06/09/2021 - “The World Is Waking Up” is the theme of this year’s iteration, which will span one entire month

Millennium Docs Against Gravity (MDAG), organised regularly since 2003, is turning 18 this year and continues to grow. The Polish gathering focused on the field of documentary will again be held in hybrid form – between 3 and 12 September, physical screenings will take place in seven cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Lublin and Bydgoszcz). This will be followed by an online event, starting on 16 September and wrapping on 3 October.

MDAG is adjusting fairly well to the “new normal” festival conditions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and its on-and-off lockdowns. “The World Is Waking Up” is the theme of the current edition of the gathering, and the organisers have arranged a rich programme focusing on relevant and much-discussed topics that are part of the public debate both in and outside of Poland: climate change, LGBTQ rights, revolutions and all kinds of activism that help to make planet Earth a slightly better place. The phrase “The world is waking up” was taken from a Greta Thunberg speech, and fittingly, the documentary I Am Greta [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nathan Grossman
film profile] by Nathan Grossman (Sweden) was chosen as the opening film and is also vying for the festival’s main accolade: the Millennium Bank Award – Grand Prix.

Other documentaries in the main competition include This Rain Will Never Stop [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alina Gorlova
film profile] by Alina Gorlova (Ukraine/Latvia/Germany/Qatar), Gorbachev. Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Vitaly Mansky (Latvia/Czech Republic) and Notturno [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gianfranco Rosi
film profile] by Gianfranco Rosi (Italy/France/Germany), who also has a retrospective of his work in the programme. The competition is rounded off by A Thousand Cuts by Ramona S Diaz (USA), Jacinta by Jessica Earnshaw (USA), Things We Dare Not Do by Bruno Santamaría Razo (Mexico), Nothing But the Sun [+see also:
film review
interview: Arami Ullón
film profile] by Arami Ullón (Paraguay/Switzerland), President [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Camilla Nielsson
film profile] by Camilla Nielsson (Denmark), Sabaya [+see also:
film review
interview: Hogir Hirori
film profile] by Hogir Hirori (Sweden), The Balcony Movie [+see also:
film review
interview: Paweł Łoziński
film profile] by Paweł Łoziński (Poland), which won the Grand Prix in Locarno’s Semaine de la Critique, Stray by Elizabeth Lo (USA), The Mole Agent [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maite Alberdi
film profile] by Maite Alberdi (Chile/Germany/Spain) and Flee [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
film profile] by Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Denmark/France/Sweden).

The Polish competition, which was last year’s addition to the festival, is bulging with 14 contenders. Apart from The Balcony Movie, they are: Comic Book Shop by Maciej Bierut, Omar. How Not to Be Different by Krzysztof Dzięciołowski and Grzegorz Sokół (Poland/Qatar), Never Coming Back by Mikołaj Lizut, Bless You by Tatiana Chistova, Hello Grandma by Kamila Chojnacka, Seal Story by Bartłomiej Błaszczyński, The Last Generation by Mikołaj Borowy, Herbert. Barbarian in the Garden by Rafael Lewandowski (Poland/France), Polish Self-Portrait by Maciej Białoruski, Jakub Drobczyński and Jakub Rados, 7^th of August by Michał Bolland, Fury by Krzysztof Kasior, Bucolic [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Karol Pałka, and Escape to the Silver Globe [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Kuba Mikurda.

Furthermore, the following prizes will be handed out during the gathering, in addition to the Millennium Bank Award – Grand Prix: the Amnesty International Poland Award, Chopin’s Nose Award (for the best film about art, regardless of the section), “Co jest Grane 24” Big Screen Doc Award, Green Warsaw Award, Zwierciadło Magazine Award for the Best Film on Psychology, Best Debut Award, Focus Magazine Award for the Greatest Personality of the Festival, Award for Best Cinematography, Audience Award, and Smakjam Award for Best Production in a Polish Film. The Studio Cinemas Association Award will be granted to a movie in the Polish competition.