The Rebellious, Steadfast, Cursed (Niepokorni Niezłomni Wyklęci) Film Festival is a unique event. It will be held on September 24-27, 2020 in Gdynia. The festival will be held in 5 competition categories and over 100 productions - top-class Polish and foreign films about recent history.
Each year in September, it gives filmmakers a chance to present documentary films on historical topics. Due to the difficult epidemiological situation in the country, many other festivals, symposia and meetings were canceled. For Arkadiusz Gołębiewski, the director of the NNW Festival, the difficulties are additional encouragement to hard organizational work.
This year's edition, for obvious reasons, is a big challenge, both in financial and organizational terms. In addition to the traditional formula of the NNW Festival, which will take place live in the Gdynia Film Center, the Music Theater and other places in Gdynia, an online formula is being prepared in parallel. Some of the festival events will be broadcast in real time on the festival's internet TV channel. As Arkadiusz Gołębiewski says, the hybrid formula makes it possible to reach a wide audience, and the number of projects will be very large.
Despite the pandemic, this year we will present nearly 100 titles in five competition categories. In addition to film screenings, numerous competitions, and discussion panels, the festival will be complemented by exhibitions, book presentations - at the same time there will be as many as 6-7 different events, which you can return to thanks to the recordings. We keep the unique character of the Festival and its timeless formula
says Gołębiewski.
In the debuting category - the International Feature Film Competition, 13 films will be presented. We will see productions of, among others from France, Hungary, Ukraine, Iran and Japan. Among them, Courier directed by Władysław Pasikowski, Numbers directed by Oleg Sentsov - Ukrainian director imprisoned in Russia, Roman Polański's An Officer and a Spy, or the Iranian film Villa Dwellers.
23 productions will be presented in the International Documentary Film Competition. The winner will receive the Captain Witold Pilecki award, presented for the second time. In the Polish Films Competition, viewers will be able to see as many as 26 films. The best film will be awarded with the Golden Resistor. 12 radio documentaries will take part in the Radio Competition. The debuting category - Music Videos Competition will include 16 productions.
Hollywood-Polish co-production as the opening film!
The screening of the film I'll Find You will open the festival. The screening will take place on Friday, September 25 at 5.00 pm at the Gdynia Film Center.
I'll Find You/Znajdę Cię by Martha Coolidge is a story inspired by the fate of Polish musicians from the 1930s and 1940s. It is a fictional story of Rachel Rubin and Robert Pułaski, and the romantic feeling that arises between them. The plans for the music career of the main characters and life in the United States are interrupted by the sudden outbreak of war - we read in the description of the film. Pictures were shot in New York, Krakow and Łódź. The main producers are Zbigniew John Raczyński, a Polish-Canadian film producer, inspired by the life of his family in pre-war Łódź, and Bożenna Intrator, a Polish-American screenwriter, writer and translator. The set is supported by the legendary Hollywood producer Fred Roos. The authors of the script are David S. Ward and Bożenna Intrator. Jan AP Kaczmarek wrote unusual and moving music for the film.
As every year, eminent historians, authors, experts and witnesses of history were invited to participate in thematic panels. Among the particularly important elements will be the so-called the Hungarian bloc, i.e. several debates focusing on the cooperation between Hungary and Poland in the 20th century, especially during the war of 1920 and the Second World War. The topic will also be a historical block on the Solidarity Trade Union, on the 40th anniversary of August Events. A polemic is also planned, devoted to film production, production realities and the future of the cinema industry in Poland. Among the disputes there will be a civilization discussion "What is Europe supposed to be like?", with the participation of recognized experts from Poland and abroad. A special discussion panel will be devoted to the current geopolitical situation in Belarus. Meetings with filmmakers are also planned after the screenings. Among them, a master class lecture led by Bożenna Intrator, co-writer of the film I'll Find You/Znajdę Cię. As every year, there will be a symposium on the Cursed Soldiers, and book presentations.
The organizers announce a full-format festival television. It will show live broadcasts of debates, panels and exhibitions. Interestingly, most of the film titles will be presented online, in parallel with the stationary screening. In order to have access to the competition films, interested persons are asked to send an email to the address. The festival is attended by an envoy from Kuryer Polski - editor Piotr Winiarski from Berlin.
