The Polish film ‘Scraps’ (dir. Beata Dzianowicz), the Latvian-Lithuanian-Polish co-production ‘January’ (dir. Viesturs Kairiss) and the Polish-Ukrainian picture ‘Dad’ (dir. Anna Maliszewska) are among the 15 films to be presented in the International Competition at the Warsaw Film Festival. The 38th festival, which will run from 14 to 23 October 2022, will be opened by the Polish film Dangerous Gentlemen (dir. Maciej Kawalski).

This year’s programme features a total of 156 films from 57 countries (88 feature-length films, including 28 documentaries and 68 shorts), with world, international and European premieres.

Polish films are present in all festival sections. The film ‘Factorial Juggling’ (dir. Klaudia Folga) is included in the Free Spirit section, and two productions will be presented in the non-competitive Discoveries section: ‘The Real Life of Angels’ (dir. Artur Więcek ‘Baron’) and ‘Light of Night’ (dir. Tomek Tryzna). There are three Polish films in the Documentary Film Competition: “Chernobyl – People of Steel” (dir. Amadeusz Kocan), “The Day of a Ukrainian Volunteer” (dir. Volodymr Tykhyy) and “Learning to Fly” (dir. Katarzyna Trzaska).

The Short Film Competition include: “The Girl of My Dreams” (dir. Tomasz Żółtowski), “Beautiful Flower Meadow” (dir. Emi Buchwald), “Uncle Vakho’s Dream” (dir. Joanna Rój) and “All right, potatoes are in the stomach” (dir. Piotr Jasiński). The Polish classics section this year includes four films directed by Piotr Szulkin: ‘Ga, Ga. Glory to the Heroes’, ‘Golem’, ‘O-bi, o-ba. The End of Civilisation’ and ‘War of the Worlds. The End of Civilisation’.

In partnership with the Odessa International Festival, the Ukrainian Competition is also being organised this year, featuring new feature-length and short films. Also, a novelty is the Creme de la Creme Competition, which will show films previously screened and awarded at major festivals, 11 films in total.

Adrian Andrzejewski