[Festivals Stories] Krakow Film Festival

Krakow Film Festival reacted immediately after learning about the developing coronavirus pandemic. In March 2020 we decided to make radical changes which initially caused great doubts among our partners but also among opinion-forming circles. In the end, we achieved great success and broke attendance records.

Last year, the 60th Krakow Film Festival (31 May- 7 June 2020) went entirely online as one of the first in the world and the very first in Poland. During the 8 festival days we organised 230 screenings and showed 172 of the latest documentary, animated and short films from all over the world, which were watched by an audience of over 40 000 people. After the screenings the festival hosted 65 online Q&As with filmmakers which were viewed over 27 000 times. Official ceremonies which were broadcast on social media also broke attendance records - they were seen over 17 500 times.

"The decision to organise the festival online was not easy but thanks to the support of our unfailing partners, filmmakers' trust, and the favourable feedback from our loyal audience we soon understood that it was the best one we could make. And we were right! In the difficult times of the pandemic the festival attracted twice the usual audience who were craving for a film feast of the best quality" - emphasises Krzysztof Gierat, the festival's director.

As they do each year, over 1000 accredited guests took part in the industry events taking place in the KFF Industry zone. Over 200 international film festival representatives visited Krakow online, among them programmers and directors of the biggest and most important film festivals in the world. Representatives of film organisations connected with us from almost all continents: Europe, both Americas, Asia, Australia and even Antarctica. The accredited guests followed an intensive KFF Industry programme: they participated in over 900 individual industry meetings.

This way the festival not only reached an entirely new audience across the country, but it also transcended the original time limitations. We have also reached audiences who cannot participate in the traditional festival, not only due to geographical barriers but also due to various types of disabilities and dysfunctions.

The streaming platform that we created in Spring 2020 is still in use as this year's edition (30 May - 6 June) was organised in a hybrid formula, simultaneously in the cinemas and on the Internet, and it will remain so in the future in response to the needs of filmmakers and the audience.

The Krakow Film Festival is one of the oldest and most important film events in the world. It is accredited by the FIAPF and is on the exclusive list of Oscarqualifying events in the short film (fiction, animation, documentary) and full-length documentary categories, and is also recommended for the European Film Award in the same categories.

The 63rd Krakow Film Festival will take place from 28 May to 5 June, 2022.

More information: https://www.krakowfilmfestival...

(General Editor: Simon Mundy)