Millennium Docs Against Gravity is one of those events in Warsaw – and, since 2009, other cities as well, now seven of them, to be exact – that is like a box of chocolates: no matter what you pick, it is sure to be a treat. There are new films that were previously presented at Berlin, Sundance, Hot Docs and IDFA, and the topics range from pop culture to high culture, and from ecology to economy.

The 17^th edition was postponed from May, owing to the coronavirus, and is now running in hybrid form – from 4-13 September, the films are being presented in cinemas in Warsaw, Wrocław, Lublin, Poznań, Bydgoszcz, Katowice and Gdynia, and on the 19^th, the event will fling open the digital screening rooms. The theme of this year’s festival, “tenderness to the world”, was inspired by Olga Tokarczuk’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech and is very poignant, as the social situation in Poland becomes ever more tense.

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The full programme of approximately 150 films is being shown in Poland’s capital, while other cities are presenting up to 80 documentaries and are also hosting Q&As with the filmmakers. The programme is divided into a number of competitions; there is also an Audience Award and other accolades due to be given out by, for example, Zwierciadło magazine and the Polish public broadcaster’s channel TVP Kultura.

The main competition includes 13 films, to be weighed up by a jury made up of Paweł Pawlikowski, Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz and Sigrid Dyekjaer. The documentaries in the running for the €8,000 cash prize are: For Sama [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts
scheda film] by Waad Al-Khateab and Edward Watts, La Mami [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Laura Herrero Garvín
scheda film] by Laura Herrero Garvin, The Earth Is Blue as an Orange [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Iryna Tsilyk
scheda film] by Iryna Tsilyk, Adolescentes [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Sébastien Lifshitz, Punks [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Maasja Ooms, State Funeral [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Sergei Loznitsa, Lessons of Love [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Małgorzata Goliszewska e K…
scheda film] by Małgorzata Goliszewska and Kasia Mateja, Scars [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Agnieszka Zwiefka
scheda film] by Agnieszka Zwiefka, Epicentro [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Hubert Sauper, The Wall of Shadows [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Eliza Kubarska
scheda film] by Eliza Kubarska, Welcome to Chechnya by David France, Rebuilding Paradise by Ron Howard and The Painter and the Thief [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Benjamin Ree
scheda film] by Benjamin Ree. There is also the Best Polish Film Award competition, including no fewer than 12 contenders. Apart from Lessons of Love, Scars and The Wall of Shadows, the following films have a chance to scoop €3,000: From Within [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Cezary Grzesiuk, Kystian Kamiński and Tomasz Szwan, Scandal [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Bartosz Paduch, Let’s Try to Jump into the Well (medim-length film) by Piotr Stasik and Dorota Wardęszkiewicz, The Time Busters [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Aleksandra Kutz, Tony Halik by Marcin Borchardt, Say Yes/No by Pawel Hejbudzki, The Whale from Lorino [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Maciej Cuske, Between Us by Dorota Proba, and Quebonafide: Romantic Psycho Film by Red Bull Media House, Quebonafide and Warsaw Production Team.

All of the movies from the programme are also divided into thematic sections: We Can Be Heroes, Cinema, Mon Amour, Man in Film, The Fourth Eye, Fetish and Culture, Intimate Stories, Climate for Change, Places, Masters, Muse and Inspiration, Oki Doki, Money and Power, Laws of Metaphysics, From Home Movies, and Understanding China.

The festival is also organising Q&As, either in person or online, with at least half of the directors, and will host debates. Special master classes are dedicated to Hubert Sauper and war photographer Jan Grarup (the protagonist of Photographer of War by Boris Benjamin Bertram) – the gathering is also curating an exhibition of his works, called Our Daily Genocides.