADRIAN APANEL, produced by  FURIA FILM – MAŁGORZATA MAŁYSA

LESSON OF LOVE - dir. MAŁGORZATA GOLISZEWSKA, produced by  WARSAW FILM CENTER – ANNA STYLIŃSKA

A LETTER TO MY MUM - dir. JĘDRZEJ MICHALAK, produced by  SILVER FRAME – DARIA MAŚLONA

THE MOLT - dir. OLAF MALINOWSKI, produced by  FURIA FILM – MAŁGORZATA MAŁYSA

TODAY, TOMORROW ... YESTERDAY - dir. DIANA KADŁUBOWSKA, KRZYSZTOF KADŁUBOWSKI, produced by  PLUS TV FILM STUDIO – KRZYSZTOF KADŁUBOWSKI

TRANSFER - dir. JOANNA ROŻEN, produced by  PLESNAR & KRAUSS FILMS – MARIA KRAUSS

THE WALL OF SHADOWS - dir. ELIZA KUBARSKA, produced by  BRAIDMADE FILMS – MONIKA BRAID

WAR WATCHERS - dir. VITA DRYGAS, produced by  DRYGAS PRODUCTION – MACIEJ DRYGAS

THE WHALE FROM LORINO - dir. MACIEJ CUSKE, produced by  POKROMSKI STUDIO – MIKOŁAJ POKROMSKI

After the pitchings, the representatives of the projects had three-hour individual meetings with potential co-production and financing partners and the representatives of television channels, among others,  Speak Easy Project (Hungary), German Films (Germany), Saxonian Entertainment (Germany), Gebrueder Beetz (Germany), Filmkreatörerna (Sweden), Astermedia (Great Britain), Sindicado (Canada), Corso Film (Germany), Layla Film (Germany), Kaske Film (Germany), AG DOK (Germany), Synergia Film (the Czech Republic), Elemag Pictures (Germany), Parabellum Film (Germany), Ladoc (Italy), Dream Division (Croatia), TVP 1, TVP 2, TVP Kultura, HBO (Poland).

Pitching DOCS TO GO!, a joint initiative of Polish Film Institute and Krakow Film Foundation in co-operation with Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation, was held in Krakow for the sixth time. The aim of the pitching is to promote and present the most interesting Polish documentary films in post-production, whose première will take place within the coming months. Producers and directors of the selected projects had a chance to show fragments of the assembly edits of their films and to talk about the production to the distributors, sales agents, representatives of television channels, programmers of film festivals and other experts and decision-making persons present at the meeting. The pitching was moderated by Rada Šešić.

Within the frames of DOCS TO GO!: 8 projects were shown:

GEORGE AND GEORGE ON THE LAKES - dir. PIOTR MAŁECKI, produced by SHORT DOCS MEDIA – PIOTR MAŁECKI

KRZYŻOKI - dir. ANNA GAWLITA, produced by  KIJORA FILM – ANNA GAWLITA

MR JAN AND HIS 40 GIRLS (WORKING TITLE) - dir. JACOB DAMMAS, produced by  GRANIZA – JACOB DAMMAS

THE PRINCE AND THE DYBBUK - dir. ELWIRA NIEWIERA, PIOTR ROSOŁOWSKI, produced by  FILM ART PRODUCTION – MAŁGORZATA ZACHARKO

TONY - dir. KLAUDIUSZ CHROSTOWSKI, produced by  MAD TREE – MACIEJ THIEM

DZIWO® - dir. PAWEŁ DYLLUS, produced by  DYLLUS FILM – PAWEŁ DYLLUS

THE WIND. A DOCUMENTARY THRILLER  - dir. MICHAŁ BIELAWSKI, produced by  TELEMARK – MACIEJ KUBICKI, ANNA KĘPIŃSKA

I GREW UP AS YOU SLEPT - dir. MARCIN SAUTER, produced by  BKF NEWSREEL – MARCIN SAUTER

After the presentations, all representatives of the projects met with experts, festival selectors, distributors and sales agents. The following representatives were invited to the consultation: Open City FF (Great Britain), Tribeca Film Institute (the USA), IDFA (the Netherlands), Semaine de la Critique – Locarno FF (Switzerland), Visions du Réel (Switzerland), Mińsk IFF Listapad (Belarus), DOK Leipzig (Germany), Message to Man IFF (Russia), Festival dei Popoli (Italy), Doc Lisboa (Portugal), Cats&Docs (France), Java Films (France), Deckert Distribution (Germany), Sindicado (Canada).

This year, the following projects were awarded:

DOCS TO START:

THE HBO AWARD – the project of the film LESSON OF LOVE, dir. Małgorzata Goliszewska, produced by  Warsaw Film Center (Anna Stylińska)

THE KRAKOW FILM CLUSTER AWARD – the project of the film THE WHALE FROM LORINO, dir. Maciej Cuske, produced by  Pokromski Studio (Mikołaj Pokromski)

DOK LEIPZIG SPECIAL MENTION – the project of the film THE GRADUATE, dir. Adrian Apanel, produced by  Furia Film (Małgorzata Małysa)

EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY NETWORK (EDN) SPECIAL MENTION – the project of the film TRANSFER, dir. Joanna Rożen, produced by  Plesnar & Krauss Films (Maria Krauss)

DOCS TO GO!:

KRAKOW TECHNOLOGY PARK – the project of the film THE WIND. A DOCUMENTARY THRILLER, dir. Michał Bielawski, produced by  Telemark (Maciej Kubicki, Anna Kępińska)

INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY FILM –  the project of the film DZIWO®, dir. Paweł Dyllus, produced by  Dyllus Film (Paweł Dyllus)

DOC LAB POLAND AWARD for the greatest progress in working on a project – Diana Kadłubowska and Krzysztof Kadłubowski for the project TODAY, TOMORROW ... YESTERDAY.

The pitching sessions were complemented by  DOC LAB POLAND CO-PRODUCTION MARKET - individual meetings with international film industry decision makers and producers who are open to co-operation with Poland. During the meetings, which lasted almost all day, Polish producers had the chance to talk to partners from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Israel, the United States, Switzerland, Romania, Hungary, Sweden and Lithuania. A separate section of this year's co-production market were Polish-German meetings, in which participated the producers and experts from Poland and Germany, specially selected for this occasion. 

DOCS TO BUY

For the second time, within the frames of Krakow Film Festival, there were organised closed industry screenings for foreign distributors, showing the latest Polish documentary films, which had their world premières at Krakow Film Festival or were still before their premières. 

This year's screenings DOCS TO BUY included 7 films:

VOLTE - dir. Monika Kotecka, Karolina Poryzała, produced by  Munk Studio - SFP

POLONAISE - dir. Agnieszka Elbanowska, produced by  Munk Studio - SFP

JAROCIN, ROCK FOR FREEDOM - dir. Marek Gajczak, Leszek Gnoiński, produced by  Cracow Film Society

HONEY HUNTERS - dir. Krystian Matysek, produced by  Arkana Studio

FESTIVAL - dir. Anna Gawlita, Tomasz Wolski, produced by  Kijora Film

LAND OF THE HOMELESS - dir. Marcin Janos Krawczyk, produced by  Janos Film Production

MY ENEMY, MY LOVE - dir. Krzysztof Lang, produced by  TFT Sp. z o. o.

 

THE WORKSHOPS "MY STREET FILMS"

From the 24th of May and the 2nd of June, within the frames of Krakow Film Festival, there were held the film workshops "My Street Films" - professional 10-day workshops, preparing for making documentary film projects. Their participants completed comprehensive training, both theoretical and practical, under the guidance of eminent documentary film-makers and cameramen, Marcin Koszałka and Bogdan Dziworski. The post-production workshops and the lectures were held in Laboratorium Multilab, which is a part of Krakow Technology Park. Each group had its own assembly room at its disposal, as well as an opportunity of substantive consultation with the moderators for the entire production process. The best two films were shown during the closing gala of this year's edition of Krakow Film Festival. The idea behind the workshops "My Street Films" derives from the recently created documentary film project, organised by the portal DAFilms.com. The first edition focused on the streets of Prague. Its stories and atmosphere were captured in over 120 submitted films, which were marked on the map of this city. The success of the first edition resulted in widening the project beyond the boundaries of Prague, and discovering other cities in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary (The organiser of Polish edition is Krakow Film Foundation).

THE WORKSHOPS "ARRI"

During these intensive, one-day workshops, the participants had the opportunity to learn about the elements of a cinematographer's work, necessary in the course of making a documentary film. The films were shot using the professional camera Arri Amira. During film-making, Marcin Koszałka talked about, among others, how how to consciously create the depth of image and the protagonist, without using a large number of equipment and lighting. The workshops "ARRI" were organised by the Magazine "FilmPRO" and and Polish Society of Cinematographers PSC. The technology partners were the companies Arri and JBD.

THE WORKSHOPS KINEDOK

KineDok is a unique international film club, initated by the Institue of Documentary Film in Prague, bringing together both the fans and documentary film-makers, the main aims of which are to popularise documentary film and to reach as wide an audience in Europe as possible with this genre. Patrycja Czarny  from Krakow Film Foundation, who is at the same time the Polish co-ordinator of the project, and Marta Pawlik – PR manager of KineDok, talked about the rules of the project.

THE CONFERENCE: FOCUS ON GERMANY. DOC.BRIDGE

The special guest at this year's 57th edition of Krakow Film Festival was the cinema of Germany. The programme "Focus on Germany" included the screenings of the latest, selected German documentary films. The central industry event of the section was the conference, held in Krakow Technology Park, the main axis of which was the presentation of the model of the functioning of German documentary film. The conference was divided into three thematic panels. In the first panel, concerned with financing and acquiring funds for documentary film in Poland and Germany, the following experts participated: Oliver Rittweger (MDM – Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung), Zora Nessl (Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion), Robert Baliński (Polish Film Institute) and Natalia Woda (Krakow Film Commision/Regional Film Fund in Krakow). The moderator of the panel was Brigid O'Shea from DOK Leipzig. Another panel was dedicated to the possibilities of co-production between Poland and Germany. The following experts were invited to the talks: Erik Winker (CORSO Film), Thomas Frickel (AG DOK), Timo Grosspietsch (NDR – Norddeutscher Rundfunk), Anna Wydra (Otter Films) and Simone Baumann (Saxonia Entertainment), who was the moderator of the discussion. The third, last discussion panel was concerned with promotion and distribution of Polish and German films all over the world. The panellists were: Ina Rossow (Deckert Distribution), Krzysztof Gierat (Krakow Film Festival), Katarzyna Wilk (KFF Sales&Promotion/Polish Docs), Simone Bauman (in this panel, as the representative of German Films) and the moderator of the event, Grit Lemke.

The organizers of the conference were Krakow Film Foundation and Krakow Technology Park. The partners: the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, Goethe Institut, Consulate General of Germany in Krakow, German Films, the Nuremberg House in Krakow, DOK Leipizg, Krakow Film Cluster, and  Władysław Ślesicki Foundation. The Conference FOCUS ON GERMANY. DOC.BRIDGE was organised within the frames of the project "Creative Małopolska," financed from the Regional Operational Programme for the Małopolska Region for 2014 – 2020, 3 Priority Axis Entrepreneurial Małopolska, Measure 3.3 The Internationalisation of Małopolska Economy, the Submeasure 3.3.1 The Economic Promotion of Małopolska, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. 

MASTERCLASS, PRESENTATIONS, SEMINARS, MEETINGS WITH EXPERTS

During the master class, the winner of the Dragon of Dragons - Daniel Szczechura talked about his work in the context of the 70th anniversary of Polish animated film, which falls this year. The Master's guest was Paweł Sitkiewicz, the author of the book "Polska szkoła animacji" (Polish school of animated film) in which he describes the times of great successes of Polish animated films in Europe and all over the world. The participants of the lecture had a chance to watch the film Daniel Szczechura. Notacje, in which the artist talks about his first amateur film, the film study  "Konflikty,"  his work in Se-Ma-For and about the role of music in animated film. The meeting was hosted by Jerzy Armata.

The masterclass of the winner of the second Dragon of Dragons award this year – Witold Giersz was held in the full house of White Hall in Kino pod Baranami.  During the conversation with the viewers about his animation technique and the role of colour and sound in his films, Witold Giersz showed how oil painting animation looks like. Under the eye of the camera, the doyen of Polish animated film made a series of drawings presenting a galloping horse. The whole process of painting with a palette-knife and paint was visible on the cinema screen. The audience saw the gallop of the painted horse, which was already in  motion. During painting, Witold Giersz was talking to the viewers all the time.

THE SEMINAR DOCS ONLINE, dealing with the subject matter of distributing documentary films on-line, was divided into two parts – the international and the Polish one. Within the frames of the English-language part, the presentation Improving the Distribution model: support for online distribution , was held, prepared by Mridu Chandra – the representative of Tribeca Film Institute. Immediately after it, there was a discussion panel, to which the representatives of the international VOD platforms and local distributors were invited, such as:  Vincent Lucassen (Under the Milky Way), Silvia Mueller (Pantaflix), Maxime Lacour (UniversCine). Polish guest of the panel was Anna Kot from Munk Studio, and the whole discussion was moderated by Diana Tabakov from DA Films. The Polish part was opened by the presentation of Onet.pl – O!Dokument, prepared by Joanna Tereszczuk from Onet.pl, accompanied by Kinga Gałuszka from Polish Film Institute. The Legal Seminar was scheduled as the last of the events, hosted, as every year, by Att. Marcin Lassota. This year's seminar was concerned with, in relation to the whole, the legal aspects of VOD and sharing films on-line.

One of the guests of the 57th Krakow Film Festival was Lindsay Crouse – the producer coordinating the series New York Times Op-Docs. Lindsay talked about the institution she represents, two times – during the presentation in Krakow Technology Park and at the meeting with the representatives of film industry in KFF Industry Meeting Point, in the Festival Centre. The meeting with Lindsay Crouse was organised in co-operation with Munk Studio.

During the Festival, from Monday to Friday, in the Festival Centre, there were held KFF Industry meetings -  individual meetings (one-on-one) with the guests from the film industry, present at Krakow Film Festival  (distributors, sales agents, buyers, festival programmers, experts, consultants).  The meetings were addressed to producers, film-makers and other professionals, involved in film promotion and had the form of max. 10-minute consultations. After the hour-long meetings, the participants  headed downstairs, in order to continue their discussions in a less formal atmoshpere, with a glass of wine, at KFF Industry Drink – organised in co-operation with: Lim, Wajda School, Munk Studio, Pitch the Doc and FILM PRO.

This year's Industry Party was held in the club Mashroom, on the premises of the complex Tytano (the former tobacco factory on Dolne Młyny) . According to tradition, the role of professional DJ was taken by the guests of the festival, who were invited to do so - this time, our friends from Munk Studio - Michał Chudzikowski and Anna Kot stood behind the mixing console, as HudyKot DJ Collective.

 

Contact:  Katarzyna Wilk – Head of KFF Industry

industry@kff.com.plwww.krakowfilmfestival.pl

The Producer of KFF Industry: Krakow Film Foundation

Partners:  Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation, Munk Studio - Polish Filmmakers Association, Krakow Festival Office, Krakow Film Commision, Małopolski Ogród Sztuki, AMSO, Krakow Technology Park, Krakow Film Cluster, Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna in Krakow, FILM PRO, Lassota i Partnerzy, Soundmind.

The project was made thanks to the financial support of: Polish Film Institute, Polish Filmmakers Association, Kraków Municipality, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Lesser Poland Voivodeship.

Media patronage: Film PRO, TELE PRO, Film &TV Kamera , Polish Docs, Polish Shorts, Polish Animations.

Photography: Tomasz Korczyński, Agnieszka Fiejka, Jeremy Sulpis, Velentyn Voydevich, Maciej Bernaś, Anna Stachowiak.