Poland’s American Movie Pageant Unspools Annual Showcase of U.S. Movie

A cross-section of works from revered masters and recent faces will take heart stage at Poland’s American Film Festival (AFF), whose thirteenth version takes place Nov. 8 – 13 in Wrocław, Poland.

Established in 2010 because the sister occasion of the New Horizons Film Festival, a showcase of unbiased and arthouse cinema launched in 2001, the AFF payments itself as the primary movie occasion in Central Europe solely dedicated to the works of up to date and basic American cinema.

“We’re trying to find these voices, these auteurs, these abilities and tendencies, and people waves of American movie which might be essentially the most authentic and present some vibes of the present second,” stated competition director Ula Śniegowska.

Related in spirit to France’s long-running Deauville American Movie Pageant, which this 12 months will host its forty eighth version, the AFF goals to highlight the breadth and variety of up to date American filmmaking.

Śniegowska describes final 12 months’s opening movie, Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” (pictured), as a “excellent instance of the spectrum of the competition that we’re overlaying,” starting from “studio movies with an auteur’s stamp on it” to smaller indies that showcase “new expertise and new tendencies in American movie.”

“To fulfill and appeal to audiences, that’s normally accomplished with greater names. Fortunately, America does have these auteur names which might be supported by the studios, like Wes Anderson or Jim Jarmusch, to not point out P.T. Anderson. Recognizable names and expertise that pulls bigger audiences,” she continued. “However we additionally wish to go underground and look there and current experimental and lowest-budget however highest-creative-energy movies as properly.”

The choice course of naturally attracts from occasions showcasing the very best of indie American filmmaking, with most of the titles screening in Wrocław having premiered at festivals reminiscent of Sundance, SXSW or Tribeca. The programming group, nonetheless, additionally has a name for basic submissions that may “generally discover movies that aren’t but on the circuit,” stated Śniegowska.

The competition has two competitors strands, with the Spectrum part providing a panorama of up to date American cinema centered on mid-career filmmakers and people making vital directorial debuts, alongside the American Docs competitors for non-fiction movies. Final 12 months’s winners, that are chosen by viewers members, have been Diego Ongaro’s “Down with the King” and Angela Washko’s “Workhorse Queen.”

Together with non-competitive sections spotlighting the work of extra established administrators, the AFF annually presents its Indie Star Award to a acknowledged grasp of unbiased filmmaking. Previous winners have included Todd Solondz, Jerry Schatzberg, Sarah Driver and John Waters (under), who accompanied his 2021 award and retrospective with a efficiency of his stand-up present “This Filthy World” and a drag present that includes performers from round Poland.

This 12 months’s award will probably be given to Nina Menkes, the veteran unbiased filmmaker identified for titles together with the Locarno premieres “The Bloody Baby” and “Phantom Love” and the documentary “Brainwashed: Intercourse-Digicam-Energy,” which performed at this 12 months’s Berlinale.

One other spotlight of the competition is the U.S. in Progress program, which invitations American narrative characteristic tasks in tough or closing minimize looking for ending funds, pairing them with European consumers and prime Polish picture and sound post-production corporations. This 12 months the occasion will supply money and in-kind awards totaling $100,000.

“It’s a very nice approach to strategy American, unbiased, smaller-budget filmmakers by inviting them to Poland within the earlier stage of their manufacturing,” stated Śniegowska. “It’s simply so great to have the primary viewers in Europe and listen to the suggestions from [the industry]…and to listen to their criticism and help.” Latest alumni of this system embody Pete Ohs, whose genre-bending horror movie “Jethica” premiered this 12 months at SXSW.

Additionally within the playing cards is the primary chapter of a two-part retrospective devoted to Robert Altman, the prolific, iconoclastic filmmaker who was Oscar-nominated 5 instances as a director. “Altman’s America,” stated Śniegowska, will highlight “these Altman films which might be an acute criticism of American society.” Subsequent 12 months the American Movie Pageant will current “Altman’s Ladies,” a choice of the director’s female-centric movies.

This system of this 12 months’s American Movie Pageant is but to be introduced, although the fest has racked up an enviable monitor report for touchdown critically acclaimed movies, together with the Polish premieres of titles together with Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow,” David Byrne’s “American Utopia” and Eliza Hittman’s “By no means Not often Generally All the time.”

Final 12 months’s hybrid occasion racked up 36,000 admissions for each in-person and on-line screenings, a turnout that Śniegowska described as “tremendous good” in mild of the scope of the five-day occasion. Nonetheless, she admits, “there may be nonetheless room to develop.”