Straight from Venice to Spektrum: Competition 1,2 Line-up Announced

Six films have been selected for this year’s competition.

Among them is Grzegorz Dębowski’s “What Belongs to Others”, which will open the 12th edition of the festival on 20 October. The film had its world premiere in Venice less than a week ago, where it received the Bisato d’Oro Award for Best Screenplay.

Competition 1,2 is an international competition for first and second narrative feature films. It is dedicated to filmmakers at the beginning of their careers, searching for their own cinematic language and taking formal, thematic and narrative risks along the way. The winner will be chosen by the festival audience.

Which films made the selection?

The festival will open with the aforementioned “What Belongs to Others“ by Grzegorz Dębowski, selected for Competition 1,2 following its world premiere in Venice and the Bisato d’Oro Award for Best Screenplay. The film follows Kasia, who makes a living by burglarizing apartments. When she enters the home of a recently deceased man, she begins posing as his partner. What starts as a means of survival gradually turns into a journey through someone else’s memories and relationships. It is a story about loneliness, the need for closeness and a lie that, sometimes, can lead to something good.

The competition line-up also includes one of this year’s Cannes discoveries, Marine Atlan’s “Gradiva“, which impressed critics not only with its outstanding cast and beautiful cinematography, but also with its remarkably perceptive portrait of its young characters. A group of teenagers and their Latin teacher travel by train to Pompeii. As they await decisions that will shape their futures, the young protagonists become entangled in rivalry, suppressed emotions and first experiences of love. Gradiva reminds us that the intensity of adolescence does not disappear with adulthood, even if we later try to look back on it from a distance.

Another competition title presented and awarded at Cannes — where it won the Queer Palm — is Pierre Le Gall’s “Flesh & Fuel“. This warm, life-affirming love story unfolds in the world of truck drivers travelling Europe’s motorways. Frenchman Étienne and Pole Bartosz meet on the road, and their relationship develops between long drives, work and the temporary places where drivers stop along the way.

From Cannes, Competition 1,2 moves on to Sundance, where Myrsini Aristidou’s “Hold Onto Me“ received the award for Best Narrative Feature. Eleven-year-old Iris learns that her long-absent father has returned to town. Determined to find him, she tracks him down to a dilapidated shipyard where he works. Her stubborn attempt to reconnect gradually develops into a fragile and unexpected bond. It is an intimate story about the need for closeness and the attempt to rebuild a relationship that, for years, barely existed.

The competition also features Julia Rogowska’s directorial debut, “Czas, który nie nadszedł“. The film takes us into an imagined future where ageing has become the ultimate taboo. Sara chooses to follow the natural course of life, while her partner Oskar undergoes an anti-ageing treatment that promises lasting youth. When they meet again years later, they are forced to confront questions about love, mortality and freedom. A provocative story about the consequences of trying to stop time.

The selection closes with Emi Buchwald’s “No Ghosts on Good Street“, one of the standout Polish films of the past season. Four siblings try to forge their own paths without losing the bond that holds them together. The youngest, Benek, struggles with being pushed away by his older brother Franek, who until recently was also his best friend. As if that were not enough, Benek is haunted by a mysterious creature called Dusiołek, which keeps him from sleeping. Buchwald combines a story of family relationships with comedy and touches of the metaphysical, creating a film about growing up, closeness and trying to stay together despite differences.

Festival passes and individual tickets go on sale on 23 September.