As every year, the Millennium Docs Against Gravity program will feature films that have won the acclaim of critics and audiences at one of the world's largest film festivals – Berlinale. Among them is the festival’s documentary winner, the gripping Holding Liat, which received the Berlinale Documentary Award!
The Berlin festival also included some Polish highlights!
Letters From Wolf Street is an intimate portrayal of Poland through the eyes of a director from India who has been living in the country for ten years. Meanwhile, Bedrock, directed by Kinga Michalska, takes viewers on a powerful journey through sites of destruction. Both films will have their Polish premieres during the 22nd edition of MDAG!
Letters From Wolf Street, dir. Arjun Talwar
A small street in downtown Warsaw. Arjun Talwar, an Indian immigrant, came to Poland over a decade ago. To overcome boundaries between himself and an anxiety-ridden country, he begins filming his neighbors: a postman delivering remedies for loneliness, an exile recreating his hometown, and others with hidden stories to tell. Through their lives, Arjun reflects on his own search for belonging and unveils a kaleidoscopic view of modern Europe, while Poland, often seen as unwelcoming, is humorously and tenderly reimagined through the lens of a foreign filmmaker.
Holding Liat, dir. Brandon Kramer
A film that is shot truly open-endedly, in the thick of it, even though – at the outset – it was impossible to predict what would happen. Liat is forcibly abducted from her kibbutz by members of Hamas on 7 October 2023 and shortly afterwards Brandon Kramer starts filming with her family. He’s right there with them, up close, as the parents Yehuda and Chaya try to deal with their fear – or to sway the fate of their adult daughter and her husband in dialogue with the authorities. As a US citizen, Yehuda flies to the USA, accompanied by Liat’s son, who is burdened by more than the public attention, and Liat’s sister, who will try to cushion Yehuda’s temper and anger. Because even within this family views are polarised: despite his pain, the father takes a critical view of Israel’s role in the Middle East conflict. He is a pacifist and will not be dissuaded from the path of reconciliation, even at the geopolitical epicentre of diplomacy and trauma. He persistently swims against the tide, takes issue with himself and everyone else and berates the Israeli government. A candid film of the hour. Insights don’t come from politics, but from Liat’s family.
Bedrock, dir. Kinga Michalska
"Bedrock" is a psychological journey through contemporary Poland, showing the lives of people living on the grounds of former death camps. The film presents the intimate stories of the protagonists, where the past intertwines with everyday life, revealing disturbing contradictions they must face.
Only on Earth, dir. Robin Petré
Film takes us on an immersive and visually striking journey into Southern Galicia, one of Europe’s most vulnerable wildfire zones. During the hottest summer on record, both humans and animals struggle to cope as inextinguishable fires draw closer. Wild horses have roamed the Galician mountains for centuries, playing a crucial role in fire prevention by curbing flammable undergrowth - but their numbers are dwindling as human development clashes with nature.
”No Other Land” winner of 21. MDAG wins an Oscar®!
We are thrilled that the film No Other Land, which won the Grand Prix – Bank Millennium Award at the 21st edition of the festival, has received an Oscar® for Best Documentary Feature!
Karol Piekarczyk, Artistic Director of the MDAG festival, commented on the race for the most prestigious award in the film world:"No Other Land reminds us—just like the moving speech by its creators at the ceremony—that we must stop treating calls for peace as political or radical messages. Human rights are the foundation of democracy and of every society and community.
We also congratulate all the other nominees. The Polish audience was the first to see all five nominated films during MDAG. We had the great pleasure of hosting the international premiere of Sugarcane (its second-ever screening after the world premiere at Sundance) and the European premiere of The Porcelain War.
This highlights the growing international significance of our festival, which has been further reinforced by Millennium Docs Against Gravity being added this year to the prestigious list of Oscar®-qualifying festivals for Best Documentary Feature”.
The 22nd MDAG will take place from May 9 to 18, 2025, in cinemas in Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Bydgoszcz, and Łódź, and from May 20 to June 2 online at mdag.pl! The festival’s title sponsor is Bank Millennium. (https://www.bankmillennium.pl/).
