News from 2016

Doc Lab Poland 2016

The second edition of DOC LAB POLAND (the biggest Polish consulting and pitching program for documentary filmmakers) took place in 2016. Wladyslaw Slesicki Film Foundation was the main organizer of the program and Krakow Film Festival was its strategic partner. The program was supported by DOK Leipzig (Germany’s most important documentary film festival) and organized under the auspices of the European Documentary Network. Partners and co-organizers: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Polish Film Institute, HBO Europe, Creative Europe Desk Poland, Mazovian Cultural Institute, Mazovia-Warsaw Film Commission, Krakow Festival Office, Krakow Film Commission, Polish Filmmakers Association, Krakow Film Cluster, Krakow Technology Park and Kancelaria MKZ Partners, and partners: Film Commission Poland, Krakow Film Cluster, Institute of Documentary Film and the National Chamber of Audiovisual Producers. The media patrons were: Gazeta Wyborcza, Wyborcza.pl, Tygodnik Powszechny, TVP Kultura, Polish Docs, Warszawski Serwis Kulturalny, Pro Video, Film & TV Camera.

In 2016 the program attracted a total of 23 documentary projects at the development or editing stage represented by teams consisting of a director and a producer. The second edition of the DOC LAB POLAND program was intended to be carried out in two segments: DOC LAB START for projects in the development stage (concluded with the DOCS TO START presentation) and DOC LAB GO for projects in the editing stage (concluded with the DOCS TO GO! presentation). Both segments consisted of consulting sessions in Warsaw and Krakow concluded with pitching. Another very important element of the program was DOC LAB POLAND CO-PRODUCTION MARKET for 40 participants – film production companies. The DOC LAB POLAND events and approx. 450 individual meetings with the representatives of production and distribution companies, TV broadcasters, festivals, film funds and sales agents enabled their participants to foster cooperation on a number of film projects.

The first workshop was held in April in Warsaw. The sessions of each segment (START and GO) lasted for five days. The aim of the workshop was to develop the project content or to review preliminary editing versions of the projects together with experienced consultants. It was also an opportunity to confront ideas with the reality of the market and to plan a project presentation strategy (film trailers were also reviewed). During the workshop the participants worked on their own ideas as well as consulted them with each other – DOC LAB POLAND is a program dedicated to film professionals what allowed it to gain, as a result, a new feature of a discussion group.

During the Krakow Film Festival in June another training sessions focusing on the project presentation were held and then followed by public presentations. The DOCS TO START presentation aimed at attracting partners, co-producers and soliciting funds. The DOCS TO GO! presentation took place at the Krakow Film Festival for the fifth time. It is a joint initiative of the Polish Film Institute and the Krakow Film Foundation and has been organized together with Wladyslaw Slesicki Film Foundation since last year. Its aim was to obtain partners to provide distribution, sell licences and hold talks with festival programmers. A total of 18 full or medium-length documentary projects were presented at various development stages. All the projects have been described in a specially prepared catalog of DOC LAB POLAND (project description, producer description, production assumptions).

DOC LAB POLAND CO-PRODUCTION MARKET was an additional element of the events at the Krakow Film Festival where Polish producers, who did not participate in training and presentations, were able to meet European producers and establish new contacts. All the companies participating in DOC LAB POLAND CO-PRODUCTION MARKET have been described in the DOC LAB POLAND catalog together with descriptions of documentary projects presented at the MARKET.

At the finale gala event of the 56th Krakow Film Festival the most interesting projects were awarded prizes funded by the DOC LAB POLAND partners. Two awards and two honorable mentions were given to projects participating in the DOCS TO START presentation:

• The HBO Award of 10,000 zł went to a film draft „Boylesque”, dir. Bogna Kowalczyk, prod. Tomasz Morawski BOFFO.
• The Krakow Film Cluster Award of 25,000 zł in the form of a voucher for production and post-production services went to „A Study on Chaos”, dir. Tomasz Sliwinski, Magdalena Hueckel, prod. Marika Kuźmicz ARTON FOUNDATION.
• An Honorable Mention from the DOK Leipzig Award along with an invitation to the market went to „Volte”, dir. Monika Kotecka, Karolina Poryzała, prod. Agnieszka Wasiak (LAVA FILMS).
• An Honorable Mention from the European Documentary Network Award along with an invitation to the Lisbon Doc workshop went to „Mission”, dir. Monika Krupa, prod. Dorota Mandziara (TRZY FILM).

Projects participating in DOCS TO GO! were given two awards and one honorable mention:

• The Polish Film-makers Association Award of 10,000 zł went to „Unconditional love”, dir. Rafal Łysak, prod. Jacek Bławut, Victoria Ogneva Jacek Bławut (FILM PRODUCTION).
• The Krakow Technology Park Award – a voucher of 25,000 zł for post-production services went to „The ugliest car in the world”, dir. and prod. Grzegorz Szczepaniak (ANAGRAM).
• An Honorable Mention from the East Doc Platform Award and an invitation to the Project Market went to the project „Village of the floating cows”, dir. and prod. Katarzyna Trzaska (ZYGIZAGA).

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More: www.doclab.pl.

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