The programme of the 20th Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival (MDAG, May 12-21) was unveiled April 14 in Warsaw. The event will host 16 competition sections including local competitions in Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdynia, Bydgoszcz, Katowice and will present 19 cash awards. Of the 184 films in selection, 160 are Polish premieres.
“The 20th Millennium Docs Against Gravity will be a fascinating journey not only around the world, but also through many relevant issues – from ecology, through politics, psychology, human rights, art (also avant-garde), pop culture to family relations,” write organisers.
The theme of this year’s edition of MDAG is “Don’t be indifferent,” a reference to the famous speech of Polish historian and journalist Marian Turski, and also “an expression of the values that have accompanied the festival since its inception,” say organisers.
Main Competition, Polish Competition and Short Film Competition
This year, 12 films are selected for the Main Competition of the festival, including three Polish productions/co-productions. The films will compete not only for the Grand Prix – Bank Millennium Award but also for local prizes in the other festival cities: the Lower Silesia Grand Prix in Wrocław, the Bydgoszcz ART/DOC Award, the Silesian Voivodeship Audience Award in Katowice, the City of Gdynia Grand Prix and the Freedom Award funded by the City of Poznań.
Festival audiences will once again have the opportunity to experience a “unique encounter” with Polish documentary cinema, write organisers. There are 11 productions selected for Polish Competition, each with a chance to win three awards – the Best Polish Film Award, the Best Production Award in the Polish Competition presented by the post-production studio Smakjam and the Association of Studio Cinemas Award.
Among the films that will compete for the title of the Best Polish Film are latest productions by well established directors, such as Vika! by Agnieszka Zwiefka, which follows the oldest DJ in Poland, examining her extraordinary energy and struggles with her slowly weakening body.Jakub Piątek will present his latest film Pianoforte, which premiered at Sundance. Meanwhile, Kuba Mikurda, two-time winner of the Chopin’s Nose at the MDAG, returns to the festival to present the audience with a fresh look at Stanisław Lem’s Solaris in the film Solaris Mon Amour.
Once again, the Short Film Competition will take place during the festival. 16 shorts from around the world will compete for the title of the winner and a prize sponsored by TikTok.
MDAG World Premieres (Feature Films)
- Children of Chaos, dir. Agnes Pizzini, Julien Johan
- Don’t Rain On Our Parade, dir. Nina Krawczak, Misia Joachim
- Fantastic Matt Parey, dir. Bartosz Paduch
- Girl’s Stories, dir. Aga Borzym
- How Much For Art?, dir. Andrzej Miękus
- In the Rearview, dir. Maciek Hamela
- Vika!, dir. Agnieszka Zwiefka
- Solaris, Mon Amour, dir. Kuba Mikurda
MDAG World Premieres (Short Films)
- A Few Things I’d Like to Tell You, dir. Mateusz Góra, Kamil Wilk
- Getting To Know You, dir. Joanna Krzyżewska
- Handful of Dirt, dir. Izabela Zubrycka
- Kiosk, dir. Daniel Stopa
- Little Boy, dir. Sophie Horry
- Say Daddy, dir. Andriy Shostak
MDAG International Premieres
- Infinity. The World of Luigi Ghirri, dir. Matteo Parisini
- In Viaggio, dir. Gianfranco Rosi
- Look What You Made Me Do, dir. Coco Schrijber
- NIKKI, dir. Monique Nolte
- Soviet Bus Stops, dir. Kristoffer Hegnsvad
- The Fall, dir. Andreas Koefoed
- Verified Couple, dir. Joscha Bongard
MDAG European Premieres
- Bad Press, dir. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
- Joonam, dir. Sierra Urich
- Whitman Brook, dir. Ben Silberfarb
Gender Balance
Festival artistic director Karol Piekarczyk pointed out that, “as an important part of the fight for equality in the world of cinema,” this year MDAG will once again maintain a gender balance among directors with eight women and eight men directing films in the Main Competition. The jury, which has 30 members, consists of 17 women and 13 men.
Ukraine
Focus will once again be directed towards Ukrainian cinema in 2023. “This year, our thoughts remain with the Ukrainians suffering from the Russian attack, which is why the program includes films examining various aspects of the invasion,” organisers underline, and point to the feature doc In the Rearview by Maciek Hamela which tells the how, after the invasion, the film’s protagonists abandoned all they cherished and got into the dusty van of the film’s director and travelled thousands of kilometres, performing various functions along the way. The van served as a waiting room, a hospital, a shelter, and above all, a safe space for vulnerability and confessions.
“The scale of devastation caused by the war as well as the attempt to return to normalcy in the liberated areas are the subject of focus for Piotr Pawlus and Tomasz Wolski in the film In Ukraine,”organisers add. “Alisa Kovalenko’sWe Will Not Fade Away takes on a whole new dimension in the face of the Russian invasion of 2022. We’re back in 2019 and observe five teenage protagonists enter adulthood and begin to think about their future. Alisa Kovalenko is not interested in making a film about the horrors of war. Instead, thanks to its main characters, it’s a coming-of-age story full of hope and beauty.”
Safe Space
For the first time, MDAG will present an inclusive “safe space” for discussions on psychology and sexuality. The space, located in Warsaw’s Kinoteka, will also be available counselling for all those who have felt particularly affected by the festival films.
20 legendary films for MDAG’s 20th anniversary! is a section featuring works that have made a special contribution to the history of Millennium Docs Against Gravity and documentary cinema at large. All the films have been personally selected by the director and founder of the festival – Artur Liebhart. Ten of them will be shown in cinemas and 10 will be available online as part of the festival.
The Power of Sisterhood features films of solidarity, creating safe spaces, finding your way and collective action of women around the world against violence and inequality.
Se_x Work is a section devoted to porn and sex work. We’re Here, We’re Queer answers the questions about the quality of life of LGBTQ+ people in different parts of the world, while The Power of Words is a look at the works and lives of the greatest figures in the literary world, such as Elfriede Jelinek, Annie Ernaux, Stanisław Lem, Guy Debord and Umberto Eco.
The What the Doc?! section “features unusual stories that amaze, amuse but can also terrify.” The Cinéma, Mon Amour section is back to once again show the most important directors of contemporary cinema and the responsibility of documentary filmmakers to their heroes. During the festival, a selection of the most interesting VR experiences will be presented under the name Reality Check.
The festival will also feature films by established filmmakers and hits from the world’s biggest festivals, such as Werner Herzog with Theater of Thought, and Laura Poitras, whose All the Beauty and the Bloodshed won the main prize at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar®. Anna Hints, winner of the Sundance Directing Award, will entice audiences into the Estonian sauna in her Smoke Sauna Sisterhood. The program also includes Lea Glob’s IDFA winner Apolonia, Apolonia. Furthermore, Nikolaus Geyrhalter will present his acclaimed Matter Out of Place.
MDAG Industry: “a space for the development of the documentary industry”
MDAG Industry looks to connect Polish filmmakers with foreign festival representatives, distributors, producers, sales agents and contemporary cinema stars. “We started in 2021 with a single event, and in 2022 we created an expanded section of industry events under the name MDAG Industry. This year we have prepared an extensive programme of activities [concerning] the next step in the documentary industry’s development. CANAL+ Polska joins the list of Millennium Docs Against Gravity partners and takes the MDAG Industry section under its patronage,” write organisers. The other main partner of MDAG Industry is the Polish Film Institute.
Comments Katarzyna Kostecka, documentary producer at CANAL+ Poland: “The co-operation between CANAL+ Poland and initiatives supporting local documentary productions has a long history. We are proud to support creative directors and tell real stories from the world around us. Our productions and documentary co-productions, which have won numerous awards at Polish and international festivals, can be viewed on the CANAL+ online platform. Being a part of the MDAG festival and a partner of the INDUSTRY section is a great opportunity for us to spot new, interesting topics and exceptional filmmakers. We are very excited to be able to present the award for the best international pitching during this year’s edition. We support those who tell stories, and do it well.”
The 20th edition of MDAG will take place on 12-21 May 2023 in cinemas in eight Polish cities – Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź, Bydgoszcz and Lublin – and online from 23 May to 4 June on the mdag.pl platform. The titular patron of the festival is Bank Millennium.
