A number of national premieres and six directorial debuts are among the films set to compete for the festival’s top Golden Lions award and a host of other prizes, according to organisers.
Festival submissions include Jakub Piątek's Prime Time, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year; Kinga Dębska's Soup Out of Nothing (Zupa Nic); and Leave No Traces (Żeby nie było śladów) by Jan P. Matuszyński.
This last movie has been named as Poland’s official submission for the Academy Awards. It tells the story of Grzegorz Przemyk, a high school student who was beaten to death by Poland's communist-era police.
Tomasz Kolankiewicz, artistic director of the festival, has said that most of the films competing for the Golden Lions are by young up-and-coming filmmakers.
The annual Polish Film Festival, first held in 1974, is one of the oldest film festivals in Europe.
The 46th Polish Film Festival runs in Gdynia until Saturday.
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Source: PAP, IAR