Over the past few days, we’ve been watching documentary films in seven cities across Poland. For those who are still hungry for more or couldn’t attend the in-person screenings, we’ve got good news. Over 100 films are now available as part of this year’s online edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity. The feast (and the sale of passes) begins on May 20 at 8 a.m. and lasts until June 2 at mdag.pl.
Among the online films, you’ll find some of the festival’s biggest winners. The lineup includes the winner of the Grand Prix – Bank Millennium Award – Yintah and the Special Mention in this category A Want in Her. On mdag.pl, you can also watch Instruments of a Beating Heart (Best Short Film Award), Songs of Slow Burning Earth (Visa Award for Best Debut, Amnesty International Poland Award, and Special Mention for Best Cinematography), Bedrock (Best Polish Film Award), and S/He Is Still Her/e: The Official Genesis P-Orridge Documentary (Nos Chopin Award).
How much do e-tickets and e-passes cost?
A single e-ticket costs 12 PLN.
You can watch films more cheaply with an e-pass!
An e-pass for 5 films costs 50 PLN (10 PLN per film).
An e-pass for 10 films costs 90 PLN (9 PLN per film).
An e-pass for 14 films costs 111 PLN (7.92 PLN per film).
You can watch a film for 24 hours after purchase. Once you click play, you’ll have 8 hours to watch it – two hours more than last year.
Online only: short film blocks
Block 1 – “In the Trap – Sometimes we find ourselves in situations we can’t escape. The characters in these films feel that way, too. Will they manage to move on? How can one cope when caught in the suffocating grip of a ruthless social or political system?
Block 2 – “Different Forms of Closeness” – Closeness. We all need it in our lives – as long as it’s positive and happens on mutually accepted terms. But that’s not always the case, as shown by the films in this block. In the 21st century, closeness doesn’t always mean contact with another living being, as artificial intelligence begins to interfere in our intimacy.
Block 3 – “Past/Future” – The past shapes our present and future. What can we do when we want to come to terms with what has been and close a chapter in our lives? What does generational change look like on the scale of nations and societies? These films explore those questions.
Block 4 – “Background Work” – Their work often goes unnoticed (and in many cases is meant to remain unseen), yet it sometimes has a surprising impact on our lives. It’s done not only by people, but also animals and machines – and sometimes people on behalf of machines. These unusual jobs surprise, raise doubts, and force us to think about power dynamics.
Block 5 – “Lessons of Adulthood” – Coming of age is never easy. It involves a shift in how we perceive the world. Some are lucky to have the support of parents and teachers – others are not and must deal with the marks left by adults. Here we observe several key lessons in adulthood, some of which come far too early and never should have happened at all.
Full list of films available online:
A Dangerous Boy, dir.: Ole Bendtzen
A Flower of Mine, dir.: Paolo Cognetti
A Photographic Memory, dir.: Rachel Elizabeth Seed
A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things, dir.: Mark Cousins
A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things – with audio description, dir.: Mark Cousins
A Want in Her, dir.: Myrid Carten
Abode of Dawn, dir.: Kristina Schtubert
About a Hero, dir.: Piotr Winiewicz
Afterwords, dir.: Romane Garant Chartrand
Am I the Skinniest Person You’ve Ever Seen?, dir.: Eisha Marjara
An American Pastoral, dir.: Auberi Edler
Bedrock, dir.: Kinga Michalska
Beyond Words, dir.: Kim Brand
Blame, dir.: Christian Frei
Can You Hear Me?, dir.: Anastazja Naumenko
Can’t Feel Nothing, dir.: David Borenstein
Ceasefire, dir.: Jakob Krese
Champions of the Golden Valley, dir.: Ben Sturgulewski
Charlie Chaplin: The Spirit of the Tramp, dir.: Carmen Chaplin
Children of the Cult, dir.: Maroesja Perizonius, Alice McShane
City of Mermaids, dir.: Andrea Fortis
Coexistence, My Ass!, dir.: Amber Fares
Das Deutsche Volk, dir.: Marcin Wierzchowski
Deadlock, dir.: Lucien Beucher, Mahdi Boucif
Democracy Noir, dir.: Connie Field
Dust to Dust, dir.: Kosai Sekine
Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, dir.: Raoul Peck
Ernest Cole: Lost and Found – with audio description, dir.: Raoul Peck
Everest Dark, dir.: Jeremy Watt
Farming the Revolution, dir.: Nishtha Jain
Favoriten, dir.: Ruth Beckermann
Fear Fokol, dir.: Tuva Björk
Firefighter Goats, dir.: Phoebe Dobey, George McCann
Flophouse America, dir.: Monica Strømdahl
Free Leonard Peltier, dir.: David France, Jesse Short Bull
Gen_, dir.: Gianluca Matarrese
Goodnight, Mister Stalin, dir.: Benjamin Kodboel
Green is the New Red, dir.: Anna Recalde Miranda
Hacking Hate, dir.: Simon Klose
Happiness to All, dir.: Filip Remunda
Hold Me Close, dir.: Aurora Brachman, LaTajh Simmons-Weaver
Homunculus, dir.: Bonheur Suprême
Home Game, dir.: Lidija Zelovic
In My Day, dir.: Iga Lis
Inside, the Valley Sings, dir.: Nathan Fagan, Natasza Cetner
Instruments of a Beating Heart, dir.: Ema Ryan Yamazaki
Life and Other Problems, dir.: Max Kestner
Lie to Me, dir.: JanBår Tyrmi
Lift Lady, dir.: Marcin Modzelewski
Lynch / Oz, dir.: Alexandre O. Phillippe
Maria Callas Monica Bellucci: An Encounter, dir.: Yannis Dimolitsas
More Than a Museum, dir.: Morrosko Vila-San-Juan
Mr. Nobody Against Putin, dir.: David Borenstein, Pasha Talankin
Mr. Nobody Against Putin – with audio description, dir.: David Borenstein, Pasha Talankin
My Dear Théo, dir.: Alisa Kovalenko
My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock, dir.: Mark Cousins
My Sunnyside, dir.: Matylda Kawka
Nemo 1, dir.: Albéric Aurtenèche
On the Impossibility of an Homage, dir.: Xandra Popescu
Patrice: The Movie, dir.: Ted Passon
Perfected Grammar, dir.: Andrea Suwito
Portrait of a Confused Father, dir.: Gunnar Hall Jensen
Predators, dir.: David Osit
Riefenstahl, dir.: Andres Veiel
S/He Is Still Her/e: The Official Genesis P-Orridge Documentary, dir.: David Charles Rodrigues
Seeds from Kivu, dir.: Néstor López, Carlos Valle
She Dances By the Sea, dir.: Jian Fan, Isabella Zang
Sixty-seven Milliseconds, dir.: Antoine Fontaine
Sisterqueens, dir.: Clara Stella Hüneke
Songs of Slow Burning Earth, dir.: Olha Zhurba
Speak., dir.: Jennifer Tiexiera, Guy Mossman
Stories of Jacob, dir.: Perghuzat Enver
Tack, dir.: Vania Turner
The 1957 Transcripts, dir.: Kosai Sekine
The Ban, dir.: Roisin Agnew
The Bibi Files, dir.: Alexis Bloom
The Black Swan (1-4), dir.: Mads Brügger
The Building and Burning of a Refugee Camp, dir.: Dennis Harvey
The Coriolis Effect, dir.: Petr Lom
The Daughter of Both Women, dir.: Iona E. Quesada, Nora Alberdi Odriozola, Alejandra López Puebla, Nhoa Carmona Aguilar, Malena Montiel Rodríguez
The Father, the Sons and the Holy Spirit, dir.: Christian Sønderby Jepsen
The Grab, dir.: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
The Helsinki Effect, dir.: Arthur Franck
The Hexagonal Hive and a Mouse in a Maze, dir.: Bartek Dziadosz, Tilda Swinton
The Hills of Wrath, dir.: Léo Boudet
The Oasis I Deserve, dir.: Inès Sieulle
The Passenger Andrzej Munk, dir.: Michał Bielawski
The Secret Life of Flowers, dir.: Jakub Wenda
The Sun Under the Flags, dir.: Juanjo Pereira
The Tunes, dir.: Pablo Guarise
The World’s Dumbest Record, dir.: Konrad Kulczyński, Jakub Knera
Their Eyes, dir.: Nicolas Gourault
There Are Many Doors in My Mother’s Home, dir.: David Kind
To Close Your Eyes and See Fire, dir.: Jakob Carl Sauer, Nikola von Leffern
To the West, in Zapata, dir.: David Bim
Trans Memoria, dir.: Victoria Verseau
TWST – Things We Said Today, dir.: Andrei Ujică
Undercover: Exposing the Far Right, dir.: Havana Marking
Viktor, dir.: Olivier Sarbil
Viktor – with audio description, dir.: Olivier Sarbil
We Were the Scenery, dir.: Christopher Radcliff
What We Ask of a Statue Is That It Doesn’t Move, dir.: Daphné Hérétakis
World Between Us, dir.: Maria Dvořáková
Writing Hawa, dir.: Najiba Noori, Rasul Noori
Yalla Parkour, dir.: Areeb Zuaiter
Yintah, dir.: Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano
The online section of the 22nd Millennium Docs Against Gravity will run from May 20 to June 2 at mdag.pl. The event’s title sponsor is Bank Millennium (https://www.bankmillennium.pl).
