The Grand Prix winner of the world's most important documentary film festival – IDFA in Amsterdam – Mr. Landsbergis by Sergei Loznitsa and its titular character – Vytautas Landsbergis will soon visit Kraków!

“We are proud to once more be presenting the latest film by Loznitsa to Kraków's audience. This time, it's a monumental, 4-hour-long film – announces Krzysztof Gierat, director of the Krakow Film Festival – I was in Amsterdam in November and witnessed the standing ovation accompanying the world premiere of this film. The film will truly delight both fans of the director's unique style and enthusiasts of modern history.”

The four-hour documentary Mr. Landsbergis is a captivating lesson about the collapse of the Soviet Union and Lithuania's road to independence. The film presents the events of 1989–1991 through the insightful reflections of one of the founders of the independence movement -– the now 88-year-old Vytautas Landsbergis – and extensive archival footage from demonstrations, party rallies, and the Soviet military intervention.

Sergey Loznitsa has once again proved his mastery in portraying the history of Eastern Europe. Through skilful and unique use of archival materials, he has created an illusion of personal participation in the past events unfolding on the cinema screen. 

The audience of the Krakow Film Festival can also expect a special event! Vytautas Landsbergis, the film's titular character and an outstanding social and political activist who is at the centre of the events shown in the film, announced that he is coming to Kraków for the film's screening and to meet the audience. What's interesting – he speaks Polish fluently. The partner of the screening of the film is the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Warsaw.

Sergei Loznitsa was born in 1964 in Baranowice, USSR, in what is now Belarus. He created many films that have become internationally successful. His three feature-length fiction films, My Joy (2010), “In the Fog” (FIPRESCI Award) (2012), A Gentle Creature (2017), and one documentary – Maidan, had their world premieres at the Cannes Festival. His other full-length documentary, The Event, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2015. His films have also won at film festivals around the world numerous times.

Loznitsa's documentary debut Today We Are Going to Build a House received the Bronze Dragon Award at the Krakow Film Festival. Later on, he received three more main awards in Kraków: a Golden Dragon in 2006 for Blockade, a Golden Horn in 2008 for Revue, and – again – a Golden Dragon in 2013 for Letter. In 2007, he also was on the jury of the International Short Film Competition chaired by Andrzej Żuławski, and in 2018 he received the most important award – the Dragon of Dragons awarded by the Programme Council of the Krakow Film Foundation for outstanding contribution to the development of world documentary cinema.

Krakow Film Festival is included on the prestigious list of film events qualifying for the Academy Awards in the short film competition (fiction film, animated film, documentary film) and feature-length documentary film competition, as well as recommending films for the European Film Awards in the same categories, and qualifying short fiction films for BAFTA awards.

The Krakow Film Festival is carried out with the financial support of the European Union as part of the "Creative Europe" program, the City of Krakow, the Polish Film Institute, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The co-organizer is the Polish Filmmakers Association, and the main organizer is the Krakow Film Foundation.

The complete program of this year's Festival and tickets will be available in April 2022 at www.krakowfilmfestival.pl

The Krakow Film Festival will be held in Kraków cinemas from 29 May to 5 June, and online throughout Poland on 3–12 June 2022.