(GUADALAJARA, JALISCO, MARCH 12, 2022) - The Organizing Committee of the 37th edition of the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG37) is pleased to announce Poland as this year's Guest of Honor. The film festival will be held from June 10-18 at the Cineteca FICG.

37th Guadalajara International Film Festival, although taking place in turbulent and unstable times, is a special edition for us, because this year Poland is the Guest of Honour.

We are pleased with the growing interest and enthusiasm in Polish cinema, especially since the history of cinema in Poland is almost as long as the history of cinematography.

Filmmakers such as Krzysztof Kieślowski, Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Munk, Jerzy Skolimowski, Agnieszka Holland, Paweł Pawlikowski, Roman Polański or co-creators of Polish School of Posters and surreal animated films Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica do not need to be introduced because their achievements are widely recognized and have an impact on many film directors.

However, the young Polish generation of filmmakers continues the long tradition of Polish cinema and being successful in the international arena. Polish productions are invited to participate in competitions at the most important festivals in the world and received four Oscar nominations in the last four years. Małgorzata Szumowska, Dorota Kobiela, Jan Komasa, Agnieszka Smoczyńska just to name  some of the most established representatives of this generation are already followed by the youngest creators like Tadeusz Łysiak who has just been nominated for Oscar for his live action short film „The Dress”.

Polish minority co-productions are also very successful. The first film by Christos Nikou, „Apples”, was last year's Greek Oscar entry, Agnieszka Holland's „Charlatan” was the Czech Oscar candidate,  this year „Lamb” by Valdimar Jóhannsson was Icelanding  Oscar entry and the Bosnian film „Aida” by Jasmila Žbanić earned an Oscar nomination.

Last but not least, we have to mention our magnet for International Production- the cash incentives. This program  supports  audiovisual production in the form of 30% cash rebate on qualifying Polish expenses. In order for a project to receive support, its producers must, inter alia, collaborate with Polish filmmakers. Polish crews and producers are known for its professionalism and creativity so this  program enjoys great popularity since its intruduction in 2019.

With this in mind, we look forward to the cooperation between Mexico and Poland and hope that it will bring many extraordinary projects with international potential.

We wish all participants valuable networking experiences!

 


Radosław Śmigulski 

General Director of Polish Film Institute