The best films of the 16th FilmAT Festival awarded!
Once again, the statuettes of tourists set off from Warsaw to the distant World to the best and most creative filmmakers!
The official partners of the 16th FilmAT Festival are the International Committee of Tourism Film Festivals CIFFT with its seat in Vienna, of which we are the only member from Poland, the Polish Tourist Organization – partner of the national jury and the Museum of Sports and Tourism – partner of the international jury.
Professional jury members, in two groups, chaired by Zbigniew Żmudzki – president of the international jury and Ivana Bilkova – president of the national jury, awarded a total of three Grand Prix statuettes and fifty awards from almost one hundred and fifty films admitted to the finals. What was the level of the movies?
Very interesting films came from the farthest corners of the World: from Africa, Australia, Japan, Russia. Representatives of such strong European tourist destinations as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Croatia also competed for the highest prizes. Austria and the important for the world culturally centre which is Vienna, has always a reliable place among the participants. We are also happy that Polish films are of an increasingly high standard, not only from large cities and institutions, but also those promoting local tourism. The difficult pandemic time inspired participants of small cultural institutions to create films that are unique in terms of cultural and historical values.
But let’s show the films that received the highest awards in the judges’ opinion:
The Grand Prix Tourism and the Big Tourist statuette in the international competition go to South Africa for the film „Chasing Lines” by WESGRO RTB.
The Grand Prix Tourism and the big tourist statuette in the Polish national competition is awarded to the film „Northen Kashubia – everyone will fall in love with something here” produced by LOT Kaszuby Północne
The Tourist Statuette and the Grand Prix Documentary in the international competition is an award for a difficult documentary by TVN Discovery – „Neurosurgery”
All awards are important because the films are judged by professionals, often giving the final rating after a long discussion. That is why I encourage you to watch all the awarded films on the Festival website www.filmat-festival.com
For the organizers of the Festival and for the jurors, the event of the year was the film „Western Masuria in MIG” produced by the West-Masurian Tourist Organization, because it is the first film in Poland prepared for deaf people and with their participation. The film won three awards: the first prize in the national competition in the Category Promotion of the Region, the special prize of the national jury and the award of Ivana Bilkova – the president of the national jury.
Which movies will remain in our memory? Certainly those related to the pandemic, because it is a strong topic concerning the whole world. All of them were noticed and appreciated, although each showed the problem in a different way. TVN’s film „Covid-19: World in Danger” presents the world at the beginning of a pandemic: surprise, chaos, human tragedies and a huge challenge for the world of medicine … The film won the award in the category „Ethnography and Social Affairs”/Documents . The film by Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa entitled „Budryk – Mine, which I will not give back” won the award in the „Current Affairs”/Corporate Movies category, because it presents the problem of COVID in Mining in an extremely natural way, showing the same time the charming attitude of a miner who loves his work … A documentary for German Television by Andreas Ewels entitled „Slow Travel vs. Fast Tourism – Tourism after Corona” considers the difficult situation in tourism, leaving us hope for normal times without a pandemic. The film was awarded by Zbigniew Żmudzki – chairman of the international jury. The Festival Board appreciated the film „We act best when we act together” of the Marshal’s Office of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship, which shows how our awareness has increased during a pandemic, how important are often everyday matters and should not be postponed until later …
But a special memory of the 16th FilmAT Festival will be left by the Vienna Film Commission film „Vienna sleeping beauty”, presenting the undeniable charm of Vienna at night, which received the first prize in the „Tourist Product”/Tourist Communication category. I watched the jurors during the deliberations. Everyone was looking at the beautiful, empty Vienna, remaining in concentration and silence for a long time after the film … May this silence of the night never be associated with a pandemic.
autor: Ewa Kotus
translation: Wojciech Jaworek