The Polish Film Awards (also known as the Eagles) are as international as it gets this year, as the top three awards – Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay – have gone to Quo Vadis, Aida? [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jasmila Žbanić
scheda film] by Jasmila Žbanić. The film was co-produced by ten countries, including Poland – established producer Ewa Puszczyńska (Ida [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pawel Pawlikowski
intervista: Pawel Pawlikowski
scheda film], Cold War [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: Pawel Pawlikowski
scheda film]) was on board as the Polish partner of the project. In her moving acceptance speech, she said that she has noticed that people are getting used to the war in Ukraine, just like at a certain point they got used to war in the former Yugoslavia, and this should not happen. She pleaded for people not to grow accustomed to the evil being perpetrated in the world.

The Polish crew of Quo Vadis, Aida? included editor Jarosław Kamiński, who nabbed the award in his category. While there is no dispute over the artistic value of Žbanić’s film, the decision of the Polish Film Academy members did raise a few eyebrows, since the local stake in the other hopefuls was strong across all of the categories. Previously, only one film not in the Polish language has taken home the top award – The Pianist [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Roman Polański. This historic win by Quo Vadis, Aida? could be a good pretext to talk about the international impact and significance of the Polish industry and Polish filmmakers in the European market.

Another international angle, which recurred at the Polish Film Awards gala, was the support for Ukraine voiced by many presenters and winners. The Polish Film Academy also paid tribute to Ukrainian filmmakers who have lost their lives during the war, and a special video message from Oleh Sentsov, whose two recent films Rhino [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] and Numbers [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Oleg Sentsov
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intervista: Maciej Bochniak
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Magnesia also snagged the Best Make-up Award (for Waldemar Pokromski and Agnieszka Hodowana), while two Eagles went to Back to Those Days, for Best Actor (Maciej Stuhr, giving, as he put it, his most important performance) and Best Music (Marcin Masecki). Wojciech Smarzowski’s drama The Wedding Day [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Wojciech Smarzowski
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intervista: Piotr Domalewski
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Aside from these, all films nominated snatched one prize apiece: My Wonderful Life [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Łukasz Grzegorzek
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scheda film] Best Supporting Actress (Ewa Wiśniewska), Sonata [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] Best Sound (Artur Kuczkowski, Tomasz Sikora), The Balcony Movie [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Paweł Łoziński
scheda film] by Paweł Łoziński Best Documentary, and Autumn Girl Best Production Design (Wojciech Żogała). Seasoned cinematographer Łukasz Gutt was voted Best New Talent for co-directing Fears [+leggi anche:
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The Leave No Traces [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jan P. Matuszyński
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Here is the full list of award winners:

Best Film
Quo Vadis, Aida? [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jasmila Žbanić
scheda film] - Jasmila Žbanić (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Austria/Germany/France/Netherlands/Norway/Poland/Romania/Turkey/Montenegro)

Best Director
Jasmila Žbanić – Quo Vadis, Aida?

Best Screenplay
Jasmila Žbanić – Quo Vadis, Aida?

Best Actress
Agata Buzek – My Wonderful Life [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Łukasz Grzegorzek
scheda film]

Best Actor
Maciej Stuhr – Back to Those Days

Best Supporting Actress
Ewa Wiśniewska – Back Then [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]

Best Supporting Actor
Jacek Braciak – Leave No Traces [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jan P. Matuszyński
scheda film] (Poland/France/Czech Republic)

Best Sound
Artur Kuczkowski, Tomasz Sikora – Sonata [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]

Best Cinematography
Piotr Sobociński Jr – The Wedding Day [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Wojciech Smarzowski
scheda film] (Poland/Latvia)

Best Editing
Jarosław Kamiński – Quo Vadis, Aida?

Best Music
Marcin Masecki – Back to Those Days

Best Costumes
Dorota Roqueplo – Magnesia [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Maciej Bochniak
scheda film]

Best Make-up
Waldemar Pokromski, Agnieszka Hodowana – Magnesia

Best Production Design
Wojciech Żogała – Autumn Girl

Audience Award
The Wedding Day - Wojciech Smarzowski

Best Documentary
The Balcony Movie [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Paweł Łoziński
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Discovery of the Year
Łukasz Gutt – co-director of Fears [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]

Lifetime Achievement Award
Jerzy Skolimowski

Best European Film
Another Round [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands)

Best TV Series
Mire’97 – Jan Holoubek