COMMUNION shortlisted for the 91st Academy Awards in the Documentary Feature Category - read article in Variety * BEST FILM - Polish Independent Cinema Award 2018 * BEST DOCUMENTARY - EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS 2017 | |||||||||||||||
FESTIVALS: * Kino Panorama (Lyon, France) * Rochester Polish Film Festival (USA) * Assen International Filmfestival (The Netherlands) * Doc Alliance Films (Czech Republic) * Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (Japan) * ICA - Institute of Contemporary Arts (UK) * Belfast Film Festival (Northern Ireland) * Dharamshala International Film Festival (India) * Los Angeles Polish Film Festival * Polish Film Festival in America * Panorama du Film Européen * CiakPolska Film Festival * Turkish-Visegrad Culture Festival *Docaviv (Tel Aviv, Israel) * DOK Leipzig (Germany) * Dok.Fest Münich (Germany) * Göteborg International Film Festival (Sweden) * Hot Docs (Toronto, Canada) * IDFA (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) * It's All True (Sao Paulo, Brazil) * RIDM-Rencontres Internationales du documentaire de Montréal (Canada) * Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (Greece) * TRT (Oran/Ankara, Turkey) * One World International Film Festival (Czech Republic) * ZagrebDox (Croatia) * Encounters South African International Documentary Festival (Cape Town, South Africa) * Ambulante (Mexico, Mexico) * Guth Gafa Documentary Festival (Co. Meath, Ireland) * EDOC- Encuentros del Otro Cine International Documentary Film Festival (Quito, Ecuador) * Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland) * Warsaw Film Festival (Poland) * DOCSMX (México DF, Mexico) * Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF) (Iceland) * Inconvenient Films Documentary Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania) * Ânûû-rû âboro (Koné, Nouvelle Calédonie) * Dokufest (Kosovo) * DMZ DOCS (Bucheon-si, South Korea) * Trieste Film Festival (Italy) * Flahertiana IDFF (Perm, Russia) * Minsk International Film Festival (Republic of Belarus) * Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (Japan) * Docudays UA (Kharkiv, Ukraine) * True/False Film Fest (Columbia, MO, USA) * Astra Film Festival (Sibiu, Romania) * Sarasota Film Festival (USA) * Bratislava International Film Festival (Slovak Republic) * Taipei Film Festival (Taiwan) * New Orleans Film Festival (USA) * LET'S CEE Film Festival (Vienna, Austria) * Panorama du Film Européen (Cairo, Egypt) * Frames of Representation (London, UK) * European Film Awards (Germany) * Oslo Pix (Oslo, Norway) * Al Este de Lima Film Festival (Perú) * Polish Film Club Vilnius (Lithuania) * 3KINO Film Festival (Czech Republic) AWARDS: * "Prix du long-métrage d'éducation" at the Festival du film d'éducation in France. * Grand Prize - Ânûû-rû Âboro festival * Astra Film Award for the BEST FILM in the CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE COMPETITION - Astra Film Festival * THE GOLDEN CASTLE AWARD - GRAND PRIX - International Documentary Film Festival OFF CINEMA in Poznan * Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize (The Grand Prize) - Yamagata Film Festival * Special Jury Mention for Complicated and Complex Characters’ Images Created by the Author - Flahertiana * Grand Prix - Solanin Film Festiwal * Grand Pix Documentary Award - Oslo Pix Jury Statement: The winning film is heartfelt, empathic and never judgemental. The filmmaker treats the film's environment, central theme and fascinating gallery of people with warmth and humour, and lets the loyalty of love speak for itself. It is touching and also painful to see a family so duty-bound to a society that neither rewards nor allows for a framework of dignity in the very challenging life-situation the family finds itself in. To this end the film is sharp, unsentimental, and compassionate. That which can be seen as a frustrating diagnosis is revealed in a different light: The magic of humanness. * Best film of the International Feature or Medium-Length Competition - IT’S ALL TRUE 2017 * Eagle for Best Documentary - Polish Academy Award * ALPE ADRIA CINEMA AWARD for the Best Documentary - Trieste International Film Festival * Grand Prix Ex aequo winner - Man in Danger Media Festival  ''Anna Zamecka for illustrating a heroic battle aimed at bringing back together a broken family through the perspective of intimate and in-depth film observations.'' * Grand Prix - Documentary Competition Bratislava International Film Festival * Grand Prix - Minsk International Film Festival Listapad * Best Film Award Locarno - Semaine de la critique * Best Documentary Award - Warsaw Film Festival |
COMMUNION
When adults are ineffectual, children have to grow up quickly. Ola is 14 and she takes care of her dysfunctional father, autistic brother and a mother who lives separately; but most of all she tries to reunite the family. She lives in the hope of bringing her mother back home. Her 13 year old brother Nikodem’s Holy Communion is a pretext for the family to meet up. Ola is entirely responsible for preparing the perfect family celebration. Communion reveals the beauty of the rejected, the strength of the weak and the need for change when change seems impossible. This crash course in growing up teaches us that no failure is final. Especially when love is in question. PRESS IMAGES: (click to preview) 
REVIEWS: "A tenacious Polish teen who’s had to grow up too soon takes center stage in Anna Zamecka’s powerful documentary Communion. The film invests viewers deeply in Ola as she works every angle she can think of to bring her family back together, even though the odds seem stacked against her. - Alliance of Women Film Journalists, 01/29/18 "Oscar-shortlisted doc focuses on a young teenager trying to keep her troubled family together - The Hollywood Reporter “Communion” is a heartbreaking example of a classic documentary genre — the immersive, observational film that takes a bold leap and embeds itself with a small group of people. Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan Childish adults burden children with adult responsibilities in Anna Zamecka's compelling Polish documentary." - Dennis Harvey, Variety | ||||||||||||||
