The festival awarded its top prize in the International Documentary Competition to Acasa, My Home (Romania, Finland, Germany) directed by Radu Ciorniciuc, about a Roma family that has lived in the swamps of Bucharest’s nature reserve for many years. The Golden Dragon for Best Film in the Short Film Competition went to Just a Guy (Germany) directed by Shoko Hara.
The 60th Krakow Film Festival was the first Polish festival held entirely online due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Sixty in 'Krakow years' means early youth and that is probably why the festival was so successful in entering the online world, because we know young people these days are just born with this ability. I want to congratulate the winners and I congratulate the festival director Krzysztof Gierat and everybody who worked on the successful organisation of this event in the new form of the pandemic era. Maybe this is not just an episode and we are faced with times when live and real connection with another person will become our highest value," the Director of the Polish Film Institute Radosław Śmigulski said during the gala.
"This year's selection was extremely good, the jury was perfect as well the festival audience. Only the image of the world that emerges from these films is not fantastic at all, but we need to remember that one of the goals of documentaries is to show us that we don't want to recognise states that we are not comfortable with, ask questions that we don't give answers to. (...) The jury work was a very interesting process, we didn't have real conflicts, of course we had little differences in opinions and finally we found solutions to be almost unanimous. What is interesting is that documentaries in the USA are driven mostly by the character of the story while in Europe we still have very strong additional storytelling through image and impressions. So we had the chance to confront our international background and one of the most interesting things that came out of our discussions is how our cultural conditions shape our preferences and judgements." said Łukasz Żal, Head of the International Documentary Competition.
The most-awarded film was The Whale From Lorino directed by Maciej Cuski (Poland), winner of the Silver Horn for the director of a film with high artistic value, the Award of the President of the Polish Filmmakers Association for editing for Katarzyna Orzechowska and the Award for the Best Producer of Polish Short and Documentary Films, funded by the National Chamber of Audiovisual Producers, for Mikołaj Pokromski and Aldona Pokromska. "I am very happy to showcase my film once again at the Krakow Film Festival, I knew I would come back here. This is a great honour and great joy, this award goes out to our whole wonderful crew. This film exists thanks to your passion and our wonderful cooperation, thank you" said director Maciej Cuske.
As Poland allowed the reopening of cinemas on 6 June 2020, the final day of the festival was held both online and in screening rooms in Krakow.
International Documentary Competition
Golden Horn for Best Film
Acasa, My Home (Romania, Finland, Germany)
Directed by Radu Ciorniciuc
Produced by Manifest Film
Coproduced by HBO Europe, Corso Film, Kino Company
Supported by the Romanian Film Centre, Romanian Television, Creative Europe, Cinelab, Beep Studio
Silver Horn for Best Medium-length Documentary
The Whale from Lorino (Poland)
Directed by Maciej Cuske
Produced by Pokromski Studio
Silver Horn for Best Feature-length Documentary
Sunless Shadows (Iran, Norway)
Directed by Mehrdad Oskouei
Special Mention
Hey! Teachers! (Russia)
Directed by Yulia Vishnevets
FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Prize
The Self Portrait (Norway)
Directed by Margreth Olin, Katja Hogset, Espen Wallin
International Short Film Competition
Golden Dragon for Best Film
Just a Guy (Germany)
Directed by Shoko Hara
Silver Dragon for Best Documentary
Golden Buttons (Russia)
Directed by Alex Evstigneev
Silver Dragon for Best Animated Film
He Can’t Live Without Cosmos (Russia)
Directed by Konstantin Bronzit
Silver Dragon for Best Short Fiction Film
Chubby (Canada)
Directed by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli
Special Mention
Dad You’ve Never Had (Poland)
Directed by Dominika Łapka
Produced by Polish Filmmakers Association, Munk Studio, Gdynia Culture Centre, Studio Obrazu, Furia Film
Special Mention
Nina (Bulgaria)
Directed by Hristo Simeonov
Produced by Screening Emotions
Jury Award for the Best European Film (Krakow Candidate to the European Film Award 2020 in the short film category)
Golden Buttons (Russia)
Directed by Alex Evstigneev
The International Federation of Film Societies (FICC) Don Quixote Award
Innocence (Great Britain)
Directed by Ben Reid
Special Mention
I Need the Handshakes (Poland).
Directed by Andriej Kuciła
Produced by Belsat TV
International DocFilmMusic Competition
Golden Heynal Best Film
Pearl of the Desert (India, South Korea)
Directed by Pushpendra Singh
Special Mention
White Riot (Great Britain)
Directed by Rubika Shah
Polish National Competition
Golden Hobby-Horse for Best Film
An Ordinary Country (Poland)
Directed by Tomasz Wolski
Produced by Kijora Film
Silver Hobby-Horse Best Documentary Film
Sonny (Poland)
Directed by Paweł Chorzępa
Produced by Munk Studio, Bees Film House, TVP, Mandla Media, Silesia Film, Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School
Silver Hobby-Horse Best Animated Film
Your Own Bullshit (Poland)
Directed by Daria Kopiec
Produced by Munk Studio, Liakon
Silver Hobby-Horse for Best Fiction Film
Beyond Is the Day (Poland)
Directed by Damian Kocur
Produced by Tomcat, King House
The Award of the Polish Filmmakers Association for the best film editing
Katarzyna Orzechowska for The Whale from Lorino
Maciej Szumowski Award for remarkable social awareness funded by the National Broadcasting Council
xABo: Father Boniecki (Poland)
Directed by Aleksandra Potoczek
Produced by Fundacja Tygodnika Powszechnego
The Award for the best short and documentary films producer in Poland funded by the Polish Producers Alliance (KIPA)
Mikołaj Pokromski i Aldona Pokromska from Pokromski Studio for The Whale from Lorino (Poland)
Best Cinematography Award under the patronage of The Polish Society of Cinematographers funded by Coloroffon Film and Naima Film
Kamil Małecki for Last Days of Summer (Poland)
Directed by Klauida Kęska
Produced by Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School
Special Mention
Pollywood (Poland)
Directed by Paweł Ferdek
Produced by East Beast, HBO Europe
Special Mention
I’m Here (Poland)
Directed by Julia Orlik
Produced by Lodz Film School
Special Mention
Noamia (Poland)
Directed by Antonio Galdamez
Produced by Munk Studio, 34 film!, TVN Film, Coloroffon
Special Mention
Julia Kuzka for Last Days of Summer
Audience Award
The Self Portrait (Norway)
Directed by Margreth Olin, Katja Hogset, Espen Wallin
Student Jury Award
Sunless Shadows (Iran, Norway)
Directed by Mehrdad Oskouei
KFF Industry and Doc Lab Poland Awards
Animated in Poland
Animated in Poland Best Pitch Award
Gonâve (Poland)
Directed by Róża Duda and Michał Soja
Produced by Krakow Film Klaster
Animated in Poland Special Mention
Slow Light (Poland)
Directed by Kijek/Adamski
Produced by Animoon
DOC LAB POLAND AWARDS 2020 FOR THE PROJECTS
PRESENTED AT DOCS TO START
HBO Award
Debut (Poland)
Directed by Aleksandra Maciejczyk
Produced by Marta Gmosińska, Lava Films
ColorOffOn Award
Don’t Mess with Gienek (Poland)
Directed by Grzegorz Szczepaniak
Produced by Joanna Popowicz WF Anagram
DOK Leipzig Special Mention – invitation to Co-pro Meetings in Leipzig
Gypsy Gadji
Directed by Dasa Raimanova
Produced by Rafał Sakowski, Story Vehicle
FIPADOC Special Mention – invitation to pitch the project at FIPADOC Industry Days
Easy Rider Behind the Iron Curtain (Poland)
Directed by Andrzej Miękus
Produced by Olga Bieniek, FilmIcon
Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation Special Mention
Nina Gets Married (Poland)
Directed by Andrzej Szypulski
Produced by Anna Reichel, Fine Day Promotion
Polish Docs Pro Special Mention
When Harmattan Blows
Directed by Edyta Wróblewska
Produced by Marta Dużbabel, With Passion Production
DOC LAB POLAND AWARDS 2020 FOR THE PROJECTS
PRESENTED AT DOCS TO GO!
ColorOffOn Award
Until the Wedding (Poland)
Directed by Daniel Stopa
Produced by Małgorzata Staroń, Joanna Tatko, Staron-Film
Institute of Documentary Film Special Mention – invitation to East Doc Platform
Workcenter (Poland)
Directed by Aniela Gabryel
Produced by Agnieszka Dziedzic, Koi Studio
Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation Special Mentions
I Am One Of Them (Poland)
Directed by Nadim Suleiman
Produced by Jacek Bławut, Luiza Pietrzak, Palmyra Films
Lesson of Freedom
Directed by Tadeusz Chudy, Bartosz Łuniewski
Produced by Rafał Sakowski, Story Vehicle
