THE 44th KRAKOW Int'l FESTIVAL of SHORT and DOCUMENTARY FILMS "A STRONG ENGLISH PRESENCE AND A CANTONESE TWIST"

The Krakow festival of short and documentary films is one of the oldest and most prestigious events of its kind in the world. Launched in 1961, this, the 44th instalment of the festival, was held here from May 28 to June 1st. There are two competition sections, one for international films and one for indigenous Polish films. Retrospectives are another strong feature of the festival while, in many cases, the filmmakers are present to discuss their work with the audience and press.

The distinguished guest of the fest this year is legendary American documentarian Albert Maysles ("Salesman", "Gimme Shelter", "The Beatles in the USA", "Primary" "Grey Gardens" etc.). Mr. Maysles, 78, was awarded a Golden Dragon (The symbol of the city) for the collectivity of his life work, and was a gracious presence here throughout the five day event. The awards will be announced later today and results will follow.

FESTIVAL AWARDS
International section: The Golden Dragon or "Grand Prix" went to a fiction
film entitled "WASP" (23 minutes) by Andrew Arnold. "WASP" tells the story
of a young single mother from an extremely lower class background (obvious
from the gritty language she uses) with four little children, who
accidentally meets an old flame -- equally grungy character -- and sees
this as a last chance for "true love". The relationship, much of it played
out in a pool-table beer joint, is clearly doomed from the start, while the
title comes from a moment when a wasp lodges in the ice-cream smeared mouth
of the baby in the carriage, as the children wait for mommy outside the
saloon. The film, although not exactly uplifting in spirit, is full of
cinematic energy and seems to point at a director who is headed for full
length feature production.

Secondary 'Silver Dragon" awards went to a very clever animation film
entitled "THE HOUSE' by Vivienne Jones, and a rather gloomy, but artfully
filmed, fiction short entitled "GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD" by Vito Rocco, both
from the UK.
English speaking Polish director Lech Majewski, who headed UP the foreign
jury, noted that nearly 80% of the films shown were made with digital video
technology, which "makes for a certain kind of intimacy and also puts
filmmaking within the reach of younger talents with limited financial
resources".
He went on to say that the digital process is "a phenomenon which may soon
change the entire approach to documentary filmmaking".

The big winner in the indigenous Polish category was a delightful if
slightly longish "semi-documentary" (was it staged or was it real?) --
entitled 'BAR AT VICTORIA STATION" by Leszek Dawid of the prestigious Lodz
Film School. This is a most amusing study of two young, unemployed,
uneducated guys from a small town in Poland who decide to try their luck in
the West now that Poland is part of the EU and the "doors are open' ...
Pawel and Marek pool their minimal savings and make it -- barely -- to
London where they hang around Victoria Station making endless futile phone
calls in answer to employment ads in the Polish press. The menial jobs are
always either "already taken", or require a work permit costing more cash
than they can afford to lay out. By the end of the film their money has run
out and they are sleeping on cement floors -- but are still clinging to an
English phrase book and some desperate thread of hope -- An epilogue informs
us that "The boys finally found work and stayed in Britain" -- Hallelujah! There is clearly a comic talent at work here but it is hard to say if the
film will "play" to non-Polish audiences. The highly amusing Polish dialogue
reflecting their initial optimism, then waning confidence and growing
despair as their situation becomes more and more desperate -- had the
Polish audience in stitches, but loses much in translation. Nevertheless,
this is a film which provides some sharp insights into the current Polish
view of integration into the larger European community.

An interesting sidelight of the festival was the presence of a large
delegation from CANTON, China. The Cantonese are interested in promoting
their own city of Guang-Zhou, the mainland neighbour of Hong-Kong -- as a
gateway for Western documentaries and an outlet for their own. The Cantonese
extended an official invitation to Albert Maysles to come and shoot a
documentary there --"provided it is not political!" -- Mr. Maysles, who has
been working for many years on a series of films observing people on trains
-- some in the former Soviet Union -- has accepted the invitation and hopes
to conclude this long pending project with "stories" of people on trains in
China. 'Rots of Ruck" -- but a filmmaker of Maysles's ingenuity and verve
will unquestionably find The Way -- and hopefully, we will see the results
next year in Krakow.

Alex, Krakow, Poland