The 24th edition of the International Film Festival WATCH DOCS. Human Rights in Film will be held this year from November 22 to December 1. The festival films will be presented in three Warsaw cinemas: Muranów, Kinoteka and KINOMUZEUM (the new cinema of the Museum of Modern Art) - and on the mojeekino.pl platform. In December, a special collection of the most interesting documentaries from previous WATCH DOCS editions will be available free of charge on the Player portal.
Festival program will feature the third WATCH DOCS competition: New Polish Films, which will include the documentary “To uczucie” (dir. Alex Baczynski - Jenkins), premiered at this year's Toronto Film Festival, and Aurelia Frydrych - Zdanowska's “Being Mikołaj” about the emotional and legal meanders of the gender reassignment process.
Sixteen new and unusual documentaries will fight for prizes in the Main and Green competitions. Among them: “Intercepted” (directed by Oksana Karpovych) - an innovative take on the war in Ukraine (premiered at the Berlinale 2024), a new film by American master Errol Morris, dedicated to the American migrant crisis: “Separated“ (premiering at this year's Venice Film Festival), the follow-up to the Oscar hit from a decade ago (”March of the Penguins") - that is, ‘Antarctica Calling,’ directed by Luc Jacquet - a visual masterpiece showing the unparalleled beauty of Antarctic nature threatened by global warming. The Marek Nowicki Award for special achievements in portraying human rights in film will be given this year to Ramona Diaz, an American director of Filipino descent. The retrospective of her work will feature four films - including the latest: “And So It Begins” (premiered at the Sundance Film Festival) - a visually stunning picture dedicated to the phenomenon of Philippine presidential elections. The director will visit Warsaw in November and meet with WATCH DOCS viewers.
This year WATCH DOCS will feature two British productions. “Antidote” (directed by James Jones) is a documentary thriller whose protagonists are investigative journalists tracking Russian spies operating in the West.
Screenings of the film:
24.11. Kinoteka, 6 p.m. (after the screening a debate: Troll, murderer, scammer, spy);
26.11 KINOMUZEUM (MSN) 6 p.m. (after the screening a Q&A with the director).
Another production from the United Kingdom is “Dogs Are People Too” (dir. Hendrik Faller) - a must-see item for all dog lovers. The film tries to answer the question of whether we should – and are able to - treat dogs like humans.
Screenings of the film:
23.11 KINOMUZEUM (MSN) at 6 p.m. (meeting with the filmmakers after the screening);
25.11 KINOMUZEUM (MSN) at 6 p.m. (debate: Animals Are People Too after the screening).
The British Council is a partner of British films screenings at WATCH DOCS.