From the 12th to 17th September, the 47th Polish Film Festival took place in Gdynia. It was a true celebration of Polish cinema. We would like to congratulate the winners of the Golden and Silver Lions as well as the other awards. We are particularly pleased with the first award honouring the director or the director of the best casting in a feature film being part in the Main Competition! The winner was Marta Kownacka for her film APOCAWIX, directed by Xawery Żuławski. Congratulations to Marta, as well as to the Polish Directors Guild of Casting! This award is a milestone in recognition of the importance of the casting director’s work in the filmmaking process.

The Polish Film Festival is particularly important for the e-TALENTA platform, as it confirmed its presence on the Polish film market and proved to be a great support for the casting industry. This year, the platform became a partner of GDYNIA INDUSTRY, an industry meeting place for filmmakers during the festival. GDYNIA INDUSTRY featured panel discussions for female filmmakers, producers, film industry professionals and film school students. Together with the Guild of Polish Casting Directors and the staff of GDYNIA INDUSTRY, we organised an event entirely devoted to casting: “CASTING AS A COMPLEX AND CREATIVE PART  OF THE PROCESS OF BUILDING THE ATMOSPHERE AND CHARACTER OF A FILM.”

Ola Sawa reported on the event. We would like to take this opportunity to once again warmly thank those who supported this initiative and helped to implement it at the highest possible standard:

Joanna Łapińska, the director of GDYNIA INDUSTRY, who was patient and open to our needs from the first phone call until the start of the event

Emilia Krzystowska, who perfectly managed the marketing activities and thousands of other tasks

Marta Kowalska, who turned out to be the best coordinator and the soul of the events

Tomasz Kolankiewicz, the festival’s creative director, who was able to be present in several places at the same time

Compliments to the casting directors Julia Popkiewicz, Paulina Krajnik, Nadia Lebik, Marta Kownacka, who were not only intensely involved in the creation and work for the event, but took an active part in the panel discussions. We would also like to thank the other panellists: producer Aneta Hickinbotham, director Xawery Żuławski, agent Monika Stępień, actress Jowita Budnik and actors Mikołaj Kubacki, Przemysław Przestrzelski and our representatives Barbara Kowalski and Philipp Mogilnitski, as well as all the participants.