Gdynia Film Festival

Gdynia Film Festival
Gdynia Film Festival
Awarded for	Excellence in cinematic achievements in Poland
Country	Poland
First awarded	1974
Currently held by	All Our Fears (2021)
Website	festiwalgdynia.pl

The Gdynia Film Festival (until 2011: Polish Film Festival, Polish: Festiwal Polskich Filmów Fabularnych w Gdyni) is an annual film festival first held in Gdańsk, now held in Gdynia, Poland.^[1]

It has taken place every year since 1974, except in 1982 and 1983 when Poland was under martial law.

The organizers of the festival are the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, Polish Film Institute (PISF), Polish Filmmakers Association, the Pomeranian Voivodeship Local Government as well as the port city of Gdynia.

The Polish Film Festival award is the Grand Prix Golden Lions (Polish: Złote Lwy), which is different from the Eagle (Polish: Orzeł), awarded at the Polish Film Awards and the Seattle Polish Film Festival (Seattle is the sister city of Gdynia).^[2] Special awards include the Platinum Lions (Platynowe Lwy) conferred for lifetime achievements in cinema as well as the Audience Award. Agnieszka Holland is so far the only film director to have been awarded the Grand Prix three times (1981, 2012, 2019). In 2020, Mariusz Wilczyński's Kill It and Leave This Town became the first ever animated film in the festival's history to be awarded the Golden Lions for Best Film.

The jury for the 2008 competition was headed by Robert Gliński, a director who had previously won at the festival.^[3]

Past winners of the festival[]

The Golden Lions Award was not awarded on six occasions: in 1976, four films were instead awarded Main Prizes (Polish: Nagroda Główna); in 1982 and 1983, the festival was not held due to the imposition of the Martial law in Poland; in 1989, 1991 and 1996.

1974: Jerzy Hoffman – Potop (The Deluge)
1975: Andrzej Wajda – Ziemia obiecana (The Promised Land) , Jerzy Antczak – Noce i dnie (Nights and Days)
1976: No award (Main Awards: Jan Łomnicki – Ocalić miasto (To Save the City), Marek Piwowski – Przepraszam, czy tu biją?, Andrzej Wajda – Smuga cienia, Mieczysław Waśkowski – Hazardziści (The Gamblers))
1977: Krzysztof Zanussi – Barwy ochronne (Camouflage)
1978: Stanisław Różewicz – Pasja, Andrzej Wajda – Bez znieczulenia (Without Anesthesia)
1979: Krzysztof Kieślowski – Amator (Camera Buff)
1980: Kazimierz Kutz – Paciorki jednego różańca (The Beads of One Rosary)
1981: Agnieszka Holland – Gorączka (Fever)
1982: Not held due to martial law
1983: Not held due to martial law
1984: Jerzy Kawalerowicz – Austeria
1985: Stanisław Różewicz – Kobieta w kapeluszu (Woman in a Hat)
1986: Witold Leszczyński – Siekierezada
1987: Janusz Zaorski – Matka Królów (The Mother of Kings)
1988: Krzysztof Kieślowski – Krótki film o miłości (A Short Film About Love) as well as Krótki film o zabijaniu (A Short Film About Killing)
1989: No award
1990: Wojciech Marczewski – Ucieczka z kina "Wolność" (Escape from the 'Liberty' Cinema)
1991: No award
1992: Robert Gliński – Wszystko, co najważniejsze
1993: Radosław Piwowarski – Kolejność uczuć, Grzegorz Królikiewicz – Przypadek Pekosińskiego
1994: Kazimierz Kutz – Zawrócony (Reverted)
1995: Juliusz Machulski Girl Guide
1996: No award
1997: Jerzy Stuhr – Historie miłosne (Love Stories)
1998: Jan Jakub Kolski – Historia kina w Popielawach (The History of the Cinema in Popielawy)
1999: Krzysztof Krauze – Dług (The Debt)
2000: Krzysztof Zanussi – Życie jako śmiertelna choroba przenoszona drogą płciową (Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease)
2001: Robert Gliński – Cześć Tereska (Hi, Tereska)
2002: Marek Koterski – Dzień świra (Day of the Wacko)
2003: Dariusz Gajewski – Warszawa (Warsaw)
2004: Magdalena Piekorz – Pręgi (Welts)
2005: Feliks Falk – Komornik (The Collector)
2006: Krzysztof Krauze – Plac Zbawiciela (Saviour Square)
2007: Andrzej Jakimowski – Sztuczki (Tricks)
2008: Waldemar Krzystek – Mała Moskwa (Little Moscow)
2009: Borys Lankosz – Rewers (Reverse)
2010: Jan Kidawa-Błoński – Różyczka (Little Rose)
2011: Jerzy Skolimowski – Essential Killing
2012: Agnieszka Holland – W ciemności (In Darkness)
2013: Paweł Pawlikowski − Ida
2014: Łukasz Palkowski – Bogowie (Gods)
2015: Małgorzata Szumowska – Body/Ciało (Body)
2016: Jan P. Matuszyński – Ostatnia rodzina (The Last Family)
2017: Piotr Domalewski – Cicha Noc (Silent Night)
2018: Paweł Pawlikowski – Zimna wojna (Cold War)
2019: Agnieszka Holland – Obywatel Jones (Mr. Jones)
2020: Mariusz Wilczyński – Zabij to i wyjedź z tego miasta (Kill It and Leave This Town)
2021: Łukasz Ronduda and Łukasz Gutt – Wszystkie nasze strachy (All Our Fears)