International Catholic Film Fest Survives 24 Years By SAR NEWS
NIEPOKALANOW, Poland (SAR NEWS) -- Claimed to be the only surviving International Catholic Film Festival in the world, the Niepokalanow festival held its 24th uninterrupted screening, May 15-17, some 45 km west of Warsaw, capital of Poland. As the 62nd Cannes film festival opened in the French Riviera with a lot of glitz and glamour, red carpets and celebrities, caviar and champagne; some 1000 km away in Poland the festival opened with a solemn Eucharist presided over by Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz of Warsaw in the national shrine of Mary Immaculate along with some 30 priests, film producers and directors, jury members and festival organizers. Organised under the patronage of the primate of Poland Cardinal Joseph Glemp, the festival had a special award constituted by the president of Poland who delegated his political advisor to be present and deliver his personal message. “Our festival may seem ‘too Catholic’ for some Catholic media professionals and media associations,” says the president of the Catholic Film Association and the festival Organising Committee, Danuta Stachyra, in her inaugural address. “This is the only film festival in the world with time provided for daily prayer and Eucharist. This is also a provocation for media professionals, not to be afraid of searching for truth and presenting the truth,” she insists inviting Catholic media practitioners to be inspired by the moral and social teachings of the Church. The festival day starts with common morning prayers before breakfast followed by two hours of screenings, Eucharist before noon and two and half hours of screening before evening prayers and another three hours of screening after dinner. Though the festival is international, all the films screened have a voice-over in Polish making it comprehensible to the largely Polish audience. The only Catholic Film Festival There were 169 films at the festival from 21 countries representing the five continents. Of these, the festival selection committee shortlisted 18 outstanding films for the finals. The organisers claim this festival to be the only International Catholic Film Festival. It had its genesis in the heydays of ‘Solidarnosc’ (Solidarity), the national resistance movement against the Polish Communist Regime in 1985. A group of activists formed the Catholic Film Association of Poland as a cultural forum and later organised the festival under the guise of a spiritual retreat in the Franciscan (OFM Conv.) monastery at Niepokalanow, the national shrine of Mary Immaculate and the headquarters of the ‘Militia Immaculate’ (Army of the Immaculate). St. Maxmilliam Kolbe founded the Franciscan monastery at Niepokalanow (City of the Immaculate) in 1927. It was from this monastery, the hub of media activities, that the Nazis took Father Kolbe to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. After the fall of Communism, Poland had its first democratically elected government in 1989. Catholic Awards The festival awards consists of citation along with bronze statuette (first prize); icon painted on marble (second prize) and a framed painting of St. Maximilliam Kolbe (third prize). The first prize in the feature film category went to a 26 minute French film entitled Un Eclat (The Sparkle) which narrates the story of an “atheist” art restorer who unwillingly takes up restoration of an old crucifix ensuing a strange relationship between him and the crucifix. The 95-minute film entitled Our Lady of Lourdes, by the Sripriya International, Hyderabad production featuring director V.R. Gopinath and producer Kamalakar Rao Ponnapalli, won the second prize. The third prize went to an 80-minute Arabic film from Lebanon entitled How are you with Christ? It tells the story of a priest who visits prisons and meets a Muslim woman imprisoned for the murder of her abusive husband. Besides the feature film, other categories awarded were: documentary, educational, television and amateur films. The festival also featured multimedia, radio and YouTube productions. Our Lady of Lourdes ”I am a Hindu and I have lot of faith in Mother Mary. It (film) was made after much hard work and patience of 10 long years. Without seeking any financial help from anybody I produced it with my own funds,” says Kamalakar Rao after submitting the film to the Niepokalanow festival. The film tells the story of Bernadette Soubirous, a young village girl, to whom Our Lady appeared in 1858 at Lourdes (France). Incidentally, the film produced in English language with locations in Kerala, Ireland and Lourdes has an international cast. The film was screened at Lourdes, last year, during celebrations marking 150th anniversary of the apparitions. “In the attempt at making a film on Catholic theme, the Hindu director sometimes fails in orthodoxy in interpretation. However, the jury feels that the effort is highly commendable,” says jury chariman Jan Szafraniec. The film is dubbed into French, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Telugu. It was also the first time that the festival jury had an Indian member. Salesian Father C.M. Paul from Kolkata, a former member of government of India’s Central Board of Film Certification (Kolkata) was part of the nine-member international jury.
