Warsaw Film Festival

Warsaw Film Festival

Warsaw International Film Festival logo
Location	Warsaw, Poland
Founded	1985
Most recent	2021
Language	Polish English
Website	wff.pl

Warsaw Film Festival (Polish: Warszawski Festiwal Filmowy, abbreviated as WFF) is an annual film festival held every October in Warsaw, Poland which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries from all around the world.^[1] The festival has been held every year since 1985.^[2] In 2008, it was recognized by FIAPF as a competitive film festival specialised in first and second features and films from Central and Eastern Europe.^[3]

The festival is host to the International Federation of Film Critics awards for enterprising filmmaking in Central Europe and beyond (i.e. Denmark and Israel). The 35th edition will take place between 11 October to 20 October 2019.

Festival[]

Programmes[]

The programme consists of the following sections:

• The International Competition – premiering competition for international features
• 1–2 Competition – for 1st and 2nd feature films
• Free Spirit Competition – competition for independent, innovative, rebellious feature length fiction and documentary films from all over the world.
• Documentary Competition
• Shorts Competition – For narrative, documentary and animated shorts (up to 40 minutes) from all over the world. Winners are Academy Awards eligible.
• Special Screenings – non competitive section dedicated to acclaimed filmmakers from all over the world
• Discoveries
• Family Cinema Weekend

All the films presented, regardless of the section (competitive or non-competitive), are eligible for the Audience Award.

Juries[]

• International Competition Jury
• The Competition 1–2 Jury
• Free Spirit Competition Jury
• Documentary Competition Jury
• Shorts Competition Jury
• Jury FIPRESCI
• Jury NETPAC
• Ecumenical jury - by SIGNIS

History[]

• 1985 – Film Discussion Club "Hybrydy" founds the festival, originally named Warsaw Film Week. Festival's creator Roman Gutek becomes its first director.
• 1991 – Stefan Laudyn becomes new director of the festival and name Warsaw Film Week changes to Warsaw Film Festival.
• 1995 – festival is being organised by Warsaw Film Found for the first time
• 2000 – festival gets accreditation from FIAPF and changes its name again into Warsaw International Film Festival
• 2005 – for the first time FIAPF juror gives special awards during Warsaw International Film Festival
• 2008 – FIAPF adds Warsaw International Film Festival to a group of international contest festival (which other members are Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, San Sebastian, Mar del Plata, Karlovy Vary, Montreal, Cairo, Moscow, Tokyo and Shanghai) ^[3]

Award winners[]

International Competition winners[]

Grand Prix

Year	Film	Original Title	Director	Country
2002	Edi[4]	Edi	Piotr Trzaskalski	Poland
2003	With Love, Lilly[5]	Russian: С любовью, Лиля (S luboviu, Lilia)	Larisa Sadilova	Russia
2004	The Beautiful City[6]	Persian: شهر زیبا (Shahr-e Ziba)	Asghar Farhadi	Iran
2005	Sorry for Kung Fu[7]	Oprosti za kung fu	Ognjen Sviličić	Croatia
2006	Euphoria[8]	Russian: Эйфория (Eyforia)	Ivan Vyrypaev	Russia
2007	Night Train	Chinese: 夜行列车; Chinese: 夜行列车; pinyin: Yè háng lièchē	Yi'nan Diao	China /  Hong Kong /  France
2008	Yuri's Day	Russian: Юрьев день (Yurev Den)	Kirill Serebrennikov	Russia /  Germany
2009	Lourdes[9]	Lourdes	Jessica Hausner	Austria /  France /  Germany
2010	Incendies[10]	Incendies	Denis Villeneuve ≈	Canada
2011	Rose[11]	Róża	Wojciech Smarzowski	Poland
2012	Tango Libre[12]	Tango Libre	Frédéric Fonteyne	Belgium /  France /  Luxembourg
2013	Ida[13]	Ida	Paweł Pawlikowski ≠	Poland
2014	The Coffin In the Mountain[14]	Chinese: 心迷宫; pinyin: Xīn mígōng	Xin Yukun	China
2015	Neon Bull[15]	Boi Neon	Gabriel Mascaro	Brazil
2016	Malaria[16]	Persian: مالاریا (Malaria)	Parviz Shahbazi	Iran
2017	To Kill a Watermelon[17]	Chinese: 杀瓜; pinyin: Shā guā	Zehao Gao	China
2018	The Delegation[18]	Delegacioni	Bujar Alimani	Albania
2019	Shindisi[19]	Shindisi	Dito Tsintsadze	Georgia[20]
2020	[21]	18 килогерц		Kazakhstan
2021	Miracle[22]	Miracol	Bogdan George Apetri	Romania,  Czech Republic,  Latvia

Notes[]

• ≈ Oscar nomination
• ≠ Oscar winner

Audience award[]

- Fiction Feature Films category[]

Year	Film	Original Title	Director	Country
1987	Birdy[23]		Alan Parker	United States
1988	Koyaanisqatsi		Godfrey Reggio	United States
1989	Drowning By Numbers		Peter Greenaway	United Kingdom
1990	Dead Poets Society		Peter Weir ≈	United States
1991	The Double Life of Véronique	La double vie de Véronique	Krzysztof Kieślowski	Poland /  France
1992	Prospero's Books		Peter Greenaway	United Kingdom
1993	Coffee and Cigarettes III		Jim Jarmusch	United States
1994	Arizona Dream		Emir Kusturica	United States
1995	Before the Rain		Milcho Manchevski ≈	North Macedonia
1996	Trainspotting		Danny Boyle ≈	United Kingdom
1997	The Full Monty		Peter Cattaneo ≈	United Kingdom
1998	Life Is Beautiful	La vita è bella	Roberto Benigni ≠	Italy
1999	Children of Heaven	Bacheha-ye aseman	Majid Majidi	Iran
2000	Loners	Samotári	David Ondříček	Czech Republic
2001	Italian for Beginners	Italiensk for begyndere	Lone Scherfig	Denmark
2002	Elling		Petter Næss	Norway
2003	Buddy		Morten Tyldum	Norway
2004	Kontroll		Nimród Antal	Hungary
2005	Adam's Apples	Adams æbler	Anders Thomas Jensen	Denmark
2006	The Lives of Others	Das Leben der Anderen	Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck ≠	Germany
2007	The Band's Visit	Bikur Ha-tizmoret	Eran Kolirin	Israel
2008	Waltz with Bashir[24]	Vals Im Bashir	Ari Folman ≈	Israel
2009	The Dark House (shared)	Dom zly	Wojciech Smarzowski	Poland
2009	Welcome (shared)		Philippe Lioret	France
2010	Sound of Noise		Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson	Sweden
2011	Rose	Róża	Wojciech Smarzowski	Poland
2012	Imagine		Andrzej Jakimowski	Poland /  France /  Portugal /  Great Britain
2013	Tangerines	Mandariinid	Zaza Urushadze	Estonia /  Georgia
2014	What We Do in the Shadows		Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement	New Zealand /  United States
2015	Room		Lenny Abrahamson	Ireland /  Canada
2016	My Life as a Courgette	Ma vie de Courgette	Claude Barras ≈	France /   Switzerland
2017	A Hustler's Diary	Måste gitt	[sv]	Sweden
2018	Heavy Trip	Hevi reissu	Juuso Laatio, Jukka Vidgren	Finland
2019	All For My Mother	Wszystko dla mojej matki	Małgorzata Imielska	Poland
2020	Nowhere Special		Uberto Pasolini	United Kingdom, Italy, Romania
2021	Toubab		Florian Dietrich	Germany

Notes[]

• ≈ Oscar nomination
• ≠ Oscar winner

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Warsaw Film Festival at IMDb