The impressive growth of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival in recent years has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Nominations for the Doc Alliance Award 2024 have been announced
The 16 outstanding films made by emerging filmmakers competing for this year's Doc Alliance Award have been announced. 8 feature-length and 8 short films are chosen by the programmers of 8 prestigious documentary film festivals, united at the Doc Alliance and representing different European regions and perspectives on the art of documentary filmmaking. Many of the nominated films are discoveries form recent editions of the partner festivals.
Full schedule of screenings is now available and single tickets presale has started!
In just a few days, the 21st edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity will begin! Starting today, the full schedule of screenings for all festival cities is available on mdag.pl. Online ticket presale has also started on mdag.pl, cinema websites, and at their box offices. It's the perfect moment to plan your own journey into the world of documentary films. The cinema part of the festival will take place from May 10th to May 19th in seven cities: Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Katowice, Poznań, Bydgoszcz, and Łódź. The online part will run on mdag.pl from May 21st to June 3rd.
THE FULL PROGRAMME OF THE 21ST MDAG IS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE. ARTISTIC DIRECTOR'S TOP 12!
A great celebration of documentary cinema, the 21st Millennium Docs Against Gravity, is fast approaching! The cinema part of the festival will take place from 10 to 19 May in seven cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Bydgoszcz, Łódź). The full programme of this year's MDAG, featuring the latest developments in international documentary filmmaking screened in Poland for the first time, is now available at mdag.pl! We invite you to check out the descriptions and trailers of the films.
Complete line up of the MDAG Industry 2024
MDAG Industry project is a unique film industry event that connects Polish filmmakers with foreign festival representatives, distributors, producers, sales agents and contemporary cinema stars. We started in 2021 with a single event, from 2022 we are creating an expanded module of industry events under the banner of MDAG Industry. The MDAG Industry program is being developed in response to the current needs of the audiovisual market, following trends, staying ahead of changes in the market and not being indifferent to innovation.
Let's nurture good relationships. Trailer for the 21st MDAG
Trailer of the 21st edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity has been created for the ninth time by the documentary filmmaker and editor Dorota Proba to the music of Kutiman's "Give It Up". Following this year's theme "In Relation to the World", it showcases various aspects of often complex relationships that connect us to the surrounding reality.
"IN RELATION TO THE WORLD". THE SLOGAN AND POSTER OF THE 21ST MDAG!
The motto of the 21st edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity is 'In relation to the world.' From the poster of the largest Polish film festival, Maria Smolarz, the protagonist of Łukasz Ronduda and Dawid Nickel's film 'Rave,' gazes at the audience. Bartek Bojarczuk, the creative director of the ILLCAT.studio, is the author of this year's visual identity for the festival. The author of the poster photograph is Alicja Lesiak, a photographer who will also be a member of the jury for the Best Cinematography Competition.
The best Sundance and Berlinale films in the 21st MDAG program!
Millennium Docs Against Gravity is rapidly approaching. The festival program features documentary winners from Sundance and Berlinale. In the case of Sundance, the previously announced film "A New Kind of Wilderness" by Silje Evensmo Jacobsen, which won the main prize in the international documentary competition, is a beautiful story about life away from civilization. Also, the winner of the American documentary competition, "Porcelain War" by Brendan Bellomo and Slavy Leontyev, will have its Polish premiere at MDAG. From the recently ended Berlinale, programmers brought the winner of the Best Documentary award, "No Other Land" by Rachel Szor, Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Billal, and Basel Adra.
FIRST PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE 21ST MDAG!
The largest Polish film festival will take place from May 10th to 19th in eight cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź, Bydgoszcz, and Lublin), followed by an online edition from May 21st to June 3rd on mdag.pl. The titular sponsor of the event is Bank Millennium (https://www.bankmillennium.pl/).
CALL FOR ENTRIES TO THE 21ST MILLENNIUM DOCS AGAINST GRAVITY FILM FESTIVAL IS NOW OPEN!
Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival is the largest film festival in Poland and one of the largest documentary film festivals in the world. It is the only film festival in Europe which takes place in eight different cities at the same time (Warsaw, Gdynia, Wrocław, Lublin, Bydgoszcz, Katowice, Poznań and Łódź).
Films qualified for the Polish Competition
Festival audiences will once again have the opportunity to experience a unique encounter with domestic documentary cinema. There are 11 productions taking part in the Polish Competition with a chance to win three awards – the Best Polish Film Award, the Best Production Award in the Polish Competition presented by the post-production studio Smakjam and the Association of Studio Cinemas Award.
The 20th MDAG: International and World Premieres, gender balance and awards!
The 20th edition of MDAG, the biggest film festival in Poland, will start in a month! On this occasion, a press conference was held at Warsaw's Kinoteka, where the most important information about the event was announced. The festival will begin in eight Polish cities on 12 May. The festival will last in cinemas until 21 May, and from 23 May to 4 June the online part will be available at mdag.pl.
Films qualified for the Main Competition
This year, 12 films have qualified for the Main Competition of the festival, including three Polish productions or co-productions! They will compete not only for the Grand Prix - the Bank Millennium Award but also for local prizes in the other festival cities: the Lower Silesia Grand Prix in Wrocław, the Bydgoszcz ART/DOC Award, the Silesian Voivodeship Audience Award in Katowice, the City of Gdynia Grand Prix and the Freedom Award funded by the City of Poznań.
MDAG Industry - a space for the development of the documentary industry
MDAG Industry project is a unique film industry event that connects Polish filmmakers with foreign festival representatives, distributors, producers, sales agents and contemporary cinema stars. We started in 2021 with a single event, and in 2022 we created an expanded section of industry events under the name MDAG Industry. This year we have prepared an extensive programme of activities – the next step in the documentary industry's development.
Premiere of the anniversary 20th edition of MDAG poster and the start of passes and accreditations sale!
The anniversary 20th edition of MDAG will take place on May 12-21, 2023 in cinemas across eight Polish cities - Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź, Bydgoszcz and Lublin as well as online - from May 23 to June 4 on the mdag.pl. The principal patron of the festival is Bank Millennium (www.bankmillennium.pl)
Films exploring different aspects of the Russian invasion and the Ukrainian heroism in the program of the 20th MDAG
The anniversary 20th edition of MDAG will take place on May 12-21, 2023 in cinemas across eight Polish cities - Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź, Bydgoszcz and Lublin as well as online - from May 23 to June 4 on the mdag.pl. The principal patron of the festival is Bank Millennium (www.bankmillennium.pl)
Films made for the big screen in the programme of the 19th MDAG
Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival viewers in Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia and Poznań will once again have a chance to vote for the best film in the Wyborcza.pl Big Screen Doc Award Competition. 12 captivating and well-crafted films, made to be watched on the big screen, will familiarise the audience with different pop culture phenomena, as well as more serious topics.
#ClimateConnect, a global conversation about the effects of climate change on human lives
The climate crisis is also a humanitarian crisis. Every year, millions of people are forced to flee their homes due to increasingly frequent disasters, such as floods, cyclones, droughts and forest fires. In 2020 alone, 30,7 million people were internally displaced because of disasters – accounting for over 75% of the people estimated to have been internally displaced that year. By 2050, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance every year could rise to over 200 million.
Over 134 000 people participated in the 18th edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity!
This was the second time that Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival assumed a hybrid form: after the cinema section, which had taken place in seven Polish cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Lublin, and Bydgoszcz) on September 3-12, the online section went live on mdag.pl from September 16 to October 3. The two sections attracted an impressive total of 134 006 attendees.
The full program and ticket sales for single screenings are now available on mdag.pl!
This is the last step before the launch of the 18th Millennium Docs Against Gravity on September 3! Starting on August 19, you can purchase single-screening tickets on mdag.pl and in the ticket offices of festival cinemas (during opening hours). The festival portal now offers a program grid featuring both film screenings and additional events of this year’s festival.
Jury Members of the 18 th MDAG!
Agnieszka Holland, Christian Frei, Zuza Krajewska, Bartek Chaciński – these are just some of the prominent figures of film and culture who will award prizes in all the competitions during the 18th Millennium Docs Against Gravity. Below we would like to present the complete juries of the Warsaw edition of the festival!
Full programme of 18th Millennium Docs Against Gravity revealed!
All the festival fans have been waiting for this moment! The full programme of this year’s Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival appeared on the mdag.pl website today. It involves nearly 150 documentary films which represent a great diversity when it comes to the places where they were made as well as forms - among them, there are feature length ones, short film, animations and documentary series. The festival will take place from 3rd to 12th September in seven cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Lublin and Bydgoszcz) and then from 16th September do 3rd October online at mdag.pl.
South America, criminal investigations, protests, and the pandemic – new thematic sections of the festival!
The Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival has come of age – it celebrates its 18th edition! Once again viewers will be able to watch the best documentary cinema from all around the world. As it already became our tradition, the program includes new thematic sections, connected to subjects that were of particular importance to filmmakers throughout the last year. Below we are introducing selected films from the new sections, two per each.
Millennium Docs Against Gravity new dates: 3 September - 3 October 2021
We had to make the difficult decision to reschedule the festival to September. The 18th—now grown-up—edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity will take place in September 3-12 in cinemas in Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Lublin, and Bydgoszcz, with the online edition taking place between September 16 and October 3.
Call for entries to the 18th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival is now open!
The call for submissions to the 18th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival is now open. The 18th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival will take place on May 14-23, 2021 in Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Katowice, Lublin, Bydgoszcz and Poznan. Additionally there will be an online version of the festival on May 27 - June 13, 2021.
Statement of Millennium Docs Against Gravity on the killing of George Floyd
1. As one of the biggest documentary film festivals in the world we condemn the killing of George Floyd, a black citizen of the United States of America. 2. The death of George Floyd is not an isolated issue—it is the result of years of oppression: from slavery through Jim Crow to the institutional racism of today.
DOCS AGAINST ISOLATION A SMASHING SUCCESS!
Docs Against Isolation, an online event commenced on Friday, May 8, and held by the crew of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, ended on Sunday, May 17. The event attracted a whopping 16,500 participants and followers, sparking enthusiasm among the viewers—both MDAG regulars and brand-new fans. Our audience could watch movies from past editions of the festival, attend meetings with creators and experts, participate in workshops, listen to concerts, DJ sets, and lectures, as well as enter contests—all of it online.
Eliza Kubarska’s “The Wall of Shadows” selected for the main competition of Toronto’s Hot Docs!
“The Wall of Shadows” (“Ściana cieni”) – Eliza Kubarska and Monika Braid’s latest film – will compete for the main prize at the biggest documentary film festival in North America – the Hot Docs in Toronto! The film was selected for the main competition (International Spectrum) as one of ten titles out over three thousand submissions.
The 17th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival will be held from the 4th to the 13th of September 2020
Millennium Docs Against Gravity is a festival which always places its viewers at the helm. Thus, we feel the urge to be both responsible and reasonable. Each year, we are visited by guests from around the world, we discuss with our spectators about documentary cinema and we broaden the horizons of our knowledge about the reality surrounding us. We cannot be mere bystanders watching as this reality unravels. It would be highly irresponsible in the light of governmental recommendations and the dynamics of the pandemic if we were to endanger our audience and guests by exposing them to a possible contact with the coronavirus. With regards to the abovementioned, after a period of intense consultations and meticulous analysis of the situation, we have decided to postpone the 17th edition of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival from May to September. The festival will be held from the 4th to the 13th of September 2020 in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Katowice, Poznan and Bydgoszcz. We will announce the festival dates in Gdynia as soon as possibile.
Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival is coming to Poznań thanks to our collaboration with Kino Muza!
The Festival is going to reach yet another city and we already know the first hits of the Poznań edition of MDAG! The opening night film will be Boris Benjamin Bertram’s Photographer of War: its protagonist, acclaimed war photojournalist Jan Grarup, will meet with the Poznań audience on the opening night!
The festival is on all year round! A look at the Against Gravity film cycles
May is particularly important for us because that is when we get to meet you during our festival screenings. However we continue to work throughout the year, organizing film cycles to promote education and important social issues. They appear in various cities, giving a wide audience the opportunity to see festival (and not just festival) hits.
The 16th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival turned out to be record-breaking [SEE PHOTOS]
Over 92 000 people in six Polish cities – Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Katowice, Bydgoszcz, and Lublin – have attended documentary film screenings and associated festival events. Join us at the next biggest celebration of documentary filmmaking in Poland! the 17th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival will take place on May 8-22, 2020.
The audience have named the best films of the 16th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival!
The audience of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival have picked their favorite film and given it the people’s choice award known as the Documentary Warsaw Award. It is accompanied by a prize of EUR 2000, funded by the City of Warsaw. All the films screened during the Festival were eligible to win. Every viewer was able to vote and thus become a juror of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival!
The Bydgoszcz ART.DOC Award was given to “Honeyland” by Lyubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska
The jury of the Main Competition of the 16th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival in Bydgoszcz consisting of: Justyna Mazur, Emilia Walczak, and Mateusz Buława, having familiarized themselves with 13 competition entries, decided to give the Bydgoszcz ART.DOC Award of the 16th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival and its accompanying EUR 1500 to… Tamara Kotevska and Lyubomir Stefanov for the film “Honeyland”! The film had earlier received the Silesian Grand Prix – the Award of the Marshall of the Silesian Voivodeship, and the festival’s top honor – the Bank Millennium Award.
The Silesian Grand Prix goes to „Honeyland”!
We have learned the winners of the Katowice edition of the 16th Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival! The jury gave the Award of the Marshall of the Silesian Voivodeship and its accompanying EUR 3000 prize to “Honeyland” by Lyubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska. The film had earlier claimed the festival’s top honor – the Bank Millennium Award.
„Honeyland” by Lyubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska receives the Bank Millennium Grand Prix!
On 16 May, at Teatr Studio in Warsaw, the 16th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival awards ceremony took place. But it did not mark the end of the 16th edition of the biggest celebration of documentary cinema in Poland – we still have a weekend filled with exciting films and events to look forward to in Warsaw, Wrocław, Katowice, Bydgoszcz, and Lublin. In Gdynia, the festival ends on 24 May.