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The audience's favorite film and other new titles available at mdag.pl
The last weekend of the 23rd edition of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival is ahead of us. For this occasion, “Candidates of Death” by Maciej Cuske has been added to the program – one of the audience's favorite films at the festival, the winner of the Polish Competition at the 23rd MDAG, the Audience Award, and the Onet Big Screen Award. The film will soon be released in cinemas, but until June 1st we have the opportunity to see it as a preview from the comfort of our homes. The pool of e-tickets is limited.
“Candidates of Death”, dir. Maciej Cuske
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Several years ago, Maciej took his son and two of his friends on a vacation during which they collectively made a horror film. He wanted to use this as a way to pull the boys away from their computers. He did not anticipate at the time that it would grow into one of the greatest adventures of his life and that together they would create not only a unique, but certainly one-of-a-kind series of horror films titled “Candidates of Death”. Today the boys are nearly 30 years old. They have changed greatly, and each of them is searching for their own path. “Candidates of Death” is a record of their filmmaking adventures over more than a decade. It is a film about themselves, about growing up, questions, fears and dreams, and above all about the power of a many-years-long friendship.
Hidden worlds – other new titles on MDAG Online
In addition to this, four new films have been added to the MDAG Online program. These are stories about hidden worlds, investigations revealing the truth, inaccessible places where we would not normally have the opportunity to peek. The director of “Hollywoodgate” gives viewers a glimpse into what happened to the titular, isolated military base taken over by the Taliban after American troops abandoned it. Meanwhile, the main character of “The Mole: Undercover in North Korea” spent years observing North Korea while posing as a spy. “Undercover: Exposing the Far Right” is a record of the work of the organization Hope Not Hate, operating undercover within the ranks of the extremist movement. Meanwhile, 83-year-old Sergio, the protagonist of "The Mole Agent" becomes an agent in a care home in order to understand what his charges are struggling with.
“Hollywoodgate”, dir. Ibrahim Nash'at
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The day after American troops left Kabul, the Taliban took over Hollywood Gate – an abandoned American base. There they found enormous supplies of weaponry: from rifles to helicopters and aircraft that had not been destroyed in time. The Egyptian-born director receives permission from the Taliban to capture the historic moment of their return to power in Afghanistan. The film documents over the course of a year the transformation of fundamentalist militias that turn the country into an effective military regime. The Taliban see the film's director as a tool of their propaganda. He walks a very thin line, but manages to present an extraordinarily interesting and shocking picture of the Taliban and their attitude toward the rest of the world.
“The Mole: Undercover in North Korea”, dir. Mads Brügger
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A certain Ulrich Larsen, an unemployed chef, came to Mads Brügger and announced that he wanted to spy inside structures connected to North Korea. Over the following decade, Larsen infiltrates The Korean Friendship Association (KFA), an organization favorable to Kim Jong Un's regime. He manages to gain the trust of its leaders, through which he uncovers shocking facts. Larsen travels on a delegation to Pyongyang, and then ends up on an island in Uganda, where the Koreans convince him and a fake Danish investor planted by Brügger that it is possible to build an underwater factory producing weapons and drugs, under the cover of creating a luxury hotel complex. Throughout this entire time, cameras accompany them – both hidden and open.
“Undercover: Exposing the Far Right”, dir. Havana Marking
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The British anti-extremist group Hope Not Hate conducts an active fight against the far right, investigating the methods of operation and sources of funding of various organizations. Activists operate undercover – using hidden cameras and audio equipment, they film demonstrations, symposia, and closed meetings. They reveal how far-right activists strive for a radical change of the political mainstream and influence societies and media. The film documents a series of Hope Not Hate's covert operations, from which emerges a picture of a well-organized far-right movement, operating across Europe, possessing connections to leading political parties and attempting to recruit decision-makers and investors.
“The Mole Agent”, dir. Maite Alberdi
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83-year-old Sergio becomes a spy. He wins a casting call for an agent whose task is to infiltrate a nursing home and report on the level of care provided to residents. Sergio seizes the opportunity to break free from melancholy and memories of his late wife. As he "investigates" the home and grows closer to several of his peers, he discovers that the danger to the seniors is hidden elsewhere, much deeper. This film is an exceptional meditation on compassion and loneliness with wonderful characters and plot twists – as befits a proper spy film.
The 23rd edition of MDAG online runs from May 19 to June 1 at mdag.pl. The titular patron of the event is Bank Millennium (https://www.bankmillennium.pl/).
