Maciek Hamela’s documentary film ” From Where to Where” (In the Rearview), co-financed by the Polish Film Institute (PISF), was honoured with the Pare Lorentz Award at the IDA Documentary Awards ceremony.

The special laurel, the Pare Lorentz Award, is given to productions that reflect the spirit and tradition of the work of award-winning American documentary filmmaker Pare Lorentz, who believed that film concealed great potential for improving social justice and education.

Pare Lorentz authored groundbreaking productions for President Roosevelt’s administration and served as a filmmaker in the US Army Air Corps during World War II, documenting such things as bombing raids and making educational films as evidence during the Nuremberg trials to portray Nazi atrocities.

“From Where to Where” is a gripping, extremely human and honest portrait of migration caused by warfare.

“We are currently facing a refugee crisis on a massive scale, affecting more people in the world than ever before. We hope that our film shows the importance of the global drive to end wars and that the war in Ukraine will also end soon”, said Maciek Hamela.

“From Where to Where” debuted at this year’s Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival, where it won the main prize in the Polish Competition and the award of the Association of Studio Cinemas. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. It has been screened at more than 50 festivals in Poland and abroad, winning numerous awards, including the jury’s main prize in the International Competition at Sheffield DocFest, which resulted in an entry for the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards in the Best Documentary category.

Adrian Andrzejewski