KFF INDUSTRY ZONE AT THE 56TH KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL - SUMMARY

Krakow Film Market, pitchings, presentations, conferences, coproduction meeting, networking events, panel discussions and many more. Professionals attending this year's KFF Industry Zone coudn't complain on lack of the activities.

KFF Industry Zone is a part of Krakow Film Festival dedicated to film industry professionals, the pillars of which are: Krakow Film Market, the pitchings Animated in Poland, DOCS TO START and DOCS TO GO!, DOC LAB POLAND Co-production Market, Focus on Sweden, KRK Interactive and daily individual meetings Film PRO Industry Meetings. A new addition were the  DOCS TO BUYscreenings and all-day conference and the vernissage of the Docs+Science exhibition.All events within the frames of KFF Industry Zone were held from May 30 to June 4 in Małopolski Ogród Sztuki, which was at the same time the Festival Centre.

KRAKOW FILM MARKET

1500 films were submitted to participate in this year's eleventh edition of Krakow Film Market, out of which 250 titles were chosen by the organisers after careful selection. 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, Visions du Reel Film Festival and this year, Swedish Film Institute.

All qualified films were included in the market catalogue, and during the Festival, they could be watched in the digital videolibrary.  This year, the films in the videolibrary were watched by 225 accredited guests, and among the users of Krakow Film Market there were the festival programmers:   DOK Leipzig (Germany), IDFA (the Netherlands), Visions du Reel – Doc Outlook Market (Switzerland), Sundance FF (the USA), CPH:DOX (Denmark),  It’s All True IDFF (Brazil), Moscow FF (Russia), Venice International Film Critics’ Week (Italy), Directors Fortnight Cannes FF (France), Hot Docs (Canada), TLa Biennale di Venezia – Venice FF (Italy) - to mention the most important, distributors and sales agents  as well as film experts and brodcasters. The films collected in the videolibrary were played a total of 2 570 times. 116 films were played more than 10 times. The most frequently watched film - 72 times - was the documentary film "21 x New York " directed by Piotr Stasik.

The most frequently  watched Polish films:

21 x New York, dir. Piotr Stasik (documentary film, 70’)

You Have No Idea How Much I Love You, dir. Paweł Łoziński (documentary film, 75’)

Icon, dir. Wojciech Kasperski (documentary film, 51’)

Borderline Miracles, dir. Tomasz Jurkiewicz (documentary film, 52’)

Education, dir. Emi Buchwald (documentary film, 20’)

Close Ties, dir. Zofia Kowalewska (documentary film, 18’)

Walking Spark, dir. Marcin Kopeć (documentary film, 52’)

The Internal Ear, dir. Szymon Uliasz, Magdalena Gubała (documentary film, 75’)

Alisa in Warland, dir. Alisa Kovalenko, Liubov Durakova (documentary film, 75’)

Hot and Cold, dir. Marta Prus (feature film, 30’)

The most frequently  watched foreign films:

Cuba Libre,dir. Lech Majewski (the Netherlands/ Poland, feature film, 21’)

Sexy Laundry, dir. Izabela Plucińska (Germany/Canada/ Poland, animated film, 12’)

The Nine, dir. Katy Grannan (the USA, documentary film, 98’)

Romeo and Juliet, dir. Massimo Coppola (Italy, documentary film, 57’)

Zebra, dir. Ülo Pikkov (Estonia, animated film, 6’)

When You Awake, dir. Jay Rosenblatt (the USA, documentary film, 11’)

Reflections, dir. Sara Broos (Sweden, documentary film, 80’)

The Swedish Theory of Love, dir. Erik Gandini (Sweden, documentary film, 80’)

My Friend Boris Nemtsov, dir. Zosya Rodkevich (Estonia, Russia, documentary film, 70’)

The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson, dir. Julien Temple (Great Britain, documentary film, 91’)

Krakow Film Market has also its online version, in which you can watch the majority of Polish films presented in the videolibrary. KFM Online is a year-long platform, operating in a similar way to the video collection during KFF Industry Zone. It gives the registered film industry professionals access to the latest documentary, animated and short productions from anywhere in the world and in a convenient time. Thanks to it, people from the film industry who could not participate in Krakow Film Festival, have a perfect opportunity to get acquainted with the works of Polish film-makers.

DOCS+SCIENCE DAY

On May 30, there was a day-long conference DOCS+SCIENCE DAY, which was co-organised by the Film Academy in Olomouc (AFO). It consisted of lectures, discussion panels and case studies. The lecture on financing and distribution of science documentary film was given by Christine Reisen from Parisscience, there were also production analyses of the Czech documentary films "Clovel to je veda" and "Planeta Cesko". The case study "Wild Africa 3D" was conducted by Jonathan Williams from BBC Worldwide. Camp4Science, held annually in Olomouc, was also summarised. The conference ended with the vernissage of the exhibition "(In) Vissible Life - Czech Science Docs in 20th Century," the musical frame of which was prepared by DJ Kosmic Skaut.

ANIMATED IN POLAND

This year's programme of Animated in Poland was divided into Student Project Market and public presentations combined with individual meetings. The co-organiser of the events was Polish Animation Producers Association. During Student Project Market lectures were given by Robert Jaszczurowski from Grupa Smacznego, who told how to successfully move from the idea for animated film to its making and by Michał Michalak from Fumi Studio, who explained to the students how budgeting, production and distribution of animated film work. This was followed by the case study based on the animated film series "Agi Bagi" and "Latający Niedźwiedź." The host, Tomasz Niedźwiedź (Badi Badi) showed how to bring a project of animated film series to the stage of development, how to create workflow, build a team and supervise it in order to sell the series to various European markets. At the end, the students had time for individual conversations with the lecturers.

In the Animated in Poland pitching  of films in post-production,  six projects participated:  Błoto, dir. Alicja Błaszczyńska, Auto Terror, dir. Wojciech Hoffman, Bernard, dir. Anna Oparkowska, Samotność, dir. Betina Brożek, Klingert's Diving Suit, dir. Artur Wyżykowski, Z wiatrem, dir. Agnieszka Waszczeniuk. All who presented their films had an opportunity to meet and have an individual conversation with the representatives of international festivals, television channels and distributors, among others, with SND Films, FilmFest Dresden, Festival Regard, Shorts TV UK, La Biennale di Venezia.

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

In Krakow, for the second time the workshops DOC LAB POLAND (session II), co-organised by Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation, were held.  The participants of DOC LAB START under the guidance of tutors and experts  - Leena Pasanen, the director of the festival DOK Leipzig, Rada Šešić the selector of Sarajevo FF and  IDFA and Mikael Opstrup from European Documentary Network -  worked on projects in development or in the early stages of production, whereas the participants of DOC LAB GO, whose advisers were Peter Jäger (Autook Film Sales) and Elizabeth Radshaw (the Industry director of Hot Docs), worked on projects at the stage of editing. 

The key events included the pitching sessions DOCS TO START and DOCS TO GO!

The pitching DOCS TO START  is a presentation of film projects which are currently developed, or the filming of which has just began, and its aim is to obtain business partners, co-producers and to search for funds. 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, who would like to join these projects at the early stage and to the selectors of pitching platforms at the most important festivals.

10 projects were shown:

BOYLESQUE, dir. Bogna Kowalczyk, prod. Boffo - Tomasz Morawski

MISS HOLOCAUST, dir. Michalina Musielak, prod. FuriaFilm Karolina Galuba, Małgorzata Małysa 

MISSION, dir. Monika Krupa, prod. Trzy Film - Dorota Mandziara

MOODY, dir. Karolina Karwan, Tomasz Ratter, prod. Munk Studio - Polish Filmmakers Association - Tomasz Ratter

THE RUN, dir. Kacper Lisowski, prod. Iron Films - Krzysztof Szpetmański

SCARS, dir. Agnieszka Zwiefka, prod. Chilli Productions - Agnieszka Zwiefka, Boekamp and Kriegsheim - Stefano Strocchi

SELFIE WITH GOD, dir. Łukasz Konopa, Heymann Brothers Films  - Sasha Harari, Anna Kardaszewska, Last Moment Production - Aleksandra Leszczyńska

STUDY OF CHAOS, dir. Tomasz Śliwiński, Magda Hueckel, prod. Arton Foundation - Marika Kuźmicz

VOLTE, dir. Monika Kotecka, Karolina Poryzała, prod. LAVA Films - Agnieszka Wasiak

After the presentations, 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,  MIRAPIX (Switzerland), HBO Europe (Hungary), Jihlava IDFF (the Czech Republic), Marx Film (Estonia, Russia), East Doc Platform (the Czech Republic), TVP Kultura (Poland), Artline Films (France), YLE (Finland), Docs in Thessaloniki (Greece), MDR (Germany), CPH:LAB (Denmark), Tuffi (Finland), Pink (the Czech Republic), Braidmade Film (the UK), Momento Films (Sweden), TVP 2 (Poland), SVT (Sweden), Krakow Film Cluster (Poland), Bydgoski Fundusz Filmowy (Poland), Bullit Films (Denmark), Kundschafter (Germany), LPMA (Finland), DOCM – Visions du Reel (Switzerland), Beauvoir Films (Switzerland), Artichoke (Slovakia).

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 fifth 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 edit of the 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.

8 projects were shown:

THE ART OF UNDERSTANDING, dir. Matej Bobrik, prod. Koi Studio Agnieszka Dziedzic, Agnieszka Skalska

ARTUR, dir. Wiktoria Szymańska, prod. Plesnar&Krauss Films – Maria Krauss, Joanna Plesnar

BORDER CUT, dir. Igor Chojna, prod. Lava Films – Mariusz Włodarski, Mariusz Włodarski, Hanfgarn & Ufer - Gunter Hanfgarn, Sireal Films  - Michaela Pňačeková, Bauderfilm – Marc Bauder

CONCERTO FOR TWO, dir.  Tomasz Drozdowicz, prod. Film Studio "Autograf" - Beata Hyczko

OVER THE LIMIT, dir. Marta Prus, prod. Telemark – Maciej Kubicki, Anna Kępińska

THE UGLIEST CAR IN THE WORLD, dir. Grzegorz Szczepaniak, prod. Wydawnictwo Fonograficzne ANAGRAM -  Grzegorz Szczepaniak

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, dir. Rafał Łysak, prod. Jacek Bławut Film Production -  Jacek Bławut, Victoria Ogneva

VILLAGE OF SWIMMING COWS, dir.   Katarzyna Trzaska, prod. ZYGIZAGA Robert Zygmuntowski  - Katarzyna Trzaska

After the presentations, all representatives of the project met experts, festival selectors (DOK Lepzig, IDFA, Visions du Reel, Venice Film Critics’ Week, Sundance FF, Warsaw FF, CPH:DOX, Tempo Documentary Festival,  Festival dei Popoli, Directors Fortnight – Cannes FF, One World IHRDFF ) and distributors (Film Republic, Syndicado, Visible Film, Java Films, Sideway Films,  Autlook Filmsales, Deckert Distribution, Rise and Shine Film Sales, Dogwoof).

The best projects received awards:

Within the frames of DOCS TO START:

-The HBO Award amounting to 10 000 PLN was given to the project of the film "Boylesque," dir. Bogna Kowalczyk, prod. Tomasz Morawski / BOFFO.

-Krakow Film Cluster Award in the form of a voucher to use for production and post-production amounting to 25 000 PLN went to "Study of Chaos," dir. Tomasz Śliwiński, Magdalena Hueckel, prod. Marika Kuźmicz / ARTON FOUNDATION.

 -DOK Leipzig Special Mention, with the invitation to the film market, was awarded to the film "Volte," dir. Monika Kotecka, Karolina Poryzała, prod. Agnieszka Wasiak / LAVA FILMS.

 -European Documentary Network Special Mention with the invitation to the workshop Lisbon Doc went to "Mission," dir. Monika Krupa, prod. Dorota Mandziara / TRZY FILM.

Within the frames of DOCS TO GO!:

-Polish Filmmakers Association Award amounting to 10 000 PLN went to "Unconditional Love," dir. Rafał Łysak, prod. Jacek Bławut, Victoria Ogneva / JACEK BŁAWUT FILM PRODUCTION.

-Krakow Technology Park Award – a voucher for post-production worth 25 000 PLN was given to "The Ugliest Car in the World," dir. and prod. Grzegorz Szczepaniak / ANAGRAM.

 -East Doc Platform Special Mention and the invitation to Project Market went to the project "Village of the swimming cows," dir. and prod. Katarzyna Trzaska / ZYGIZAGA.

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 three-hour meetings, Polish producers had a chance to talk with partners from France, Switzerland, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Russia, USA, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

DOCS TO BUY

This year, for the first time for foreign distributors there were organised closed industry screenings of the latest Polish documentary films, which had their world premières at Krakow Film Festival or were still before their premières.

Films which were shown at DOCS TO BUY:

13 summers under water, dir. Wiktoria Szymańska, prod. Luna w., Tea
21 x New York, dir. Piotr Stasik, prod. Lava Films,
Kiedy wrócisz (working title), dir. Anna Zamecka, prod. Otter Films
Monk of the Sea, dir. Rafał Skalski, prod. Centrala Film
Walking Spark, dir. Marcin Kopeć, prod. Shipsboy

Producers of all these films had an opportunity for individual meetings with the representatives of Kouzi Productions (Greece), Cinema Delicatessen (the Netherlands), I Wonder Pictures (Italy), Mindjazz Pictures (Germany), Documentaire sur Grand Ecran (France), Doc Lounge (Denmark), Parallel 40 (Spain).

THE CONFERENCE: FOCUS ON SWEDEN

The special guest at this year's 56th edition of Krakow Film Festival was the cinema of Sweden. The programme "Focus on Sweden" included screenings of selected latest Swedish documentary, short and animated films. The review of Swedish films was accompanied by the conference "Focus on Sweden," whose participants - the representatives of Swedish audiovisual industry - told about production, promotion and distribution of Swedish documentary and short films in that country. The participants of the discussion panel included Stig Björkman (director), Sara Broos (director, producer), Maja Lindquist (Doc Lounge/Nordisk Panorama), Antonio Russo Merenda (Swedish Film Institute), Sara Rüster (Swedish Film Institute), Lars Säfström (SVT), Jerzy Śladkowski (director). The discussion was hosted by Laurence Boyce, the film critic and film journalist, a friend of the festival.

MASTERCLASS, PRESENTATIONS, SEMINARS, MEETINGS WITH EXPERTS

This year's  winner of Dragon of Dragons, Marcel Łoziński, gave a masterclass lecture about "thickening of the reality" in documentary film, giving the audience examples from his own documentaries, such as "89 mm from Europe", "Happy End", "The Visit".

Derry O'Brien, managing director of Network Ireland Television, told about festival, cinema and television distribution of short films, but most of all, he familiarised the audience with the functioning of Network Ireland Television.  He explained what to do and what absolutely not to do while marketing your film and interspersed his lecture with the examples of trailers and short films distributed by NIT, such as "Red Thunder", "Coffee to Go", and "In the Clouds".

Traditionally the Magazine FilmPro was the co-organiser of individual meetings with invited industry specialists at a week-long Film Pro Industry Meeings. Filmmakers from around the world, visiting Krakow Film Festival, had the opportunity to meet distributors and sales agents, among others, Deckert Distribution (Germany),  Java Films (France), Sideway Films (the UK), Taskovski Films (Great Britain), Dogwoof (Great Britain), Visible Film (Belgium), Rise and Shine (Germany), Under The Milky Way (Austria), SND Films (the Netherlands), NIT (Ireland), Shorts TV (UK), as well as film festival programmers, among others, from DOK Leipzig (Germany), IDFA (the Netherlands), Visions du Reel (Switzerland), Tempo DF (Sweden), Festival dei popoli (Italy), Trieste Film Festival (Italy), Filmfest Dresden – International Short Film Festival (Germany), Kyiv International Short FF (Ukraine), Dokufest Kosovo (Kosovo), Sundance FF (the USA), CPH:DOX (Denmark), In-Edit Documentary Music Festival (Spain), One World Human Rights International Documentary FF (the Czech Republic), It’s All True IDFF (Brazil), Venice International Film Critics’ Week (Italy), Directors Fortnight Cannes FF (France), Festival Regard ISFF (Canada), La Biennale di Venezia – Venice FF (Italy).

This year's Industry Party was held in the newly opened club Weźże Krafta in the former tobacco factory. Traditionally, there was no professional DJ, the music was played by the festival guests who were specially asked to do it on this occasion - this year, "Anima Girls Collective" performed, consisting of the animated film-makers Wiola Sowa and Marta Pajek.

KRK INTERACTIVE

This year's section KRK Interactive chose virtual reality as its subject matter. The presentation of their project "Storm" - an interactive documentary game - was shown by Jakub Brzózka and Jakub Jakubowski from the Polish department of the innovative group "Unit 9." A lecture about the future of VR and future communication methods was given by Carl Guyenette, a futurist philosopher, who collaborated on making special effects for such films as "Harry Potter," "X-Men" and "Dark Knight Rises." Within the frames of KRK Interactive, the audience could also get acquainted with interactive online projects, available in Arteteka, which were selected for this occasion by the section curator Miriam Ryndova from the Institute of Documentary Films in Prague.

 

Contact:  Katarzyna Wilk – Industry Zone co-ordinator  industry@kff.com.plwww.krakowfilmfestival.pl

Industry Zone Producer: Krakow Film Foundation.

Partners:  Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation, Krakow Festival Office, Krakow Film Commission, FilmPRO, Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna in Krakow, Małopolski Ogród Sztuki, Krakow Film Cluster, AMSO, Lassota.pl, Krakow Technology Park

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

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

Photographies: Tomasz Korczyński