The Polish Filmmakers Association (SFP) and Poland’s Camerimage festival have offered employment to refugees coming from Ukraine following the Russian invasion last Thursday.
In a letter to Ukraine’s Ambassador to Poland Andriy Deshchytsa, SFP’s president Jacek Bromski said if some of the refugees crossing the border into Poland included representatives of the Ukrainian film industry, “we can help them find employment in the productions of the Munk Studio operating within the structures of the Polish Filmmakers Association.”
Bromski added the association could also “offer selected persons the possibility of employment in the SFP office and in the restaurants and Kultura cinema managed by us” as well provide some families with accommodation in the House of Creative Work in Kazimierz Dolny and provide refugees with transport from the Polish-Ukrainian border.
He recalled that “as citizens of the country that was the first to break out of the Soviet sphere of influence, we perfectly understand Ukraine’s pro-Western aspirations. That is why we have followed with concern the events of recent years which began with the illegal occupation of Crimea. To the best of our ability, we have engaged in initiatives exposing Russia’s despicable actions such as the campaign to free the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov.”
The Munk Studio has been producing short and feature-length debuts by young filmmakers as part of SFP since 2008, including Maria Sadowska’s Women’s Day, Piotr Domalewski’s Silent Night, and Kuba Czekaj’s Der Erlkönig. Its production of Adys Smyk’s short documentary Kulisy has been selected for this year’s SXSW competition and Monika Proba’s Light Years will be competing in the MiradasDoc festival in Spain.
Camerimage
Meanwhile, Marek Żydowicz, director of Cameimage, the international film festival for the art of cinematography, has said he is prepared to give work to newly-arrived refugees from Ukraine following an appeal from Michał Zaleski, the town mayor of Toruń where the festival is held.
Speaking to the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita at the weekend, Żydowicz said: “Depending on their qualifications, we will try to find a suitable position for them or create one. I’m also thinking about finding a place for people who would like to help organise the 30th anniversary edition of the festival, and then maybe stay with us for the following years. We are open and I hope that other institutions and companies will follow us.”
Red-carpet protests
The war in Ukraine has been uppermost in the minds of Poland’s filmmakers and audiences. Kasia Klimkiewicz, director of Because There’s Sex In Me, protested the invasion on the red carpet for the festival of films in the running to be nominated for the Polish Film Academy’s 2022 Eagle Awards at Warsaw’s Iluzjon Cinema on February 26. She was joined by her production designer Wojciech Żogała and actor Bartłomiei Kotschedoff.
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