2017

DOC LAB START:

THE GRADUATE

dir. Adrian Apanel, prod. Małgorzata Małysa, Karolina Galuba; Furia Film

Four university graduates. Four different personalities. Four different strategies. And one aim: to find the dream job. Movie follows the paths of five university graduates and their struggles. Film consists of five chapters, each of them with different protagonist on the different stage of life after university. “The Graduate” is a portrait of a young, lost generation.

TODAY, TOMORROW, … YESTERDAY

dir. Diana Kadłubowska, Krzysztof Kadłubowski, prod. Krzysztof Kadłubowski; Studio Filmowe Plus Tv

The movie is mainly a story of a toxic relationship between a mother and a daughter, with the war in the background. The whole film is made up of two parts. There is a mother and a daughter, two different worlds combined in a single story. It deals with a family and their difficult relations, with the war and the Holocaust in the background. The conflict is so intense that showing both protagonists in one scene is for now impossible.

LESSON OF LOVE

dir./prod. Małgorzata Goliszewska; Akademia Sztuki w Szczecinie, Anna Stylińska – Warsaw Film Center

Cafe Uśmiech is a restaurant, in operation for more than 50 years. It hosts weekly dances for senior citizens. These events have their regulars who wait all week to dance to their favourite songs, performed live by the Savio Band. There is a number of characters, each over 60 years of age, each with a different baggage of experience and different expectations from life and from dancing. They share a love for dance and a longing for love.

A LETTER TO MY MUM

dir. Jędrzej Michalak, prod. Daria Maślona, Stanisław Zaborowski; Silver Frame

This film is the director’s attempt to say goodbye to his dead mother. Trying to cope with the loss, he shows her his secrets, fulfills her dreams and asks questions about their relation. When somebody you love dies, how does it influence your life? How does it change the way you see the world and yourself?

THE WALL OF SHADOWS

dir. Eliza Kubarska, prod. Monika Braid; Braidmade Films

The Sherpa family break a taboo and climb Kumbhakarna – the most holy of mountains, in order to earn money for their son’s school and cut him away from their tradition. They accompany the western expedition of goal-driven and troubled misfits.

TRANSFER

dir. Joanna Rożen, prod. Maria Krauss; Plesnar & Krauss FILMS

Two in vitro fertilisation treatments: the pioneer one, 30 years ago and the one to be performed tomorrow on Kasia by the same Professor Kuczyński. And also the third one, director, from a few years ago.  There are questions to which the director still looking for answers.

THE MOLT

dir. Olaf Malinowski, prod. Małgorzata Małysa, Karolina Galuba; Furia Film

The film reveals a story of a loner by choice who resides at the end of the world, struggling between personal freedom and responsibility for 5 year old daughter living in a city. But what does it mean? What are the limits of his claimed freedom? Where lies its wildness? Where does it come from? The anxiety of being or a wandering in the mist? Is it possible to get all of it or throw away everything for it?

ART OF SURVIAL

dir. Konrad Szołajski, prod. Małgorzata Prociak; ZK Studio

A growing numbers of ordinary Poles have joined volunteer paramilitary groups to obtain military training and prepare to defend their homes from perceived dangers such as Russian Army or Islamic terrorists. Who are these people who sacrifice their spare time and undertake self-funded soldier training?

THE WHALE FROM LORINO

dir. Maciej Cuske, prod. Mikołaj Pokromski; Pokromski Studio Sp. z o.o. Sp. k.

The inhabitants of a Chukchi Peninsula, where the world literally ends, eagerly await every spring until the whales arrive and the time to hunt comes once again as a part of an ancient heritage. The film tells the story of one of the oldest tribes on Earth and their struggles, needs and dreams under these harsh conditions.

WAR WATCHERS

dir. Vita Maria Drygas, prod. Maciej Drygas; Dygas Production

‘War watchers’ is a creative documentary, psychological journey into depths of modern tourists, for whom a new holiday destination has become the place mired in armed conflict. Balancing between humour and bitter observation this story holds mirror to the times we live in.

DOC LAB GO:

DESERT COFFEE

dir. Mikael Lypinski, prod. Małgorzata Kozioł, Mikael Lypinski; East Beast (kopr. Efektura)

No roads, electricity or water. But the best cup of coffee in the county. Slab City is an anarchist squatter town in the Sonoran Desert, Southern California. The inhabitants live off the grid. Their closest neighbors are the United States Navy and Marine Corps, who practice aerial bombing and live fire in the area. Helicopters constantly fly over the heads of the Slabbers.

DZIWOR

dir. i prod. Paweł Dyllus; Paweł Dyllus Film

„DZIWOR” film is an attempt of portraying an unusual author, Bogdan Dziworski, mainly during his work on his new documentary project entitled „+/- czyli podróż muchy do Gruzji„ („+/-, a fly’s trip to Georgia”).

LONG WAY

dir. Weronika Mliczewska, prod. Piotr Mikołajczak; Rock and Roll Production

”Long Way” is a film about searching a lady in India without knowing her name or anything about her. We have just one photo of her taken six years before and a strong conviction to follow one’s guts. It’s a journey in search of meaning beyong the impossible.

GEORGE AND GEORGE ON THE LAKES

dir. i prod. Piotr Małecki; Short Docs Media

This is the film about friendship of the two 86-years old fans of inland sailing and about their fight with old age. For over twenty years George K and George H have been sailing together on their own boats on the Mazury lakes in Poland, while out of the season they’ve been busy fixing and upgrading their boats. Gradually we notice that George K is not in a good shape anymore.

TONY

dir. Klaudiusz Chrostowski, prod. Marta Habior, Marta Lewandowska; No Sugar Films

Nineteen-year-bodybuilder from mining town wants to be an actor. Opinion of his father and the others is everything to him. On the way to being unique he encounters obstacles that try to lend his character and motivations.

I GREW UP AS YOU SLEPT

dir./prod. Marcin Sauter; BKF Newsreel

Karalina’s class in Conservatory graduated 30 people. 2 of them remained in the country. Totalitarian Belarus empties out. The educated people are running away. They seek happiness, careers and a dignified life abroad. The film tells about emigration, nostalgia, longing for family and friends.

MR JAN AND HIS 40 GIRLS

dir. /prod. Jacob Dammas; GRANIZA

Poland’s only female brass band is composed of 40 young vibrant women and one tireless man, the 76-year-old conductor, founder and manager Mr Jan Skroś who must work hard to keep the orchestra playing as money is tight, instruments and uniforms need repair, new musicians are harder to find, international concerts await, and there is no one to replace Mr Jan. A story about staying active in life, passion for music and never giving up.

KRZYŻOKI

dir./prod. Anna Gawlita; Kijora Film Sp. z o. o.

Creative documentary telling the story of a Polish village. Thirty farmers begin an equestrian journey touring the boundaries of nearby villages and fields. Fatigue and inebriation mix with religious ecstasy. A marriage of the sacred and the profane.

THE PRINCE AND THE DYBBUK

dir. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski, prod. Małgorzata Zacharko, Matthias Miegel; Film Art Production, Kundschafter Filmproduktion GmbH

A cinematic journey on the trail of Michał Waszyński, filmmaker and human chameleon, who in flight from the spirit of intolerance continually changed his identity, rejecting his Jewish origins and hiding homosexuality.

THE WIND. A Documentary Thriller.

dir. Michał Bielawski, prod. Maciej Kubicki, Anna Kępińska; Telemark

There is a place where emotions burst out several times a year and the life of the local community is changed forever. The ‘Wind’ is a multi-thread story about a clash between people and the forces of nature, woven into a documentary thriller.