Screening dates of our films at WAMA Film Festival
Tomorrow (October 5) begins the WAMA Film Festival. The 8th edition of the event includes three titles from the Warsaw Film School in the Short Film Competition: "By the River (dir. Agata Korycka), "Dismay" (dir. Joanna Szymańska) and "The Howling" (dir. Bartosz Brzeziński). The festival will conclude on October 9. The motto of this year's edition is: "Normality".
WAMA Film Festival is an international film festival created in 2014. The event takes place in Olsztyn. The theme of the festival refers to the characteristic feature of the region of Warmia and Mazury – the largest number of national and ethnic minorities in Poland. WAMA's premise is to address issues related to the common functioning of various ethnic, social or religious groups.
Apart from screenings, the WAMA Film Festival also features workshops, discussion panels and accompanying events. Every year there is also an ecological children's section, which is a series for the youngest viewers and their parents combining entertainment with education.
The event features two competitions: the International Co-Production Film Competition and the Short Film Competition.
As many as 18 productions are taking part in this year's competition for short films. Among them there are as many as three exceptional titles from the Warsaw Film School: "By the River", "Dismay" and "The Howling", which will compete for this year's Grand Prix of the festival, as well as for the Jury Award of the Warmia and Mazury Region, the Special Prize of Michelin Poland SA and a chance to be nominated for the Jan Machulski Award.
Below are the dates of our films' screenings, which will take place in Multikino Olsztyn:
BY THE RIVER
dir. Agata Korycka
Short Films Competition – SCREENING I
Friday, October 8, 3:30 pm – 5:15 pm – Screening room no. 9
Still from the film "By the River" – cinematographer: Olaf Malinowski
A movie about the courage necessary to live a life in harmony with yourself. Policewoman Kinga fallsin love with a woman. She engages in helping women beaten during the march against fascism. She breaks an order. This gives her the strength to reject the values she disagrees with and build herself anew. The film refers to real events - the Women's Strike and the Independence March (Marta Lempart appears in the film). These actions give her the strength to throw away the values she disagrees with and build herself anew.
CAST: Aleksandra Pisula, Anna Gorajska, Anna Bielecka, Dobromir Dymecki, Łukasz Wójcik, Maciej Gośniowski
SCRIPT & DIRECTING: Agata Korycka DOP: Olaf Malinowski EDITING: Anna Maria Filipow SOUND: Patrycja Krysik, Zofia Węgrzyn MUSIC: Przemysław Książek ARTISTIC SUPERVISION: Marek Brodzki PRODUCTION MANAGER: Pamela Barbaś, Aleksandra Ziomka PRODUCER: Maciej Ślesicki PRODUCTION: Warsaw Film School
DISMAY
dir. Joanna Szymańska
Short Films Competition – SCREENING III
Friday, October 8, 8:45 pm – 10:25 pm – Screening room no. 9
Still from the film "Dismay" – cinematographer: Przemysław Brynkiewicz
"Dismay" is a magical and brutal story set in a Masurian village about the extraordinary bond between a father and an eight-year-old daughter and about the terrible consequences of an attempt to take away a hypersensitive girl from an alcohol-addicted musician. Little Ula does not know that at herCommunion party, instead of a long-awaited mother who has left her father, a curator from the social welfare centre will appear, ready to take her to an orphanage immediately. However, the girl will never allow anyone to take back what she managed to save after her mother left. Together with her father, a local organist, against all odds, she believes her mother will come back and she is still waiting for this moment. The joyful, May day of the First Holy Communion will turn into a nightmarish triumph of the wild world of Masurian nature, which is the only ally of little Ula.
CAST: Zoja Szcześniak, Mariusz Kiljan, Joanna Fertacz, Joanna Trzepiecnińska, Dominika Pasternak, Karolina Gibowska, Andrzej Andrzejewski, Rafał Zawierucha, Aleksy Komorowski
DIRECTOR: Joanna Szymańska SCRIPT: Malwina Chojnacka DOP: Przemysław Brynkiewicz EDITING: Łukasz Falkowski, Rafał Stolarczyk, Adam Cyran SOUND: Karol Szykowny MUSIC: Jan Sanejko ARTISTIC SUPERVISION: Maciej Ślesicki PRODUCER: Maciej Ślesicki PRODUCTION: Warsaw Film School
THE HOWLING
dir. Bartosz Brzeziński
Short Films Competition – SCREENING IV
Saturday, October 9, 10:15 am – 12:00 – Screening room no, 9
Still from the film "The Howling" – autor zdjęć: Max Bugajak
Kuba grows up in a boring little village where nothing ever happens. He is raised by an alcoholic father who runs a sheep farm for a living. One day, an old acquaintance from the big city shows up in the village. The guest's visit comes at a time when the protagonist is entering a period of discovering his sexuality. Kuba quickly faces a difficult choice.
CAST: Maciej Łączyński, Adam Stępnicki, Robert Czebotar, Mateusz Trojanowski, Jakub Onichowski, Bartosz Gomoła, Oskar Rybaczek
SCRIPT & DIRECTING: Bartosz Brzeziński DOP: Max Bugajak EDITING: Mariusz Gos SOUND: Adam Szlenda / Dreamsound MUSIC: Tomasz Mreńca ARTISTIC SUPERVISION: Barbara Pawłowska PRODUCTION MANAGER: Karolina Kałakajło PRODUCER: Maciej Ślesicki PRODUCTION: Warsaw Film School
Each of the competition blocks will be followed by a meeting with the filmmakers, hosted by Piotr Czerkawski.
We wish good luck to our three teams. Be sure to check out their films in Olsztyn!
Films by students of the Warsaw Film School are co-financed by the Polish Film Institute