3 October 2009

By Andrzej Slowicki

This year's Batumi International Art House Film Festival (BIAFF, 21-28 September, Georgia) witnessed a great triumph of Asian and Polish cinema.

BIAFF is perhaps the only international film festival which celebrates the achievements of Polish cinema to such a great extent. In the past years BIAFF audiences enjoyed projects related to Polish cinema and its history: a film seminar A Close-Up on Andrzej Wajda in 2007 was accompanied by the first ever publication on Andrzej Wajda in Georgian language by Andrzej Slowicki. Krzysztof Kieślowski Rediscovered, curated by Andrzej Slowicki (with Michal Bogucki), who is the President of a legendary film club in Poland - Kwant, was also part of the 3rd BIAFF. This year's Polish programme was sponsored by the Polish Film Institute and Batumi City Hall.

International Competition Jury led by Jos Stelling (Holland) awarded Scratch (dir.Michal Rosa, 2008, Poland) the prize for the best feature film. Other Polish films in the International Competition were: 33 Scenes from Life (dir. Malgorzata Szumowska, Poland/Germany, 2008) and Yodok Stories (dir.Andrzej Fidyk, Poland/Norway, 2008). 

Let's Shoot! (2008) by Maciej Csuske, Thierry Paladino, Marcin Sauter and Piotr Stasik from the Master School of Andrzej Wajda opened the Young Filmmakers' Competition. The Young Filmmakers' Jury was headed by Irakli Kvirikadze (Georgia) and granted the best director award to Agnieszka Smoczyńska for Aria Diva (2009), also a product of Wajda's Master School. This sections consisted of many Polish short films made by students from the National Film and TV School in Łódź:  Significant Others (2009) by Dara Van Dusen, Where the Sun Doesn't Rush (2009) by Matej Bobrik and Luxury (2009) by Jarosław Sztander and Glass Trap (2009) by Paweł Ferdek.

The 4th BIAFF also celebrated Krzysztof Zanussi's 70th birthday and the 50th anniversary of his cinematic work. And a Warm Heart (dir.Krzysztof Zanussi, Poland, 2008) and Essential Conversations (dir. Stanisław Zawiśliński and Sławomir Rogowski, Poland, 2008), a filmed interview with Zanussi were both introduced by its directors. This event was supported by the Autonomous Republic of Adjara and the town of Batumi.

The main guests of the Krzysztof Kieślowski Rediscovered exhibition were Krzysztof Zanussi (Kieslowski's producer), Stanisław Zawiśliński (the author of Kieslowski's biography Ważne żeby iść) and Mieczysław Kuźmicki, the director of the Museum of Cinematography in Łódź.  In the Master Collection strand the viewers could see Three Colours: Red (dir.Krzysztof Kieślowski, France/Switzerland/ Poland, 1994), 4 Nights with Anna (dir.Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/France, 2008), Sweet Rush (dir.Andrzej Wajda, Poland, 2008).

The Golden Classics of the Documentary and Feature Film Studio in Warsaw strand, with Jacek Petrycki's latest documentary City without God (Poland, 2009), was a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw studio and present were both, its director and producer Włodzimierz Niederhaus, and film director and camera operator Jacek Petrycki.

Batumi International Art House Film Festival, 21 - 28.10.2009.

International Competition Jury members: Jos Stelling (Holland) - chair, Nana Dzordzadze (Georgia), Manijeh Hekmat (Iran), Kamila Kuc (UK/Poland) i Aleksandr Szpiluk (Ukraine) granted the following awards in the main comptetition:

Grand Prix - "Opium War", dir.Siddiq Barmak, Afghanistan, 2009

Best feature film - "Scratch", dir.Michał Rosa, Poland, 2008

Best documentary - "Letters to the President", dir.Petr Lom, USA / Norway, 2008

Best director - Vasyl Sigariew for "Volchek", Russia, 2009

Best make actor - Parviz Parastui in Abdolrez Kahani's "Twenty", Iran, 2009

Best female actress - Megi Kobaladze (Georgia) in Özcana Alpera's "Autumn", Turkey, 2008

Special award: "The Living" by Siergiej Bukowski, Ukraine, 2008

Specjalne mention: for cinematography: "Zift" by Javor Gardev, Bulgaria, 2009

Special mention: for a subtle exposure of Georgian culture and mentality - "Women from Georgia" by Lewan Koguashvili, Georgia, 2008 

Jury in the Young Filmmakers section with Irakli Kvirikadze (Georgia) - chair, Galina Czerniak (Ukraine), Ramtin Lavafipour (Iran) i Kote Takaishvili (Georgia) granted the following prizes:

Grand Prix - "One day after 10th day" by Narges Abyar, Iran, 2008 

Best feature film - "Porque hay cosas que nunca se olvidan" by Lucas Figueroa, Spain 

Best director - Agnieszka Smoczyńska for "Aria Diva", Poland, 2009

Special mention - "Bloessam" by Tess Löwenhardt, Holland, 2009 

Special award of the SANGUKO studio "the new vision" - "Firs Film" by Panah Panahi, Iran, 2008

BIAFF Committee awarded two life time achievement awards to Jos Stelling (Holland) and Micheil Kobkhidze (Georgia). Włodzimierz Niederhaus was also awarded a prize for his input to the growth of film production in Poland.