Dragon of Dragons to Marcel Łoziński
My first reaction to the press release sent out by the Krakow Film Festival was… why not before? But I will not use it against the fine people of a festival that I have always loved a lot and intends to visit again this year – it takes place 29.5 till 5.6. Łoziński is mentioned and reviewed numerous times on this site, write his name in “search” and you will see. Personally I have had the pleasure to meet Marcel Łoziński way back on Bornholm at the Baltic Sea Film & TV Festival. His “Anything Can Happen” is on my list of Best Documentaries ever. Here is a quote from the text of the festival:
Marcel Łoziński, one of the most renowned Polish filmmakers, frequently awarded at international festivals, winner of countless film festivals and many prestigious awards, will be honoured by Krakow Film Festival with the title “Dragon of Dragons” for lifetime achievement.
“Programme Council decided to award this year’s Dragon of Dragons to Marcel Łoziński for his absolute fidelity to documentary film, and, within the frames of this fidelity – for widening its means of expression. Firstly, for many years, this widening applied to examining, by the means of documentary cinema, the state of consciousness in a society undergoing political oppression. Later, starting from 1990s, – asking by the documentary filmmaker the ultimate questions, about fear, passing of time, about relationships with the loved ones and at the same time, about the right to ask these questions,” this is how the nomination is explained by Professor Tadeusz Lubelski, an eminent film critic and film theoretician.
The Dragon of Dragons award, given for the 19th time this year, is the highest distinction granted by Krakow Film Foundation Programme Council, the organiser of Krakow Film Festival, in recognition for contribution to the development of international cinema in documentary and animated film genre.