For the first time, the Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival, in cooperation with the modern Gdynia Film Center, is organizing a competition for the Grand Prize of the President of the City of Gdynia and PLN 15 000. A jury consisting of Katarzyna Figura, Mikołaj Tzaska, and Mirosław Przylipiak will give the award to the best film from the Millennium competition.
Katarzyna Figura – film, theatre, and television actress. In 1985, she graduated from the Theatre Academy in Warsaw. She continued her education at the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique in Paris. In 1987, she gained fame thanks to her turn as Mariola Wafelek in Radosław Piwowarski’s “Train for Hollywood” and in films by Juliusz Machulski (as Ala in “Kingsize” and as Ryszarda Siarzewska in “Killer”). She has been a staple of Polish cinema for the past 30 years, appearing in films by Piotr Szulkin, Filip Bajon, Roman Polański, Marek Koterski, Barbara Sass, Andrzej Kondratiuk, Ryszard Brylski, and Jerzy Gruza. She has played in several foreign movies (including Robert Altman’s “The Player” and “Pret-a-Porter”). Recipient of many prestigious awards. In 2015, she has received the “Polish Cinema Icon” lifetime achievement award at the 4th Kołobrzeg Suspense Film Festival. Between 1985 and 1988, she worked at Teatr Współczesny in Warsaw, and between 2006 and 2013 at Teatr Dramatyczny in Warsaw. Since 2013, she’s been at Teatr Wybrzeże in Gdańsk. She is also a lecturer at the Gdynia Film School.
Mirosław Przylipiak – historian and film scholar, translator, chair of the Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture at the Gdańsk University. Lecturer at the Department of Journalism of the Ateneum University in Gdańsk. Fulbright scholar at Harvard University (1998-1998) and Rockefeller Foundation scholar. Author of books: “Kino stylu zerowego. Z zagadnień estetyki filmu fabularnego” (Zero Style Cinema. Notes on the Aesthetics of Feature Film, 1994), “Kino najnowsze” (Contemporary Cinema, 1999, together with Jerzy Szylak), “Poetyka kina dokumentalnego” (The Poetics of Documentary Cinema, 2000; recipient of the Bolesław Michałek Award for Best Film Book of the Year), “Kino bezpośrednie 1960-1963” (Direct Cinema 1960-1963, t. I, 2008), “Kino bezpośrednie 1963-1970. Czas autorów” (Direct cinema 1963-1970. Time of the Auteurs, t. II, 2014), and “Kino bezpośrednie 1963-1970. Między obserwacją a ideologią” (Direct Cinema 1963-1970. Between Observation and Ideology, t. III, 2014). Author of courses on film history and theory and audiviosual communication, as well as film reviews. He has translated dozens of books, mostly in the fields of psychology, film, and audiovisual culture (including Ronald Bergan’s “Dustin Hoffman” (1992), “The Philosophy of Horror or Paradoxes of the Heart” and “A Philosophy of Mass Art” (2011) by Noel Carroll (2004)). Founder of the Academic Education TV at the Gdańsk University. Author of several documentary films, including “Legenda o Janku Wiśniewskim” (The Legend of Janek Wiśniewski, 1994) and “Czy było kiedy tylu wspaniałych chłopców I dziewcząt” (Were There Ever So Many Wonderful Boys and Girls, 1997).
Mikołaj Trzaska – saxophone and clarinet player, composer. He has studied at the Department of Art and the Multimedia Workshop of the Gdańsk Academy of Fine Arts. Musically, he was influenced by yass – an artistic and social movement that in the late 1980s / early 1990s rebelled against the ossification of Polish jazz music. Co-founder of yass’s most important formation – the legendary Miłość – and leader of the equally creative Łoskot. A leading figure on the national improvisational scene. He has recorded with the Oleś brothers. He has accompanied poets: Świetlicki and Andruchowycz. He has created literary/musical projects with Andrzej Stasiuk. He composes music for the films of Wojciech Smarzowski (“Cure”, “The Dark House”, “Rose”, “Traffic Department”). Leader of the international quartet Inner Ear, the clarinet quartet IRCHA, the Danish-Polish trio Volumen. His passion is radical contemporary free jazz. He travels the world, working with top tier improvisational talent. He has recorded close to 50 albums.
