18/01/2019 - The programme will offer a generous selection of recent Polish films, while When East Meets West will focus on upcoming productions from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine and Benelux

After wrapping 2018 in style at Les Arcs, Polish films and filmmakers are about to continue their annual festival run at the Trieste Film Festival, presenting the country’s cinematic present and future. In addition, since When East Meets West is organising a new East & West double focus, the strong presence of Poland’s emerging producers will be noticeable there, too. More specifically, two projects will be pitched in the co-production forum: His/Her by Anna Kazejak (The Word [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), produced by Mariusz Włodarski (The Here After [+see also:
film review
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interview: Magnus von Horn
film profile]), and Miracle by Bartłomiej Żmuda, produced by Paweł Jóźwiak-Rodan and Projekcja Identyfikacja. Last Stop Trieste, the industry section’s event dedicated to documentary projects, includes a presentation of The Wind by Michał Bielawski, produced by Maciej Kubicki. Furthermore, five emerging Polish producers will attend the event: Joanna Szymańska, Iza Igel (Wild Roses [+see also:
film review
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interview: Anna Jadowska
film profile], The Man with the Magic Box [+see also:
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film profile] and co-producer of Love 1: Dog [+see also:
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interview: Florin Şerban
film profile]), Natalia Grzegorzek (Trainer’s Daughter, Winter Flies [+see also:
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interview: Olmo Omerzu
film profile]), Kamil Skałkowski and Przemysław Miękinia.

The festival programme also boasts strong Polish representation. Fugue [+see also:
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interview: Agnieszka Smoczyńska
film profile] by Agnieszka Smoczyńska is one of the contenders for the Trieste Award in the Feature Film Competition, while Occupation 1968 [+see also:
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film profile] by Evdokia Moskvina, Linda Dombrovszky, Magdalena Szymków, Marie Elisa Scheidt and Stephan Komandarev and A Minor Genocide [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Natalia Koryncka-Gruz are part of the Documentary Film Competition. The latter movie will be having its world premiere at Trieste. A Room for a Student, directed by Rafał Samusiak, is taking part in the Short Film Competition. 

Meanwhile, Clergy [+see also:
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interview: Wojciech Smarzowski
film profile] by Wojciech Smarzowski, the most talked-about and most popular film of 2018 in Poland, as well as Ether [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by seasoned director Krzysztof Zanussi, are included in the Special Events programme. The Tales From the Berlin Wall section will screen Possession by Andrzej Żuławski, with its famous subway scene featuring a disturbing performance by Isabelle Adjani, and the Oscar-nominated short Rabbit à la Berlin by Bartek Konopka. Last but not least, another Polish title included in the Trieste programme is Solidarity, Solidarity, an anthology film made by 13 directors of the likes of Małgorzata Szumowska, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Jakimowski, among others.

The next stop for Polish film in 2019 is the Berlinale: Agnieszka Holland will be there to present her new film, Mr. Jones [+see also:
film review
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interview: Agnieszka Holland
film profile], co-produced by Poland, the UK and Ukraine, in the Main Competition.