The Short Waves Festival is here again and we can’t wait for it to kick off. With a few short days to go, we spoke with Festival Director Emila Mazik to find out what we can expect in 2020.
Hello. Can you tell us in a few words what the Short Waves Festival is about?
Short, concise, diverse. Short Waves Festival is an international short film festival from Poznań, Poland, which will celebrate its 12th edition in May/June 2020. Every year six festival days include screenings of 300 short films from all around the world for a total audience of about 7000 film enthusiasts in about 15 venues. To feel the festival vibe, check out our festival after movie
Is it always held only in Poznań and why?
The main event takes place in Poznan, but sometimes the festival is touring around the whole of Poland. We are responsible for screenings of Oscar-nominated shorts or Sundance Shorts in many Polish cities too.
How did it start?
The Ad Arte Foundation was created in 2003 and since its beginning, it has specialized in short films. Since 2009 the Foundation has organized the Short Waves Festival which is its biggest project and core of its activities. We love the short cinema and are happy to share it with our audience.
Are movies in English or maybe do they have English subtitles?
Being an international project is one of our goals, so yes, we do subtitle all the films during the festival with both Polish and English dialogue lists. Also, most of the Q&As are held in English, as well as the festival catalog includes all the program descriptions in two languages. We have several guests from outside Poland and international audience, which is great.
Do we need to pay to watch movies?
There are many events which are free of charge, but most of the screenings have an entry fee, which is relatively low. Single screening ticket is 10 PLN, and the whole festival pass is 120 PLN.
What are your favorite 2 or 3 movies you will be showing this year and where can we watch them?
Most of the short films are available only at festivals or special screenings. However, I’m glad to observe that more and more filmmakers tend to upload their work online. For example, this year’s winner of Urban View competition – “Operation Jane Walk” by Robin Klengel and Leonhard Müllner is available for free on vimeo: https://vimeo.com/301933682
For viewers, who value more traditional, narrative forms I can recommend an Iranian short fiction, which won the audience award in International Competition last year – “Retouch” by Kaveh Mazaheri:
If anyone is curious of Polish short films, I’m happy to recommend one of my favorite short animations of all times: “Pussy” by Renata Gąsiorowska:
What are the GIRL SHORTS all about?
Girl Short is a special selection of short films, which has been presented at the Short Waves Festival since 2018. It puts in the spotlight female filmmakers and gender equality. To our nice surprise, it was one of the most popular sections during the festival in March, so we will screen it again in June at Kino Pałacowe in Poznań. Unfortunately, this time only with Polish subs – due to technical reasons.
Last year you had the HOME CINEMA events also. Will you be doing the same this year?
Definitely yes! Random Home Cinema is a series of special events that we have been organizing at SWF for 6 years now. It’s basically something between a home party and short film screening in private apartments of citizens of Poznań programmed by international guests. The atmosphere at the events is very casual, the programmers are asked to introduce the films/their festivals to the audience. The goal is to make it as interactive as possible, educate and deliver good content, as well as keep it fun and in secret until very last moment. I’m already looking forward to the edition 2020.
Will you have a carnival this year?
Hm, we don’t organize any special events on this occasion, but very soon we will be joining a celebration of music as a part of Fort Fest Carnaval. The organizers invited us to prepare a special film program which will be also screened there. The dates of the event are 6-9th of June 2019.
Thanks for speaking with us. Finally, If you could only visit ONE of the upcoming events, which one would it be and why?
Our English-speaking audience is more than welcome at “Święto Krótkiego Kina 2019” – “Short Film Celebration 2019” – open-air film screening organized with a local winery Winiarnia pod Czarnym Kotem. It will take place just before the long weekend (19th of June) and very close to the shortest night of the year. Come and join us for a glass of wine and screening of best short films from this year’s Short Waves Festival international competition. The entry is free and the films will be screened with both Polish and English subs. Thank you very much for the interview!
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