prod|pro Bob Cooper, Susan Mullen, Mary Sexton, Mary Young Leckie scen|wr Sherry White zdj|ph Guy Godfree muz|mus Michael Timmins mon|ed Stephen O’Connell ob|cast Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Kari Matchett, Zachary Bennett dys|dis Hagi
Set in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Aisling Walsh’s film is an amazing love story, in which a loner (Ethan Hawke) offers a frail, but determined woman called Maudie work as a maid. Despite suffering from a congenital disease, Maudie is very energetic. She wants to be independent, live away from an overprotective family—and most importantly, she desires with great passion to paint her unusual paintings. The protagonist was inspired by Maud Lewis (1903-1970), an amateur painter famous for her colorful landscapes, hero of documentaries and books, nowadays considered one of the most important Canadian folk artists.
AISLING WALSH (1958)
Irish director and screenwriter born in Dublin. Graduated from the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield in England and Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dublin. Directs films and TV series for British television companies on a regular basis. Her Song for a Raggy Boy won over a dozen prizes at world’s most prestigious film festivals, including the Golden Swan at the film festival in Copenhagen.
AWARDS
2017 FAF TWO RIVERSIDES Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec – Audience Award
2017 Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards — Best Cinematography in Theatrical Feature
2017 Montclair Film Festival — Audience Award
2017 Writers Guild of Canada — Feature Film Award for writer Sherry White
eNDuRance | NDR | dir. Grzegorz Dębowski | PL | 2016 | 27 min
prod|pro Miłosz Bidziński scen|wr Grzegorz Dębowski zdj|ph Aleksander Pozdnyakov mon|ed Wojciech Janas ob|cast Bartłomiej Kotschedoff, Adam Bobik, Dorota Kiełkowicz-Suszka, Adam Grudniewicz, Damian Spychalski
To swindle money from an insurance company, first seek out a dupe, then let him make a mistake, take advantage of that and let the collision happen. Kamil is a pro at this. The problems start when his debt-ridden brother, Filip, asks him to set up an accident. But Filip is a party animal and not at all the right person for the deed. Kamil refuses, but the situation becomes complicated.
GRZEGORZ DĘBOWSKI
A graduate of the Łódź Film School, where he studied directing, Grzegorz Dębowski loves ‘moving pictures’ in all their many forms and collects fairy tales and stories from all over the world. He spends his free time planting trees. Devoid of the skill to win ‘friends’ in the ‘business’, after he has finished a film, he takes on any and every job he can in order to pay the debts he took out to make it.
AWARDS
2017 FAF TWO RIVERSIDES Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec nad Wisłą – 1st Prize, International Short Films Competition
BEER & CALIPPO | Piwo i Calippso | dir. Paul Ploberger | AT | 2017 | 28 min
prod|pro Catrin Freundlinger scen|wr Paul Ploberger zdj|ph Patrick Wally mon|ed Barbara Seidler ob|cast Maresi Riegner, Roland Düringer, Xaver Stockinger
Summer, an old camper and the feeling of freedom. Jojo wants to join her boyfriend Toni on a tour with his band. Her father promised to let her, because she got good marks in school. Everything seems perfect. But Jojo is pregnant, her father finds out and Toni has a crush on the drummer girl.
PAUL PLOBERGER (1986)
After his actor’s training at the Schauspielhaus Salzburg he startet to study at the Vienna Filmakademie, where he is studying „directing“ in his master’s at the moment.
AWARDS
2017 FAF TWO RIVERSIDES Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec nad Wisłą – 2nd Prize, International Short Films Competition
WIZARD OF U.S., THE | Czarnoksiężnik z krainy U.S. | dir. Balbina Bruszewska | PL | 2016 | 21 min
prod|pro Justyna Rucińska, Anna Mroczek, Wojciech Leszczyński scen|wr Balbina Bruszewska zdj|ph Balbina Bruszewska, Tomasz Łaptaszyński muz|mus Adam Hajzer, Martin Tillman mon|ed Janusz Czubak ob|cast Katarzyna Urbaniak, Balbina Bruszewska, Dagmara Kręcioch, Katarzyna Bohos, Darin Dusan
‘The Wizard of U.S.’ is an animated collage, a social satire referring to a popular American story by L. F. Baum ‘The Wizard of Oz’. A mysterious tornado grabs Dorothy and takes her to an unusual place full of prosperity and danger. She follows the yellow brick road to the wizard who will surely make her dreams come true.
BALBINA BRUSZEWSKA (1982)
Animation graduate of the Polish National Film School in Lodz and the UCLA Extensions in Los Angeles in writing for television. Multi-media artist and writer known for playful analysis of the bitter-sweet reality that bites the western civilization in the modern world. Alumna of prestigious art scholarships such as Młoda Polska. Educator, philosopher, member of Board of Directors at the Polish Film Institute.
AWARDS
2017 FAF TWO RIVERSIDES Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec nad Wisłą – 3th Prize, International Short Films Competition
Awarded with the Golden Palm in Cannes, moving and humorous story of a mature man who decides to help a single mother-of-two get back on her feet. However, when he himself starts making efforts to be granted a pension, he falls into the clutches of the truly Kafkaesque heartless bureaucratic machinery. Despite the indifference of officials and accumulating challenges that they need to face in their daily lives, Daniel and Katie will once again find joy of life and true friendship.
KEN LOACH (1936)
British film, television and theater director. In the early 60s, he started work for the ABC to move soon afterwards to the BBC. In 1967, he made his feature debut “Poor Cow.” His next film, “Kes” from 1969 is considered to be one of the best British films of the 20th century. Loach is known for his interest in thorny social topics, and he’s not afraid to show homelessness, abortion, the revolting youth or the complex relationship between the State and the Church. Winner of many awards at international film festivals. In 2006, he received the Golden Palm for his film “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” and 10 years later he repeated the achievement with “I, Daniel Blake.”
AWARDS
2016 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL – Golden Palm, the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (Ken Loach), Palm DogManitarian (Ken Loach for giving a role to Shae the dog)
2016 FAF TWO RIVERSIDES Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec – Audience Award
On a small island in New Zealand a group of 30 senior citizens, the eldest of which is 96, are preparing for the World Hip Hop Championships in Las Vegas. They are encouraged to work hard and overcome their own weaknesses by Billie Jordan, the group’s energetic manager, who is certain that everyone has a shot at winning. A wheelchair, cane, or prosthetic hip are therefore no longer an obstacle, let alone an excuse. What matters most is drive and the will to act, and they can do wonders. The film isn’t just an apotheosis to remaining active despite your age and physical limitations, but is also a fascinating depiction of people who prove that there is no point in fearing the passage of time – since life can bring joy regardless of age.
BRYN EVANS
New Zealand based Bryn Evans is a documentary producer and director. In 2008 Evans made his first television documentary “From Street to Sky”, an intimate profile of Tigilau Ness and the father-son relationship of one of New Zealand’s top Hip Hop stars, Che Fu. “Hip Hop-eration” is his first theatrical feature film.
AWARDS
2015 IFF in Santa Barbara – Audience Award
2015 FAF TWO RIVERSIDES Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec – Audience Award
www.facebook.com/HipHoperationTheMovie
www.hiphoperationthemovie.com
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prod|pro Leszek Kopeć, Jerzy Rados scen|wr Miłosz Sakowski, Marcin Kubawski zdj|ph Kacper Zieliński mon|ed Miłosz Sakowski ob|cast Anna Dymna, Mateusz Nędza, Łukasz Simlat
Tomek needs money. He tries to pull a “grandparent scam” on an elderly woman. When it seems that everything is going according to plan, the woman suddenly exposes the scammer and locks him in her apartment. She has a deal for him. Tomek will get the money if he pretends to be her grandson when a social worker comes to visit.
MIŁOSZ SAKOWSKI
He studied journalism. For five years he worked as a reporter for Polish news channel TVN24. He left television to study at Gdynia Film School.
AWARDS
2015 FAF TWO RIVERSIDES Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec nad Wisłą – 1st Prize, Independent Short Films Competition
WHAT I WANT | To, czego chcę | dir. Damian Kocur | PL | 2015 | 30 min
prod|pro Jerzy Łukaszewicz scen|wr Damian Kocur zdj|ph Damian Kocur muz|mus Maria Holka mon|ed Sebastian Mialik ob|cast Ariel Makara, Karolina Marczok, Daniel Furmaniak
Ariel, for whom his beloved football team and his dog are everything. Karolina, a single mother for whom a cheerleading career at one of the Silesian football teams is an illusory chance for a better life. When the two meet, it’s a clash of two seemingly different desires, both of which stem from loneliness.
DAMIAN KOCUR
Translator, student of cinematography at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Graduated from German studies at the Jagellonian University.
AWARDS
2015 FAF TWO RIVERSIDES Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec nad Wisłą – 2nd Prize, Independent Short Films Competition
AMERICA | Ameryka | dir. Aleksandra Terpińska | PL | 2015 | 30 min
prod|pro Jerzy Łukaszewicz scen|wr Aleksandra Terpińska zdj|ph Bartosz Bieniek mon|ed Przemysław Chruścielewski ob|cast Marta Mazurek, Aleksandra Adamska, Małgorzata Trofimiuk
Two teenagers – Anka and Dżastina – entertain themselves with dreams of a better life. Bored with their everyday existence, the two friends decide to go hitch-hiking. The adventure, which initially seemed innocent, transforms into an emotional game, and the unfolding events will forever change their relations.
ALEKSANDRA TERPIŃSKA (1983)
Graduated from directing at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television at the University of Silesia and from psychology at the University of Wrocław. Director and screenwriter of short films, advertisements, and music videos.
AWARDS
2015 IFF Camerimage – Golden Tadpole in the Student Etudes Competition
2015 FFD YOUTH AND FILM Koszalin – Special Mention
2015 IFF T-Mobile New Horizons – Special Prize in the Zoom Competition
2015 FAF TWO RIVERSIDES Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec nad Wisłą – 3rd Prize, Independent Short Films Competition
2015 ISFF ŻubrOFFka – Best Student Film
2016 NFF Prowincjonalia – Best Short Fiction Film
www.facebook.com/americashortfilm
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