They would meet in a house near Wroclaw during the New Horizons IFF to learn from each other through the exchange of experience and to build border-crossing personal networks. They would cook together, watch films and discuss with the directors. Such a personal get-together is unfortunately not possible in these times of the pandemic. Instead, there will be an online reunion bringing together participants from the past eight editions organized on Sunday, July 26.
In these extraordinary times, when film premieres and festivals are canceled or postponed, the reality of those who write about film has changed dramatically. While restrictions in many countries are slowly and partially lifted, this is not the case everywhere and most of us remain somewhat locked at home. How are people coping? What are they doing? Is there a support scheme that helps journalists through these times? These are some of the issues we’d like to discuss with former participants of A Sunday in the Country from most European countries (around 100 young film critics mostly from Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Romania and Poland).
After a round of introductions, we will then be joined by a Polish director Jan Komasa, who just won several Polish Film Awards with his film Corpus Christi and was hit by the crisis the day after the Polish premiere of his new movie, The Hater, when the theaters across Poland closed. He is going to talk about the importance of film criticism and the impact of the pandemic on his career. We will then address the current situation across Europe, how people can or cannot work, what associations and governments have done to help. What will change, for the better or worse.
At this occasion, we would like to thank sincerely all the institutions and partners that made the Sunday in the Country possible throughout the years:
Polish Film Institute, Austrian Cultural Forum, Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Czech Center, Danish Cultural Center, Delegation of Wallonie-Bruxelles, the Embassy of the Netherlands, EUNIC, Hungarian Cultural Institute, Institut Francais, Istituto Camoes, Romanian Institute of Culture, in Warsaw; Italian Cultural Institute, Goethe Institut in Cracow; Polish Cultural Institutes in Berlin and Tel Aviv, Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales in Madrid; srita.net and blog.filmpolska.de, Kulturbrauerei e.V. and Krzysztof Mętrak Award for young critics.
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New Horizons IFF nowehoryzonty.pl |
