The final batch of production grants given out this year by the Polish Film Institute (PFI) is much more modest than the previous two. After 20 domestic projects were recommended by expert committees for the grants, only three will end up being supported financially by the main funding body in Poland. In the two previous sessions of 2019, this figure was eight and ten films, respectively.

December turned out to be a good month for Anna Jadowska (Wild Roses [+lire aussi :
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interview : Anna Jadowska
fiche film]), whose upcoming Mira, produced by Donten & Lacroix Films, will be given PLN 1.4 million (€325,000). The same amount was granted to Jakub Piątek’s Prime Time [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jakub Piątek
fiche film], which has production outfit Watchout Studio on board, and Bartłomiej Żmuda’s More (producer: Before My Eyes).

The minority co-productions include five lucky applicants. Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski (the Venice-awarded documentary The Prince and the Dybbuk [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]) snagged PLN 514,240 (€120,000). Their upcoming film, The Hamlet Syndrome [+lire aussi :
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interview : Elwira Niewiera et Piotr R…
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interview : Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
interview : Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
fiche film]. Last but not least, Asaf Saban and his The Delegation (producer: Koi Studio) was granted the largest sum of this session: PLN 1.3 million (€300,000).

This therefore rounds off the PFI’s film production grants for 2019. The dates for next year’s application deadlines have not been announced yet, and neither have the rules for the 2020 operational programmes, owing to a disagreement between the institute’s head, Radosław Śmigulski, and the PFI board, as announced on the institution’s website.