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Polish documentary wins award at Locarno Festival

17.08.2021 21:45
"The Balcony Movie," a full-length documentary written and directed by Polish filmmaker Paweł Łoziński, has won the Grand Prix award in the Semaine de la Critique section of the 74th International Film Festival in Locarno, Switzerland.
Paweł Łoziński
Paweł ŁozińskiGrzegorz Śledź/PR2

The competition also featured two other films by Polish directors, Tomasz Wysokiński’s Walk with Angels and Karol Pałka’s Bucolic.

Łoziński was quoted by the Polish Film Institute as saying about The Balcony Movie: “I stood on the balcony with my camera for two years and tried to record anyone walking under it.

"These meetings have been turned into a film about people, about what they wanted to say about themselves and about a curious director.

"I was amazed at how little we know about people. Almost nobody is what they seem. Every person carries their own mysteries and secrets. They can't be easily labelled. Life can't be imagined.”

The film had its world premiere at the Locarno Festival. Its Polish premiere will take place at the upcoming Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival.

Łoziński, 56, is one of Poland’s leading documentary filmmakers, with prestigious awards at festivals in Paris, Germany's Leipzig and Poland's Kraków to his name.

(mk/gs)