27/06/2005

Eléonore Faucher and Leszek Dawid are the big winners at the Koszalin International First Film Festival ("Mlodzi i film" – 'Youth and the cinema') which took place from the 21st to the 25th of June. This festival, which is one of the oldest in Poland, launched such great directors as Agnieszka Holland and Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Every year, the festival falls into two competitive sections: the international first film contest and the national students' film competition. For this 24th edition, the international competition included 14 films, of which 4 were Polish, 3 German, 3 Hungarian, one Russian, one British, one French, and one American. The Jury, headed by the Polish director Ryszard Bugajski (Interrogation, Audience Award and Press Award at the 1989 Gdynia Polish Film Festival, Best Actress 1990 in Cannes for Krystyna Janda), awarded Eléonore Faucher the Best Film Prize for Brodeuses, while Moje miejsce (My Place) by Leszek Dawid (Lodz Film School) was elected Best Student's Film.

Alongside the competitions, Koszalin launched a 'Screenplay workshop', a project designed for young authors, which will be continued at the Gdynia Film Festival next September. The presentation of the films selected by 'Das kleine Fernsehspiel', a German ZDF TV programme, allowed Polish film professionals to learn more about the current trends with regard to promotion for newcomers' film on the other side of the Oder..

This year's winners are:
Best First Film – Brodeuses by Eléonore Faucher, France
Jury's Prize – Schizo by Guka Omarova, Russia
Best Direction - PittBull by Patryk Vega, Poland
Best Actress - Jule Böwe in Katze im Sack
Best Actor - Marcin Dorocinski in PittBull
Press Award - Brodeuses by Eléonore Faucher

Best Student Film - Moje miejsce by Leszek Dawid
Second Best Student Film - TV milosc by Jaroslaw Banaszak
Third position ex aequo - Jam Session by Izabela Plucinska and Dzien dobry, kochanie by Ma³gorzata Kedzierska.

(Translated from French)