On May 19, at the Teatr Studio in Warsaw, the 19th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival awards ceremony took place. The Grand Prix- award of the Millenium Bank- was granted to the film The Pawnshop directed by Łukasz Kowalski. But it did not mark the end of the 19th edition of the biggest celebration of documentary cinema in Poland – we still have a weekend filled with exciting films and events to look forward to in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Gdynia, Katowice, Poznan, Łódź, Bydgoszcz and Lublin. Online edition (films available on mdag.pl): 24 May – 5 June.

The Grand Prix – Bank Millennium Award goes to The Pawnshop by Łukasz Kowalski!

12 films entered the Main Competition of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival to vie for the Grand Prix and its accompanying EUR 8,000 prize. The best film was selected by a jury consisting of: Milenia Fiedler – rector of the Film School in Łódź, film editor; David France – film director nominated for an Oscar for film How to Survive a Plauge; Tamara Kotevska – film director nomitead for an Oscar for film Honeyland which she directed in cooperation with  Ljubomir Stefanov.

Justification: It seemed to be easier to make documentaries about extraordinary topics and characters as everyone sees the shocking in them. But what is to be admired are documentary craftsmen" who can make an extraordinary story out of the most ordinary topics and people, the ones we would usually ignore in the reality around us. This film follows a couple of seemingly unimportant lives in a seemingly everyday story, through an extremely natural observational style.  But what we actually see are incredible heroes who are trying to save others from "drowning" while they are on a "sinking ship" themselves.  It seems it becomes more and more difficult to find humor  in this World we are living in today, and yet these characters find the most universally human ways to make us laugh. Trapped in their own sorrows and misery, they are unaware of their own greatness, but that's why the author of this film made such an amazing job to carefully observe the multiple lawyers each one of them has. This film is a beautiful example of why we need to cherish life in it's most "meaningless" simplicity. This film is an example of why us as authors must have our eyes open on every "corner" of our world in order to spot a great story. .... The Pawnshop.

Special Mention goes to We Met In Virtual Reality by Joe Hunting!

Justification: At their best, documentary films immerse us in magical new worlds, or help us to see ordinary worlds in magical new ways. They leave us smarter about life and about ourselves. For accomplishing all of that in a groundbreaking reimaging of the form, a special jury mention goes to We Met In Virtual Reality.

The Award for the Director of the Best Ukrainian Film goes to Oleksiy Radynski  for Infinity According to Florian

The special award worth EUR 4,000 has been presented to the best Ukrainian production featured in the programme of the 19th Millennium Docs Against Gravity.

Justification: For introducing the world to one of the most extraordinary Ukrainian artists, Florian Yuriev. For fighting against the narrative that describes Ukraine as a country that has been reduced solely to war. For proving that ultimately, spirituality and art will always prevail over ruthless capital.

The Best Polish Film Award goes to Silent Love by Marek Kozakiewicz!

8 films entered the Polish Competition of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival to vie for the Best Polish Film Award and its accompanying EUR 3,000 prize. The best film was selected by a jury consisting of: Laura van Halsema – programmer of the IDFA festival in Amsterdam, Michał Oleszczyk – film critic, translator, screenwriter and script consultant; Thom Powers –TIFF programmer (Toronto International Film Festival) and director of the special DOC NYC projects.

Justification: For a timely, deeply human and beautifully constructed story about a family that simultaneously flourishes and is forced to remain silent.

Special Mention goes to Angels of Sinjar by Hanna Polak!

Justification: For maturity, courage and insight in a documentary giving voice to those whom the world should never forget.

The Studio Cinemas Association Award in the Polish Competition goes to The Fledglings by Lidia Duda!

The Studio Cinemas Association Award in the Polish Competition and 8,000 PLN for the promotion of the winning film goes to The Fledglings by Lidia Duda. The best film was selected by a jury consisting of: Klaudia Małota (DCF Wrocław), Sebastian Dziębowski (Kino Roma) oraz Jan Lubaczewski (Kino Amondo Warszawa).

Justification: For its tender and unpretentious story of closeness and unity, and for its moving portrait of a world where every gesture matters, the winner of the Studio Cinema Association Award in the Polish Competition is The Fledglings, directed by Lidia Duda.

Special Mention goes to: The Pawnshop by Łukasz Kowalski

Justification: For an extremely funny and moving portrait of passion and love and one of the best opening scenes in a Polish documentary, we award a distinction to the film The Pawnshop, directed by Łukasz Kowalski. 

The Smakjam Award for the Best Production in the Polish Competition goes to producers Łukasz Kowalski and Anna Mazerant (4:30 Pictures) – the producers of the film The Pawnshop by Łukasz Kowalski

12 films entered the Polish Competition of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival to vie for the Smakjam Award and its accompanying EUR 3,000 prize. The winning film was selected by the post-production Smakjam Studio staff.

Justification: The makers of The Pawnshop have made a visually well thought-out film, aware of its form, which does not overshadow the story itself. It is a movie close to the characters, up-to-date and sensitive to the social context. Thanks to the work of Łukasz Kowalski and his team, we can discover a colorful micro-world, in which the post-transformation problems of not only Bytom are concentrated like a lens.

Best Short Film Award goes to Freedom Swimmer, dir. Olivia Martin-McGuire

For the first time at the festival, the Best Short Film Award was presented. 15 films took part in the competition. The prize of 2,000 euros was awarded by a jury composed of: Katarzyna Klimkiewicz - director and screenwriter; Bill Morrison - artist, director and producer of experimental and documentary films; Aneta Ozorek - artistic director of Kaboom Animation Festival in Amsterdam.

Justification: Using a variety of techniques that correspond to layers of storytelling, the short film award goes to Freedom Swimmer which frames the contemporary issue of Hong Kong being reclaimed by China in a personal story of a man and his daughter swimming to Hong Kong in 1970s as well as in the wider context of global authoritarian expansion. Beginning with a live action recreation of a grandfather’s story to his granddaughter, and then moving into archival footage, the filmmakers lay the foundation for an seamlessly woven animated story, containing elements of personal history, historical witness, and a call to wider recognition of an ongoing issue. Freedom Swimmer gives a voice to all people who face the choice between living in fear, and fleeing their homes in search of freedom.

The First Appearance Award goes to the film “Silent love” by Marek Kozakiewicz!

Prize sponsor: Visa

The intergenerational jury of the Documentary Academy consisting of the teenengers 15+ and people at age 55+ Iga Ćwiklińska, Lucyna Gosk, Iza Krystosiak, Józef Lorski and Ewa Murawska after watching 11 films decided to give The First Appearance Award to the film Silent Love.

Justification: In a world where it is difficult to live in complete harmony with one's identity, getting to know such intimate, individual fates of the characters is extremely valuable. We believe that the authors of the awarded film presented the story of Agnieszka, Majka and Miłosz in a very warm, subtle and humorous way. The Jury also appreciates the selection of significant scenes from the footage, creating a coherent, absorbing story. The award goes to the film Silent Love directed by Marek Kozakiewicz.

TVP Dokument Award goes to The Fledglings by Lidia Duda!

The TVP Documentary Award worth 5,000 PLN and is awarded to the best film from the entire festival programme.

Justification: For the mastery of documentary art, high artistic and visual value and extraordinary sensitivity towards the film's protagonists, which enables a better understanding of their emotions, their world and their lives.

The Green Warsaw Award goes Cow by Andrea Arnold

Prize sponsor: the City of Warsaw

During this year’s Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival, the Green Warsaw Award and its accompanying PLN 15 000 cash prize funded by the City of Warsaw was once again given to the best film on ecology. The jury consisting of Leszek Drogosz, director of the Bureau of Infrastructure of the City of Warsaw, Katarzyna Karpa-Świderek –press spokeswoman of the WWF Poland and Jonathan Ramsey – director gave the Green Warsaw Award to to Andrea Arnold's film Cow.

Justification: A man is a wolf to a cow

Probably the majority of today’s children in the northern hemisphere, including those in rural areas, know more about elephants or polar bears than ... cows. Yet, to a large extent, it is to cows that Western civilization owes its prosperity. Every year, millions of them are born with our participation, in order to give us milk or meat. What do we give them in return? A short life of suffering, of constant stress, never ending in a natural death. We have decided that this is the price animals have to pay in order for us to be ... human beings. 

Thanks to Andrea Arnold's film Cow we get to be the dairy cow Luma for an hour and a half... And? The film Cow knocks you into the cinema seat! Not because it is exceptionally violent. Actually, having seen other films about industrial animal husbandry, the cow Luma, the main character, is not too bad. However, the perspective from which the filmmaker observes her surroundings makes us even more aware of the immensity of animal suffering that we have written into the costs of our civilization. This is also a film about people. Those we see in the film are merely executors of the system. Despite their efforts, they cannot make it animal-friendly. This is impossible when the animal is only a means of production. The hidden heroes are all of us. Participants in the global market.

Today, 4% of mammals in the world are wild animals, 36% are human, and as many as 60% are farmed animals, including cows. We have become accustomed to the idea that only we humans have the right to be happy, or at least not to suffer. The right to respect only goes to wild animals, especially charismatic ones such as lions or leopards, and the right to love to domestic pets...

If you want to reach the mind, you must reach the heart, is one of the rules of persuasion. This film says more about the need to redefine our thinking about animals than the best scientific treatise. That is why it gets the Green Warsaw Award.

Special Mention goes to Invisible Demons by  Rahul Jain

Justification: The jury of the Green Warsaw Award decided to recognize Rahul Jain's film Invisible Demons for its simple but very thoughtful message describing the complex problems of the modern world using the life of one of the world's largest metropolises as an example. An additional asset of the film is its excellent cinematography.

The Best Cinematography award goes to Magdalena Kowalczyk for Cow. 

There were 11 films in the competition, all of them visually stunning. The best one was awarded by the jury composed of: Piotr Jaxa - cinematographer and photographer; Eliza Kubarska - film director, producer and editor and, most importantly, mother; Monika Szewczyk - photo editor, lecturer, coordinator of photography-related projects.

Justification:
Sven Nykvist: "My quest for simplicity grew out of a search for light: logical, natural, true light...".

- for being close to the character, 

- for sensitivity, 

- for the ability to tell a story, 

- for having the courage to look and to observe, 

- for an image that evokes emotion, 

- for images that cannot be forgotten 

Special mentions go to Alfredo de Juan for the film Hide And Seek and Cecilie Debell, Jens Jákup Hansen, Maria Tórgarð, Rógvi Rasmussen, Troels Rasmus Jensen for the film Skàl.

Justification: We decided to award two distinctions for a new look, and for a camera that tells stories with great precision. An honorable mention for the films Hide And Seek - cinematography by Alfredo de Juan and Skál - for the camera team.

The Chopin’s Nose Award for the director of Nothing Compares by Kathryn Ferguson

Honorary patronage: Marshal of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship

During this year’s edition of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival, we have once again given out the Chopin’s Nose award and its accompanying EUR 2,000 prize to the best film about music and art. The jury consisting of Magda Lipska – curator of the National Modern Art Musem in Warsaw, art theorist; Teonika Rożynek – composer and Monika Strzępka – theater director, new director of the Drama Theater in Warsaw.

Justification: For the affirmative story of the heroine's journey: an artist, a woman and a mother. The one who gives birth to people. The one who gives life. That is why she cares about it. That's why she asks for it. Therefore, she does not recognise hierarchical systems based on hatred of the body and of life.

For a story that makes us understand how much we need the performative gesture of saying goodbye to a system that can no longer be endured.

For that moment in the cinema when we all applaud together as the artist expresses her disappointment and rage at the actions of the Catholic Church and its leader.

For a story about the power of a woman to change reality no matter what price she has to pay.

For an act of defiance against injustice and violence that is for us, the audience, a ritual of breaking the bonds of submission and returning to a state of nature where our thinking, our spirituality and our corporeality are not colonised by patriarchal authorities.

For a film that reminds us what art is for.

The award goes to Kathryn Ferguson for Nothing Compares.

Special mention goes to Flight by Anna Zakrzewska and Łukasz Roduda

Justification: For sensitivity towards the protagonist. For nonconformity and the fight for ideas. For showing that a film about art can be art. For the music, which is the second greatest protagonist of this film.

Best Film For Young Audience Award goes to Water, Wind, Dust Bread by Mahdi Zamanpoori Kiasari

Proze sponsor: Andrzej Wajda Centre for Film Culture

The Best Film for Young Audience Award is granted by the Andrzej Wajda  Centre for Film Culture in Warsaw and amounts to EUR 1,000. The best film will be selected from among the films presented in the OKI DOKI section by a jury composed of young experts, participants of the programme Jump in the Doc. Documentary Ideas Laboratory.

Justification: We would like to award a film that can be watched just as well by a young as an adult viewer. For its unobtrusive but clear portrayal of a complex social and cultural problem. For an authentic look at a local community through the eyes of a child. The award goes to Mahdi Zamanpoor Kiasari for Water, Wind, Dust, Bread.

The Amnesty International Poland Award goes to Rami Farah and Signe Byrge Sørensen the directors of the film Our Memory Belongs to Us

The films in the Amnesty International competition have a common denominator - human rights. The prize of EUR 3,000 was awarded by a jury composed of: Anna Błaszczak-Banasiak - director of Amnesty International Poland; Jakub Majmurek - publicist, film critic; Jacek Petrycki - cameraman and documentary film director.

Justification: The film Our Memory Belongs to Us received the award for its multi-layered, unique in form and moving story about memory. The film departs from a purely observational documentary and through its interesting form skillfully shows the process of remembering, forgetting - and the desire not to remember. It contrasts individual memory and the memory of archives, assembling images preserved on tapes and the protagonists' reactions. It is the story of a lost generation of young Syrians who, full of hope for a velvet revolution, finally grab their weapons in desperation, and a question about the reasons for the lack of intervention and aid, about the international human rights system and its effectiveness. This is a unique, multi-layered, moving portrayal of the human experience and a universal story about us.

The Zwierciadło Award for the Best Film on Psychology goes to the director of Young Plato, Neasa Ni Chianain!

This year, we have once again handed out the Zwierciadło Award and its accompanying EUR 1,000 for the best film on psychology. 

Justification: Can a nasty reality be changed by sitting and talking? After watching Young Plato, it's not hard to believe that you can. Philosophical discussions, learning to think critically on one's own, and consequently learning that conflicts are resolved with arguments, that everyone should be listened to, and that the opinions of your interlocutors should be respected. These are the methods used by Kevin McArevey, "Mr Philosophy" - headmaster of a primary school in Belfast. A city over which the ghosts of civil war still linger. We are awarding Young Plato because we badly need such stories and examples, especially now, with the war in Ukraine and the influx of war-affected neighbours. How to curb violence and despair, how to break the trauma before it affects the lives of generations to come? Every child deserves Kevin McArevey's methods.

Audience Awards:

Warsaw Documentary Award and Wyborcza.pl Big Screen Doc Award: Navalny, dir. Daniel Roher

This year as usual the viewers of Millennium Docs Against Gravity in Warsaw chose their favourite film. Voting lasted until the end of the festival and the Warsaw Documentary Award was announced after the end of the cinema edition of the 19th MDAG. Every viewer could vote for any film from the programme and become a part of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival Jury!

After the end of the cinema edition we also got to know the results of the competition for the Wyborcza.pl Big Screen Doc Award. It was decided by the audience in Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia and Poznań, who voted for their favourite film from among 13 titles portraying various pop-cultural phenomena, as well as some more serious topics. The director of the winning film received a statuette and EUR 1,000.

The awards presented in other festival cities:

Wrocław

The Lower Silesia Grand Prix - the Award of the Marshall of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship: Young Plato, dir. Neasy Ni Chianain, Declan McGrath

Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival in cooperation with the Lower Silesian Film Centre has once again awarded its prize in Wrocław. The Lower Silesian Voivodeship Marshal's Award of EUR 3,000 was awarded by the jury composed of: Martyna Majewska - theatre and film director; Magda Pasierska - singer, music producer, cultural studies scholar, singing teacher and activist; Jan Pelczar - journalist, head of Radio RAM; Jarosław Perduta - director of the Lower Silesian Film Centre.

Justification: For the hope that in a world where everything has to be reconsidered, there are tools we can reach for if we find the strength to hear the call "Stop fighting and peace". For pointing out how multi-generational traditions of violence and hatred can be broken. For observing the characters transparently, acutely and tenderly. For Neasa Ni Chianain and Declan McGrath, the filmmakers behind Young Plato.

Special mentions goes to Angels of Sinjar, dir. Hanna Polak

Justification: For maturity, courage and insight in a documentary that gives voice to those whom the world should never forget.

Special mentions goes to We Met In Virtual Reality, dir. Joe Hunting

Justification: For daring to explore new directions of perception and new sensibilities in the seemingly diminishing world of real people.

Gdynia

 The Gdynia Mayor Award: The Pawnshop,  dir. Łukasz Kowalski

The Jury of the 19th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival comprised: Maciej Cuske , Honorata Martin, Maciej Salamon. At the meeting which took place in Gdynia on 17th May 2022, awarded the prize for the Gdynia Mayor Award in the amount of 15 000 PLN for the best film: The Pawnshop directed by Łukasz Kowalski.

Justification: We award the prize for exceptional sensitivity and attentiveness in the portrayal of the employees of the eponymous Pawnshop. The authors made us feel like part of the family, witnessing their dramas and triumphs, sharing with them the joys and sorrows of everyday life. We cheer them on in their uneven fight against everyday life. By the way, we encourage you to shop at the Allegro auctions of Helikopter II pawnshop or visit it in person at 1A Wytrwałych Street in Bytom.

Special mentions goes to The Fledglings, dir. Lidia Duda

Justification: For showing an extraordinary child trio who teach us the importance of emotions, feelings, empathy, tenderness and touch.

The ETNOMATOGRAPH Award goes to Singing In the Wilderness, dir. Dongan Chen

For the second time at the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival, the Department of Ethnography of the National Museum in Gdansk awards the ETNOMATOGRAPH prize for the best film on ethnographic and anthropological themes. The jury's intention was to distinguish the winner for the most sensitive way of showing the authentic face of a human being. 

Again, the jury was faced with an extremely difficult task. The films selected for the competition share a sensitive view of various aspects of modernity, authenticity, as well as unique means of artistic expression. Indigenous people fighting with media for the virgin territory of the Amazon jungle; the meditative reality of Buddhist nuns on the Tibetan plateau; the difficult fate of African migrants dreaming of Europe; the story of the Chinese Miao people; and finally the crazy Wakaliwood film studio in Uganda - the range of themes and forms was really wide.

The jury debated fiercely and the decision was unanimous. For extraordinary sensitivity to the characters and the fact that it focuses as if in a lens the multidimensionality of the complicated relations between politics, religion and the fate of ordinary people, for showing an example of how to preserve the authentic heritage and culture of the ancestors in the media and propaganda - the Ethnomatograph Prize goes to director Dongan Chen for the film Singing In the Wilderness. The maturity of the debut, the synthetic nature of the narration and the recording of phenomena that imperceptibly change the reality around deserve the highest distinction.

Poznań

The Freedom Prize founded by the city of Poznań goes to Babi Yar. Context by Sergey Loznitsa

The jury unanimously awarded the film Babi Yar. Context by Sergey Loznitsa for its creative courage and masterly precision of construction.

Paweł Łoziński: The archival materials were used to create a poignantly topical story about the unchangeable mechanisms of war between politics and propaganda in constantly changing contexts.

Max Skorwider: The film causes discomfort, it gives no peace, but also hope. 

Sylwia Chutnik: The coldness and precision of the imagery and the manner in which the murder of over 33,000 Ukrainian Jews is recreated pierces particularly strongly in the contemporary war context.

Special mention goes to Cow, dir. Andrea Arnold

We award a special distinction to Andrea Arnold's film Cow for its departure from an anthropocentric view of the world and a moving story told with wonderful images.

Katowice

Silesian Audience Award 2022 goes to The Pawnshop, dir. Łukasz Kowalski

The audience in Katowice decided about the winner of the award worth PLN 4,000. The winning film in the voting was The Pawnshop by Łukasz Kowalski.

Bydgoszcz

BYDGOSZCZ ART.DOC AWARD goes to The Fledglings, dir. Lidia Duda

Justification: In the darkness of uncertainty, it is most important to find a trusted guide. Then everything becomes clear, takes on real shapes. Bravely led through the corridors of the school in Laski by Zosia, Kinga and Oskar, we once again realise how important mutual care, tenderness and courage are. Thanks to discrete presence of Lidia and Wojtek we confidently go through the world of sounds, gestures and seemingly unimportant situations. We cross the borders of our own schemes. We look for hope and sense. And what is important, we find them. 

The Fledglings see more...

Honorable Distinction of the District Bar Council to Simon Lereng Wilmont, author of A House Made of Splinters

Justification: What emerges from the films presented is a picture of a modern world torn by conflict. The only hope for survival is human solidarity, empathy and mutual respect.

A House Made of Splinters by Simone Lereng Wilmont, which receives an honorary distinction from the District Bar Council in Bydgoszcz, gives us a picture of a micro-world where solidarity, empathy and respect are not just empty concepts.

Just as the primary mission of a lawyer is to help, the mission of the caregivers at the temporary children's home in eastern Ukraine is fulfilled by creating an asylum that offers a feeling of security and acceptance for the children there. The caregivers have created an environment in which the children, deprived of their dignity, stigmatised and traumatised, are not alone. 

From this evocative portrait of a place, emotions remain in us long after the screening, like splinters under the skin.

Award for the Best New Film Project from Eastern Europe goes to Mother of Angels, dir. Tetiana Dorodnitsyna, Andrij Litvinienko

Justification: Is the life of a dog or a rabbit more important? A cat or a polecat? As humans, we have long since decided that our lives matter most. This is why so many people are surprised that the protagonists of the winning project do not leave the war-stricken country, while they feel responsible for the animals that remain in their care. We are awarding this prize to a film project that has all the qualities required to become, on the one hand, a very intimate and moving story and, on the other, a story that is universal and comprehensible to people all over the world. We hope that it will make us rethink the essence of humanity.