The European Competition

The European Competition of documentary films is a platform for discussing the present-day art of the documentary in the Polish-German border region. Apart from film screenings, the international documentary filmmakers scene meets with the audience during discussions. The tension between the traditional and the avant-garde, the formal and thematic explorations, the defying of genres, and the changing of cinematic customs: this is what defines the SEFF. A multicultural background and the dialogue of committee members guarantee that the audience gets a broad view of modern documentary cinema, its artistic and social involvement, as well as the commitment to a singular protagonist.
 
This year's European Competition features 32 works from 20 countries. Production on all of the presented films was concluded in 2014-2015 (work on the films may have started earlier). The range of topics dealt by the films is wide: from fascinating and unexplained stories from the past, through witty and poignant commentary on current affairs, to intimate tales. The selection includes a documentary depicting events that, during production, in a way surprised the author herself.
 
Each of the titles deserves attention on their own. The screenings will be followed by discussions with the authors of the competition documentaries. As shown by past experience, the discussions are immensely interesting and cognitively important for the creators and the audience. The competition includes 3 Polish films, selected from the ever so vast represenation of European cinema. We will also see: 4 documentaries from France, 3 from Germany, 3 from Spain, 2 from Italy, and 2 from The Netherlands. The UK, Scotland, Portugal, Turkey, Ukraine, Sweden, Croatia, Finland, Greece, and Norway – each of these countries is represented by one documentary film. The competition also features 3 co-productions: a Turkish-French one, an Estonian-Lithuanian one, and a German-Israeli one (the terms and conditions require only one of the producers to be European).
 
 
This year, the Program Committee consisting of Joerg Foth, Joanna Wójcik, and Bartosz Wójcik has selected the following 32 films for the European Competition:
 
1. "Backward run" by Ayce Kartal, 2014, 3', Turkey/France, 
2. "BSB-GRU-EZE" by Aline Benchemhoun, 2015, 3'14”, France (European premiere), 
3. "Cats in Riga" by Jon Bang Carlsen, 2014, 17', Latvia, 
4. "Cities" by Gusztáv Hámos, 2014, 30', Germany (Polish premiere),
5. "Verzamelen is een Ziekte" by Kuba Szutkowski, 2014, 15'14”, Netherlands, 
6. "Conversations" by Eliane Esther Bots, 2014, 21', Netherlands (Polish premiere), 
7. "Curonia" by John Grzinich, 2015, 41'30”, Estonia/Lithuania (worldpremiere), 
8. "Daugava Delta" by Rainer Komers, 2014, 20', Germany (Polish premiere), 
9. "Directed by Tweedie" by Duncan Cowles, 2014, 16', Scotland, 
10. "Domain and Range" by Simon Welch, 2015, 5'49”, France, 
11. "Figura" by Katarzyna Gondek, 2015, 9', Poland, 
12. "Viikonloppulapsi" by Tinja Ruusuvuori, 2014, 16'51”, Finland, 
13. "Interlude" by John Stratoudakis, 2014, 12'31”, Greece, 
14. "Jealous guy" by Ulf Kristiansen, 2014, 4'42”, Norway (Polish premiere), 
15. "Leslie's Journey" by Marcos Nine, 2014, 76', Spain (Polish premiere), 
16. "peut-être le noir" by Juliette Joffé, 2014, 25'52", France (Polish premiere), 
17. "Mister James" by Hannes Schilling, 2015, 20', Germany/Israel (worldpremiere), 
18. "Mother-Rythm" by Francesca Fini, 2014, 11'44”, Italy, (Polish premiere),
19. "RAW TOMATOES" by Özer Kesemen, 10'35”, Turkey (Polish premiere), 
20. "Reverse" by Arthur Yakubov, 2014, 4'43”, Ukraine (European premiere), 
21. "Short film about life" by Laila Pakalnina, 2014, 2', Latvia (Polish premiere), 
22. "Stories From the Wars" by Freja Andersson, 2014, 5'10”, Sweden, 
23. "Mów do mnie" by Marta Prus, 2015, 44', Poland, 
24. "Naslovnica" by Silvana Mendusic, 2014, 55', Croatia (Polish premiere), 
25. "The paper chair" by Marco Zuin, 2015, 16', Italy (Polish premiere), 
26. "This Is Joe" by Francis Diaz Fontan, 2014, 4', Spain (Polish premiere), 
27. "Tres Mujeres" by Alexis Delgado Burdalo, 2014, 29', Spain (Polish premiere), 
28. "Unterwegs mit Maxim Gorkiy" by Kolja Kunt, Bernd Lützeler, 2014, 10', Germany, 
29. "UGUMU" by Frank Lubicz-Łapiński, 2015, 21'03”, Poland, 
30. "watch" by Ewan Golder, 2015, 21', United Kingdom, 
31. "Wrath: An Atlantis Faerytale" by Aitken Pearson, Tristan Barnard, 2015, 6'32”, Portugal (worldpremiere), 
32. "YSME" by Doidy Florian, 2014, 25', France (Polish premiere). 

 

The Competition: