The 37th Warsaw Film Festival. Competition prizes awarded. ‘Miracle’ Bogdan Georg Aptri wins Warsaw Grand Prix

The 37th Warsaw Film Festival is being held in the traditional format, although due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event is being carried out with an adequate health system. The festival started on October 8 and will run until October 17. On the afternoon of Saturday, October 16, the Festival Awards Ceremony was held.

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At the international competition, the winner of the Warsaw Grand Prix was the “miracle” of Bogdan Georg Aptri. In this category, the Directing Prize was also awarded to Rodrigo Bla and Laura Santolo for The Second Volume.

“Al-Bakr Al-Albani” directed by Bujar Al Yamani was awarded in the international competition. The same work was awarded the Ecumenical Jury Prize. As we read on the festival website, “The members of the jury are nominated by the SIGNIS Social Networking Association and INTERFILM. Apart from the artistic values ​​of the film, the ecumenical jury is concerned with its spiritual and human dimensions.”

The special prize in the international competition went to “YT” Dmitry Davydov and Stepan Burnishev.

The winners in this category were chosen by a jury composed of: Situra Aliyeva (Festival Director, Russia), Magda Kowalczyk (Operator, Poland / Great Britain), Tammy Tai (Producer, China, Switzerland, Germany), Peter Rommel (Producer, Germany) and Igor Sukmano (Festival Director, Belarus).

The best documentary was “When the Flowers Are Not Silent”. The director is Andrei Kotsilla. In this category, awards were given to “The Last Words” to Jill Hardy and Agnes Legon and “Back: Life After ISIS” to Alba Sutori Eat. The winners were announced by a jury made up of: Lithuanian director Gedro Zeketo, Belarusian producer Gedro Chekito and Canadian producer Ron Mann.

The FEI Prize was awarded to “The Hill of the Creeping Lionesses” directed by Luàna Bajrami from Kosovo. This award is given to the best first or second films by an Eastern European director, presented in any section of the festival. FIPRESCI is the International Federation of Film Critics.

The award for the “Independent, Innovative and Rebellious” Feature Film Competition went to “Bipolar” directed by Queenie Lee. Awards went to John Clayton Doyle “I Am a Lampshade” and “Transit” by Florence Miley. The figurines in this category have been awarded by: Israeli actress for the Osnat Bukofzer Film Fund, producer Marta Lewandowska and Italian producer Chiara Toffolo.

The winner of the 1-2 competition, which presented the first and second full-length film by authors from around the world, was “Ul” from Blerta Basholli. The award went to Sabaya and Her Cinema, directed by Orit Fox Rotem. The jury for this section included: Gabriel Bronnmayr (text consultant, Germany), Anna Maria Karlsdottir (producer, Iceland) and Jae Jeon (festival director, South Korea).

An award from the Ecumenical Jury was awarded for the film “Time Loop” directed by Masakazu Kaneko.

“Dream Controller” by Rafael Rodriguez was honored with the Statue in the Short Film Competition. Films in this category were evaluated by: Belgian director Aline Magrez, Ukrainian director of the Yelyzaveta Pysmak Film School in Lodz, Russian director and actress Lana Vlady.

The NETPAC Jury Prize was awarded for the film Sabaya and Her Cinema, directed by Orit Fox Rotem. The event organizers explained that NETPAC is the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, i.e. the Association for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, which awards the Best Asian Film award from the WFF programme.

“The Miracle” is the next installment in Romanian creator Bogdan George Aptri’s trilogy after “Unidentified,” which was honored in 2020 with a special award from the WFF Jury.

The movie was divided into two parts. In the beginning, we follow nineteen-year-old nun Christina, who is secretly leaving the convent to settle an urgent matter. The following clip shows a police investigation into the disappearance of a woman. “Detective Marius Breda is determined to find out what happened to the missing nun. Step by step recreates all the places he’s visited. His investigation goes in an unexpected direction. Maybe a real miracle…realistic or spiritual? Or maybe two sides of the same story? – We read at the festival Painting description.

Bogdan Georg Aptri was awarded the Warsaw Grand Prix during Saturday’s gala held at Multikino Złote Tarasy in Warsaw. Ten years ago, she made her debut at the Warsaw Film Festival. Over time, it turns out that every film he directed is shown in Warsaw. He said that sometimes in life we ​​meet people who support our work very much. He admitted that festival director Stefan Lodin is such a person. – I’m glad I still have friends here that I can meet every few years. I love this festival, the director said, receiving the figurine from the hand of Warsaw’s deputy mayor, Aldona Macnowska Gora.

Fifteen titles took part in the international competition, including “Rhinoceros” by Oleg Sentsov, which was presented in Venice, about a young man involved in the world of crime, who wants to radically change his life. Two other films about Venice were also nominated – “The Miracle” by Bogdan George Aptri, a professor at Columbia University in New York, and “Volume Two” by Rodrigo Bla and Laura Santolo.

The chance to win the prize was, among others, “Albanian Virgin” by Bujar Al Yamani, “Briggit Bardot Miraculous” by Lech Majowski, “Kinophilia” by Algemantas Poip, “Miss Osaka” by Daniel Densek, “Time Loop” by Masakazu Kaneko, “Word House” . Unfinished novels “Taras” Tomenka, “The Legend of Molly Johnson” by Lea Purcell, “No Problem” by Jiaxin Jiang and “Salome” by Jean-Luc Herbulut.

This year, more than four and a half thousand films from 96 countries around the world were submitted to the Warsaw Film Festival, that is, almost all places where films are made. Film fans have had over 168 films in the competition and non-competition divisions, including world, international and European premieres.

– This is a wonderful festival. Stefan Lodin has been managing it very well for many years – said Lech Majowski, film director, whose film “The Brilliant Brigitte Bardot” entered the international competition at the opening of the event.

The opening film of the festival was “Captain Volkonogov Survived” directed by Natasha Merkulova and Alexei Chubov. During the opening of the WFF, it was the first Polish show. The film was well received at the recent Venice International Film Festival.