Famous actress heads the Jury of the Main Competition at the Gdynia Film Festival

The Jury of the Main Competition of the Gdynia festival is headed by an actress, and not, as is usually the case, a director. However, this is not the only competition whose jury was announced at today's conference at Warsaw's Kultura cinema.

This year, the new Perspektywy Competition will debut in Gdynia, presenting full-length feature films that stand out from mainstream cinema, distinguishing themselves with the creators' original claw. The eight titles that have been entered will be assessed by a jury headed by director Janusz Zaorski, who will award the Szafirowe Lions.

In turn, the jury of the Short Film Competition will be led by director Magdalena Łazarkiewicz. The debut award will also be granted under new rules, which the jury will select for the first time by assessing films from both competitions – the Main and Perspective.

As you can see, there will be many changes at the most important film event in our country. In Venice and Cannes, as well as at other international festivals, the jury of the Main Competition is very often led by popular actors. Recently, the winner of the Golden Lion Pedro Almodovar received the award from Isabelle Huppert, who headed the jury. In Cannes, on the other hand, the most important person in the competition jury twice was the British star Cate Blanchett.

Małgorzata Zajączkowska is a theatre, film and television actress valued in Poland, but also overseas. A graduate of the Warsaw State Theatre School, she gained popularity thanks to her roles in “Zdjęcia badania” (Proof Pictures) Agnieszka Hollandin Andrzej Wajda's “Danton”, or in the film “Constans” by Krzysztof Zanussi.

In 1981 she went to Paris and then to USAwhere she continued her career under the name Margaret Sophie Stein, acting in theatre and film. She is the only Polish actress to have appeared in Woody Allen's film “Bullets Over Broadway”. After eighteen years, she returned to Poland. The role of Nora in Marcin Bortkiewicz's “Walpurgis Night” brought her an award for a female role at the Koszalin festival “Młodzi i Film” in 2015. However, she did not break off contact with American cinema.

This year, the film “Better Late Than Never” directed by Lisa Steen had its world premiere, in which she played one of the main roles alongside Karen Gillan. The film received favorable reviews.

As is known, the Main Competition traditionally includes 16 titles. The most anticipated ones this year include: “Dziewczyna z igła” by Magnus Von Horn, “Minghun” by Jan P. Matuszyński, “Pod górem” by Damian Kocur and “Kulej. Dwie stron medalu” by Xawery Żuławski. In addition, eight titles from the Perspektywy Competition give us a total of 24 titles. This is a considerable number, considering that the festival also offers many other attractions, such as the so-called Master's Five, which enjoyed great popularity last year.

It is worth adding that 13 of these 24 films are directorial debuts. The idea of ​​awarding a prize for a debut (or second film), based on both competitions assessed in parallel, seems to be a good one. A special jury was also established for this purpose for the first time, consisting of: producer Zbigniew Domagalski, actress Magdalena Boczarska and director Aleksandra Terpińska.

This year's winner of the Platinum Lions awarded for lifetime artistic achievements will be Wojciech Marczewski, one of the most outstanding and interesting Polish directors – the creator of the films “Nightmares”, “Shivers” and “Escape from the 'Freedom' Cinema”, which brought him the Golden Lions in Gdynia in 1990.

Marczewski made his last film, “Weiser”, an adaptation of Paweł Huelle's prose, in 2001. He later devoted himself entirely to his duties as a teacher at the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing, of which he is also a co-founder.

At this year's festival, its participants will also be able to take part in a masterclass by Wojciech Marczewski. The meeting with the director will be an attempt to answer the question of what it means to be a filmmaker – one who leaves an indelible mark on the viewer with his works.

“(…) We will try to better understand how this year's Platinum Lions winner makes cinema a vehicle of memory and history, how he meets (not simple) literature, and finally – how he looks at his extraordinary achievements from a temporal distance. But perhaps the most important meaning of this meeting will be a reminder, worth constantly repeating, that Wojciech Marczewski's work is always a proposal for a serious conversation for the recipient” – we read in the materials announcing the masterclass by the creator of “Weiser”.

The 49th Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia will take place on 23–28 September this year.