13 films will compete to win the Millennium Award – Grand Prix at the Main Competition of the 15th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival.
13 films will compete for the Millennium Award. The jury will include: Jan Gassmann – film director, Anna Zamecka – film director, Grzegorz Jarzyna – theatre director. The jury will choose from among the newest and most interesting works in documentary film. Among the films in competition is the Sundance awarded “Genesis 2.0” by Christian Frei and Maxim Arbugaev which tells a story of hunters of extinct mammoth tusks in New Siberia and the genetic experiments which are meant the mammoths back to life. The Oscar® nominated Christian Frei (“War Photographer”) asks if the human will soon be able to take control over evolution. In the Main Festival competition we will also show “The Long Season” by Leonard Retel Helmrich about the lives of Syrian refugees in a camp of seasonal workers in Lebannon. In “Generation Wealth” Lauren Greenfield visually tells the unusual story of our increasing obsession with wealth. In the Political Science section we will show two films from the Main Competition. In “The Other Side of Everything” Mila Turajlic and her mother have humorous conversations about the history of their country – Serbia. It is a picture of political and social changes – from communism leading through the Milosevic era up to contemporary emergence of nationalism. In the Berlinale awarded Ruth Beckermann film “Waldheim Walz”, archival footage is used to talk about the scandal of the nazi past of UN secretary Kurt Waldheim which erupted during his Austrian presidential campaign in 1986.
Alexandru Solomon’s “Tarzan’s Testicles” tells the story of a life in the shadows of an abandoned research facility which was built in the 20’s in Suchumi, the capital of Abkhazia. In “Love is Potatoes” by Aliona van der Horst a journey into the past takes place, into her Russian mother’s childhood and her five sisters who struggled with fear, hunger and war in Stalinist Russia. Both films are part of a new section of the 15th edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival – Outskirts of the Empire, in which more films will show today’s reality of the remnants of the Soviet Union. Another title of the Main Competition will be “The Cleaners“. The directors Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck confront the myth that the internet is a democratic medium. They show how thousands of content moderators in the Phillipinnes day by day decide on what will and what won’t be shown in social media. “The Cleaners” is also a part of another new section of the 15th edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival: So what’s next in this world?
As in every year the Festival consists of many films which bring the camera’s eye especially close to their subjects, revealing their unique stories. The section Intimate Stories will include two films from the Main Competition – “Minding the Gap” by Bing Liu and “Mrs. Fang” by Wang Bing. “Minding the Gap” is a moving account of adolescence of three Illinois skateboarders. “Mrs. Fang“, the winner of Locarno Film Festival is a moving picture of bidding farewell to the world by the main subject of the film. Although death has been the subject of many films, rarely do we get such an enduring and powerful stare-down with it.
As every year, The 15th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival will be an opportunity to see the newest and most interesting films by Polish filmmakers. The Main Competition includes “The Prince and the Dybbuk” by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski which received an award at the International Film Festival in Venice as one of the best documentary films in the Venice Classics section. It is the cinematic journey in the footsteps of Michał Waszyński, the author of many famous pre-war films with Eugeniusz Bodo, the director of the famous mystical “Dybbuk” and a producer of many Hollywood hits with Sofia Lauren and Claudia Cardinale. In the Main Competition we will also present “Call Me Tony” by Klaudiusz Chrostowski which was awarded at IDFA Festival.
The 15th edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival is also an invitation to explore the secrets of the fascinating world of nature – among the many films in this subject the audience will have the opportunity to see “Becoming Animal” by Peter Mettler and Emma Davie which shows the fleeting state when humans and animals meet in a feeling of unity and lack of aggression. Peter Mettler is simultaneously one of the directors whose work we will look at closely during the 15th edition of the festival – in the program we will also have his special performance “Yoshtoyoshto“.
In thanks to the support of local governments including those of Wrocław, Gdynia, Lublin and Bydgoszcz, Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival will also hold additional competitions in these cities. The awards will include Grand Prix of Lower Silesia during the Wrocław edition (the jury will include: Maciej Kurowicki – musician, Jarosław Perduta – director of the cultural institution “Odra-Film”, Magdalena Piekarska – journalist and Arkadiusz Wojnarowski – a producer and lecturer) and Gdynia Mayor’s Award (Marcin Borchardt – director, film expert and lecturer, Katarzyna Smoła – a promoter of culture and Anna Witkowska – designer and visual artist). In Warsaw, Wrocław and Gdynia we will also hold the “Co Jest Grane 24” Readers’ Choice Award.
13 films will compete to win the Millennium Award – Grand Prix at the Main Competition of the 15th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival – a list:
1. „The Long Season”), dir. Leonard Retel Helmrich, Holand 2017, 115 min.
2. „Call me Tony”, dir. Klaudiusz Chrostowski, Poland 2017, 62 min.
3. „The Cleaners”, dir. Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck, Germany, Brazil 2018, 88 min.
4. „The Other Side of Everything”, dir. Mila Turajlic, Serbia, France, Quatar 2017, 104 min.
5. „Genesis 2.0”, dir. Christian Frei, Maxim Arbugaev, Switzerland 2018, 113 min.
6. „Tarzan’s Testicles”, dir. Alexandru Solomon, Romania, France 2017, 107 min.
7. „Minding the Gap”, dir. Bing Liu, USA 2018, 100 min.
8. „The Prince and the Dybbuk”, dir. Elwira Niewiera i Piotr Rosołowski, Poland, Germany 2017, 80 min.
9. „Love is Potatoes”, dir. Aliona van der Horst, Holand 2017, 90 min.
10. „Mrs. Fang”, dir. Wang Bing, China, France, Germany, 2017, 86 min.
11. „Generation Wealth”, dir. Lauren Greenfield, USA 2018, 106 min.
12. „Becoming Animal”, dir. Peter Mettler, Emma Davie, UK, Switzerland 2018, 77 min.
13. „The Waldheim Waltz”, dir. Ruth Beckermann, Austria 2018, 93 min.
The 15th edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival will take place from 11th until the 20th of May in Warsaw and Wrocław, from the 14th until 21st of May in Lublin and from the 16th until 25th of May in Gdynia. A local edition will also take place from the 19th to 26th of May in Bydgoszcz.
