The 12th edition of the International Short Film Festival ŻUBROFFKA will take place from 6 to 10 December 2017. The festival is already a brand of its own – it’s the biggest event of its kind in this part of Europe! For over a decade, ŻUBROFFKA has been building cultural bridges between East and West, North and South, making Bialystok and Podlasie a meeting point for creative energy from around the world. ŻUBROFFKA means fantastic films, unique get-togethers with the artists, workshops, panel discussions , fiery concerts and interesting exhibitions.
In 2017, for eight festival competitions, we selected 126 most interesting films (out of almost two thousand!). As usual, the program will also feature special screenings of short films from all over the world. Within five days, the audience will have a chance to see a total of almost 300 shorts for which – as always – admission is free.
see the list of selected films
festival’s schedule below
International jury this year are: Qiu Yang (Chinese director, winner of this year’s Palm d’Or for his short A Gentle Night!), Marian Crisan (Romanian director, the Palm d’Or winner in Cannes for Megatron), Izabela Plucińska (living and working in Berlin, awarded this year with the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for her short Jam Session), Gunhild Enger (Norwegian film director and visual artist, her film Bargain was nominated for BAFTA) and Grzegorz Brzozowski (Podlachian director, sociologist and film critic; his film A Stranger on my Couch won the award for the Best Polish Documentary Film at the Krakow Film Festival in 2017). The Jury will evaluate films in two national competitions (Students, Independent) and two international contests (Eastward Window, Whole Wide World). In addition to the Grand Prix of the Festival and awards in each of the competitions, we will also grant special prizes for the best Animation, Documentary, Fiction, Cinematography and Music.
For the first time in the history of ŻUBROFFKA, films in the Polish competition Amateurs will be evaluated by Young Juries, composed of Bialystok high school and university students. The jury will work under the leadership of a well known pop culture journalist and film critic Kaja Klimek. Prizes in the experimental film and video art competition On the Verge will be awarded by Marija Razgutė (Lithuanian film producer), Dan Karo ( film director and programmer at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Montreal) and Peter Budinský (Slovak animator and visual artist). Kids and Music Video competitions will be rated by the viewers. Traditionally, the Festival audience will also grant their own award – the Wild Bison!
ZUBROFFKA audiences have become accustomed to spectacular inaugurations of the Festival. It will be the case this time as well: a German producer Christian Löffler is going to play live score for the avant-garde documentary Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis by Walther Ruttmann!
The artist who successfully combines “melancholy with euphoria”, will musically illustrate this experimental, poetic portrait of the metropolis, which promises a very interesting and innovative study of the city dynamics, motion and rhythm!
Our special film screenings this year include hugely popular midnight shorts; SF straight from the American Philip K. Dick Film Festival; an original set of animations about the Baltic Sea, inspired by Bialystok’s presence in the confederation of coastal cities; shorts from Swedish female directors, as well as a set of films proving that our autumn years do not have to be lost. It is really worth tasting our famous film breakfasts, during which you will see short films from Romania, Argentina and Ukraine; you should also join our film tours to selected cities – this year we are going to Beijing and Reykjavík!
Club nights in Fama are an opportunity for new musical excitement and the festival get-together. Gaika – raised in the suburbs of London, a descendent of Caribbean immigrants, in his slow-motion, enhanced-bass productions uses Jamaican harmony, Texas rhythms, and Bristol palette of effects (overwhelming bass and mesmerizing slow pace); Israeli Orgonite squad – representatives of the middle eastern rave scene; Dj Khalab – Italian afro future beat shake; Rafael Aragon – legendary French DJ and producer, leading figure of global bass and tropikal masala scene; and RSS B0YS, a mystical Polish duo, combining techno and electronics. A charismatic, well-known DJ duo from Polish Radio 3: Agnieszka Szydłowska and Agnieszka Dzielska will also appear on stage!
Workshops are an important part of the Festival! This year, children will learn puppet animation in the “Monstrolympix” workshop, prepared by animators Dina Velikovskaya (Russia) and Florian Grolig (Germany). Young people will make music videos with the Austrian director Florian Pochlatko. For years, we have also encouraged the older generation to create films. This time seniors will try to “revive memories” during animation workshops. There will also be a broadcast journalism workshop run by a popular radio personality Ryszard Jaźwiński, as well as video blog workshops, hosted by Kaja Klimek.
additional information about workshops
During the Festival there will be three panel discussions: Trust Me, in cooperation with Sweden (the Uppsala International Short Film Festival) and Austria (VIS Vienna Shorts), where we will ask about trust, and in particular its absence in the world today; Eastern Pleasures, in which we will embark on a visa-free journey to the East to learn about its typical and unique rituals; and The Festival Jungle, a traditional meeting of the festival representatives and film industry.
At Żubroffka we shall also open two exhibitions: Pagan Poetry by Marcin Nagraba (foyer of the Forum Cinema) and Film Posters from Ghana, an exhibition organized in cooperation with I Love Strange Cinema Festival (Fama Club).
Come and join us!
This year ŻUBROFFKA reveals itself in the3 new icy-winter version.
The graphic design by Izabela Sroka basing on the visual materials made by the Kijek/Adamski duo presents the festival as a peak of a huge, seemingly cold, iceberg with unusual cosmic energy pulsating inside. A blue, more precisely – cobalt, bison on the one hand is a symbol of expressive and uncompromising power, and on the other – a link with primordial, pure and sincere nature.
What is important, the winter setting of this year’s festival did not deprive the event of its distinctive hot and family atmosphere that pleases and inspires the filmmakers from all over the world.
Festival’s schedule:
6 December 2017 (Wednesday)
10:00 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Competition Kids 11+ (119’)
11:00 High School No. 6, 8 Warszawska Street
Żubroffka Special Trust Me – Generations. At the Crossroads (70’), 16+
11:00 Supraśl / High School of Arts, 1 Kościuszki Square
Żubroffka Special Balteus Animatio (110’), 16+
12:00 University Cultural Centre – University in Białystok, 1M Ciołkowskiego Street
Żubroffka Special Trust Me – (Anti)Authority: (Dis)Illusion & (Dis)Obedience (92’), 16+
16:00 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Competition Students p. I (100’), 16+
16:30 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Competition Whole Wide World p. I (100’), 16+
18:00 Elektrownia Arsenał Gallery, 13 Elektryczna Street (entrance from Świętojańska Stret)
Żubroffka Special The Universe Is Stranger Than Fiction – Visions from The Philip K. Dick Film Festival (87’) 16+
18:00 Białowieża / Żubr Cinema, 17 Sportowa Street
Żubroffka Special New Beijing – New Chinese Cinema (88’) 16+
18:30 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Competition Independent p. I (111’), 16+
18:30 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Opening the exhibition Pagan Poetry by Marcin Nagraba
19:00 FAMA Club, 5 Legionowa Street
Opening the exhibition Film posters from Ghana + Dawid Gryza’s lecture
20:30 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street, ticket: 25 PLN
Opening Ceremony – film Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis(62’) + music by Christian Löffler (live)
23:00 Zmiana Klimatu, 6 Warszawska Street
Żubroffka Special Midnight Shorts vol. VI (105’), 18+
7 December 2017 (Thursday)
10:00 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Competition Kids – Youth 15+ (77’)
13:00 Faculty of Pedagogics and Psychology of the University in Białystok, 20 Świerkowa Street
Żubroffka Special Trust Me – Fake News. Counterfeiting Reality (73’) + panel discussion Trust Me, 16+
16:00 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Competition Whole Wide World p. III (107’), 16+
16:30 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Competition Students p. II (90’), 16+
17:00 Narew / Narew Cultural Centre, 105 Mickiewicza Street
Żubroffka Special Romanian Film Revolution (109’), 16+
18:00 Sokółka / Sokół Cinema, 24 Kościuszki Square
Żubroffka Special Short and Bittersweet from Argentina (88’), 16+
18:00 Łomża / High School No. 2, 3 Kościuszki Square
Żubroffka Special Trust Me – Generations. At the Crossroads (70’), 16+
18:15 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Competition Eastward Window p. II (74’), 16+
18:30 Augustów / City Cultural Centre, 9 Zygmunt August Square
Żubroffka Special A Swedish Life (89’), 16+
19:00 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Competition Independent p. II (112’), 16+
20:15 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Competition Whole Wide World p. II (101’), 16+
22:00 FAMA Club, 5 Legionowa Street, admission free
Competition Music video, 16+
Concert RSS B0YS (PL)
8 December 2017 (Friday)
11:00 FAMA Club, 5 Legionowa Street
Ukrainian Film Breakfast (70’), 16+
13:30 Faculty of Pedagogics and Psychology of the University in Białystok, 20 Świerkowa Street
Żubroffka Special A Swedish Life (89’), 16+
13:45 Supraśl / High School of Arts, 1 Kościuszki Square
Masterclass Interference Festival – Video Comunication (60’), 16+
15:30 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Competition Whole Wide World p. I (100’), 16+
16:00 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Competition Eastward Window p. III (95’), 16+
17:00 Narewka / Municipal Cultural Centre, 3a Nowa Street
Żubroffka Special Old Man that Can See (109’), 16+
18:00 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Competition Students p. I (100’), 16+
18:00 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Competition Eastward Window p. I (92’), 16+
18:00 Kleszczele / village club hous in Dobrowoda, 19 Kolejowa Street
Żubroffka Special The Universe Is Stranger Than Fiction – Visions from The Philip K. Dick Film Festival (87’), 16+
18:00 Hajnówka / Hajnówka Cultural Centrre, 4 Sołoniewicz Street
Żubroffka Special Short 101 Reykjavík (92’), 16+
18:30 Sejny / Sejny CUltural Centre, 17 1 Maja Street
Żubroffka Special Ukraine (70’), 16+
18:30 Elektrownia Arsenał Gallery, 13 Elektryczna Street (entrance from Świętojańska Stret)
Competition On the Edge – experiment & video-art (105’), 18+
20:15 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Competition Whole Wide World p. III (107’), 16+
20:30 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Stret
Competition Independent p. I (111’), 16+
22:00 FAMA Club, 5 Legionowa Street, ticket: 15 PLN/20 PLN
Concert Mifi (PL) / Gaika live (UK)
9 December 2017 (Saturday)
10:00 Białystok Cultural Centre / Ludwik Zamenhof Centre, 19 Warszawska Street
Competition Kids 5+ (40’)
11:00 Gran Vía Spanish Culture and Language Centre, 6 Lipowa Street
Argentinian Film Breakfast (88’), 16+
12:15 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Competition Eastward Window p. II (74’), 16+
12:30 Białystok Cultural Centre / Ludwik Zamenhof Centre, 19 Warszawska Street
Competition Kids 7+ p. I (50’), 16+
14:00 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Brunch Eastern Pleasures (94’) + panel discussion, 16+
15:00 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Competition Students p. II (90’), 16+
16:30 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Competition Amateurs (100’), 16+
17:00 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Competition Independent p. II (112’), 16+
18:45 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Competition Eastward Window p. III (95’), 16+
20:15 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Competition Eastward Window p. I (92’), 16+
20:30 Branicki Palace: Museum of History of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Medical University of Bialystok, 1 Kilińskiego Street
Żubroffka Special Short 101 Reykjavík (92’), 16+
20:45 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Competition Whole Wide World p. II (101’), 16+
22:30 FAMA Club, 5 Legionowa Street – tickets: 15 PLN/20 PLN
Concert Orgonite (IL – middle eastern rave) / DJ Khalab + VJ Klefisch (IT – afro future beat shake) / Rafael Aragon (FR – global bass, tropikal masala)
10 December 2017 (Sunday)
10:00 Białystok Cultural Centre / Ludwik Zamenhof Centre, 19 Warszawska Street
Competition Kids 7+ p. II (50’)
11:30 Zmiana Klimatu, 6 Warszawska Street
Romanian Film Breakfast (109’), 16+
12:30 Białystok Cultural Centre / Ludwik Zamenhof Centre, 19 Warszawska Street
Competition Kids 9+ (74’)
13:00 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Żubroffka Special Old Man that Can See (109’), 16+
14:30 FAMA Club, 5 Legionowa Street
Masterclass Interference Festival – Video Comunication (60’), 16+
15:00 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Żubroffka Special Balteus Animatio (110’), 16+
15:30 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Żubroffka Special Jury Films + Q&A (109’), 16+
17:15 Camera Cafe, 14/11 Lipowa Street
Żubroffka Special New Beijing – New Chinese Cinema (88’), 16+
19:00 Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
Closing Ceremony + screening of awarded films, 16+
Free admission to all the film screening!
All films with English and Polish subtitles!
Concert tickets available from Kino Forum (Legionowa 5), BOK/CLZ (Warszawska 19) and at www.bilety.bok.bialystok.pl.
The festival is or organized with subsidies from the City of Białystok and support of the Polish Film Institute.
Organizer: Białystok Cultural Centre – “GAG” Film Debating Club
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