20th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival in Wrocław
The largest documentary film festival in Poland and one of the largest in the world will take place in Wrocław from May 12th to May 21st. At the Lower Silesian Film Centre, you will be able to watch productions related to the most relevant contemporary issues.
The slogan for this year’s MDAG edition is ‘Do not be indifferent’ and it refers to Marian Turski’s famous speech. The phrase has also become the slogan of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising organized by the POLIN Museum. These words correspond with the mission of Millennium Docs Against Gravity and the film programme presented at the festival over the years. These words express values that have been present since the inception of the festival – being attentive and sensitive (also linguistically) to people around us.
This year, our thoughts remain with the Ukrainians suffering from the Russian attack, which is why the program includes films that examine various aspects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ‘In the Rearview’ by Maciek Hamela tells the story of the beginning of Russian aggression in 2022. The protagonists of the film travel thousands of kilometers in a van, which serves various functions: as a waiting room, hospital, shelter and, above all, as a space for confessions.
Piotr Pawlus and Tomasz Wolski’s film ‘In Ukraine’ focuses on the scale of devastation caused by the war as well as the attempt to return to normality in liberated areas. Alisa Kovalenko’s film ‘We Will Not Fade Away’ takes on a whole new dimension in the face of the Russian invasion of 2022. The film takes us back to 2019 where we observe five teenage protagonists who are starting to think about their future as they enter adulthood.
You can expect to see films by outstanding filmmakers and hits from the biggest film festivals around the world at the festival. The legendary Werner Herzog returns with ‘Theater of Thought’ „Scena myśli” in which he examines the one place on Earth he has yet to reach – the human brain, while posing questions about the role of neuroscience in the modern world. Polish audiences will get their first look at Laura Poitras’ (‘Citizenfour’) ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’, which won the main prize at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar®. This is the story of Nan Goldin, a photographer who rose to fame documenting the lives of LGBT+ people in the United States and the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s. She is now fighting against a pharmaceutical company that is responsible for the opioid crisis. Anna Hints, who won the Sundance directing award, will take audiences to an Estonian sauna in her film ‘Smoke Sauna Sisterhood’, The sauna is a place where women share their most intimate stories and experiences. The program also includes ‘Apolonia, Apolonia’ by Lea Glob, which won the IDFA festival. It’s an intimate portrait of painter Apolonia Sokol, who is fighting for her place in the art world.
This year’s festival will showcase a number of intriguing Polish films. Jakub Piątek will present his latest film ‘Pianoforte’, which premiered at Sundance. This is a gripping thriller-like story about the participants of the Chopin Competition. It is a gripping and thrilling story about the participants of the Chopin Competition. Kuba Mikurda, who has won Chopin’s Nose twice at MDAG this time will present a fresh look at Stanisław Lem’s Solaris in the film ‘Solaris Mon Amour’. Dr Łukasz Moll from the Institute of Sociology, prof. Bogusław Pawłowski, head of the Department of Human Biology, and Michał Chadera, a graduate of Material Culture Heritage and currently a student of history will be among the UWr staff who will participate in discussions after the film screenings.
The 20th Millennium Docs Against Gravity will be a fascinating journey around the world and through many relevant issues such as ecology, politics, psychology, human rights, art (including avant-garde), pop culture and family relations.
You can purchase tickets for the 29th Millennium Docs Against Gravity at DCF cinema box offices and online at www.dcf.wroclaw.pl and www.mdag.pl.
The 20th anniversary edition of the MDAG festival will take place from 12-21 May 2023 at the Lower Silesian Film Centre and the online part from 23 May to 4 June on the mdag.pl platform. The patronage of the festival is Bank Millennium (www.bankmillennium.pl).
Translated by Klaudia Kuśnierz (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
