We warmly encourage you to see films outside the competition. We will show you films distinguished by the European Film Academy as well as some less known, but still very interesting titles. We offer you a glance at the Near East through films from Israel and Palestine. You can see the outcomes of the crisis in Greece or complicated human fate juxtaposed against historical events.
Ambulance
directed by: Mohamed Jabaly (2016), 78’
Ambulance is a raw, first-person account of the last war in Gaza, July 2014. Mohamed Jabaly, a young man from Gaza City, joins an ambulance crew as war approaches. What is it like to grow up under constant threat? How can Mohamed find his place in a country under siege, where at times there seems to be no foreseeable future? We experience the war through Mohameds eyes as he comes of age among broken bodies, terrified families, and the constant risk of sudden death. In response to the dark chaos of war, Mohamed learns to rely on his captain and crew-mates, who in turn support Mohamed to make a film that expresses both the trauma and hope of the too-often invisible citizens of Gaza.
26 November, 11.45 AM
Battle of Wrocław / Bitwa wrocławska
directed by: Beata Januchta (2016), 115’
The story of the origin, course and consequences of the greatest manifestation of the martial law period, which took place on the 31st of August 1982.
22 November, 12.00 AM
Brothers / Bracia
directed by: Wojciech Staroń (2015), 70’
A scientist and a painter, a pragmatic and a dreamer. Two personalities, two passions. Alfons and Mieczyslaw Kułakowski, like the tender barbarian from Hrabal’s prose, are suspended between Poland and Kazakhstan, between ambitions and resignation, memories and contemporaneity.
24 November, 9.30 PM
Close Ties / Więzi
directed by: Zofia Kowalewska (2016), 18’
Barbara and Zdzisław had been married for 45 years but 8 years ago Zdzisław left Barbara to live with his lover. Recently he has decided to return to Barbara. Barbara accepted him back. However, it turns out that it is very difficult for the two of them to live together in one apartment again. Zdzisław suggests they should organise a anniversary celebration of their relationship. The film was short-listed for the Oscar nomination.
25 November, 6.00 PM
Dancing with Maria
directed by Iván Gergolet (2014), 74’
Maria Fux spends her life training dancers, particularly those with disabilities. But now, at 90, she finds her toughest student may be herself.
22 November. 9.00 AM
Doomed Beauty
directed by Helena Třeštíková, Jakub Hejna (2016), 91’
Lída Baarová dazzled filmgoers with her beauty for a few short years before the clouds began to darken her career as a result of her affair with Goebbels…
25 November. 4.15 PM
Fire! Fire! At Last Something’s Going On / Pożar. Pożar. Coś nareszcie dzieje się
directed by: Marek Piwowski (1967), 13’
A humorous story about the life of provincial youth, full of sarcasm and bitter irony.
24 November, 6.00 PM
Intensity of Watching / Intensywność patrzenia
directed by: Andrzej Sapija (2016), 75’
Polish premiere of a documentary based on conversations with Kazimierz Karabasz, a prominent film director and a patriarch of the Polish documentary film.
26 November, 4.30 PM
Next Stop: Utopia
directed by Apostolos Karakasis (2015), 91’
When a factory closed down because of the crisis in Greece, a group of workers occupied it and ran it on their own, following the principles of absolute equality and direct democracy. The film follows the extraordinary adventure of these people, and their struggle against the law, state bureaucracy and their own limit.
26 November, 1.30 PM
Sirs and Misters
directed by: Oleksandr Techynsky (2013), 35’
A group of desperate men arrive from various parts of Ukraine to work as porters of Hasids who come to Uman every year to celebrate Jewish New Year.
22 November, 10.30 AM
The Look of Silence
directed by Joshua Oppenheimer (2014), 99’
A family that survives the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of their brothers.
22 November, 9 PM
The Mute’s House
reżyseria: Tamar Kay (2015), 31’
A deserted building in Hebron was left by its Palestinian owners. The building is called „The Mute’s House” by the Israeli soldiers stationed there and by the tour guides who pass by, as the only occupants are a deaf woman, Sahar, and her eight-year-old son, Yousef. The family’s unique story, which unfolds against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is told through the eyes of the young and charismatic Yousef, as he goes through his daily routine in both the Jewish and Muslim areas of a city torn apart by hatred and violence. The film was short-listed for the Oscar nomination.
26 November. 3.30 PM
To my Father / Ojcu
directed by: Liliana Komorowska, Diana Skaya (2015), 25’
A fictionalised documentary – a reconstruction of the story of Adam Bandrowski, a victim of the Stalin regime, murdered in 1938 in Winnica, Ukraine.
22 November, 11.10 AM
Toto and His Sisters
directed by Alexander Nanau (2014), 93’
Toto lives with his two sisters in a slum in Romania, their mother is in jail, and their home is frequented by a band of junkies.
27 November. 3 PM
Vivisection / Wiwisekcja
directed by: Marian T. Kutiak (2011), 30’
A moving tale of life in the world of alcohol, with alcohol and for alcohol. An actor Lech Dyblik tells us about himself, his alcohol addiction and suicidal thoughts. Eventually he decides to seek help.
25 November, 10.30 PM
Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?
directed by Barak Heymann, Tomer Heymann (2016), 85’
Saar is an HIV positive gay man living in London, where he found refuge from the religious kibbutz where he grew up in Israel. Ever since he was diagnosed with HIV, Saar has craved his family’s love, while they struggle with fears and prejudices. Saar and the rest of the London Gay Men’s Chorus provide a glorious soundtrack for this documentary about the power of forgiveness and the power that home has, no matter how far we go.
23 November. 9.30 PM
