The City of Poznań Freedom Award
This year’s Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival in Poznań marks the sixth presentation of the City of Poznań Freedom Award. A three-person Jury will select, from the Main Competition, the film that most strongly demonstrates a commitment to freedom and respect for the dignity and rights of humans and all living and non-living beings. The director of the winning film will receive €3,000. The winner will be announced and the award presented on Thursday, 14 May at Kino Muza.
JURY:
Lidia Duda – documentary film director and screenwriter. Her films have been screened in competition at major international festivals. She has won the Grand Prix at festivals in Chicago, New York, Houston, Istanbul, Mexico City, Moscow, Banff, Guangzhou and Prague, amongst others. She has been working as a freelancer for almost 30 years. She is a member of the Polish Filmmakers’ Association, the Polish Film Academy and the Guild of Polish Documentary Directors. Since 2006, she has been a documentary film expert at the Polish Film Institute, and from 2020 to 2023, she served on the Polish Film Institute Council.
Piotr Jacoń – journalist, documentary filmmaker, author of the books ‘My, trans’, ‘Wiktoria. Transpłciowość to nie wszystko’, the documentaries ‘Wszystko o moim dziecku’ (finalist for the Andrzej Woyciechowski Radio Zet Award) and ‘Wszystko o moim państwie’ (nominated for the Teresa Torańska Newsweek Award, winner of the main prize in the documentary category at Cannes International Film Week). He was awarded the Silver Dolphin at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards for the reportage ‘Tego nie ma w umowie koalicyjnej’. In 2025, he won the Grand Press Award in the interview category. An activist also honoured with the ‘Crown of Equality’ by the Campaign Against Homophobia and the Freedom of Speech Medal by the Grand Press Foundation.
Aleksandra Sudolska – community leader, event producer and mentor. Founder and chair of Local Girls Movement, an organisation that empowers women through education, culture and social initiatives. She creates projects at the intersection of culture, equality and social engagement. For many years, she helped shape Poznań’s cultural scene as the founder of the Schron club. For the past year, she has also been collaborating with the Short Waves Festival, engaging in activities centred on short-form cinema. She is the host of the radio programme ‘Poza schematem’ on Radio Poznań. Recipient of the title of Wielkopolska Equality Leader 2024 (Forbes Women & British Embassy) and Poznań Woman of the Year 2023. She is a participant in the Leadership Programme of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation.
