Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition 2023 Line-up!

Monday October 23rd, 2023

Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition was initiated in 2010 due to the Festival’s increasing openness to the noteworthy artists and the new film phenomena they create. The selection committee nominates first or second non-documentary feature films made by young directors and cinematographers. The idea of creating additional competition sections was a natural consequence of our previous activities. For years we have been promoting innovative projects that combine intellectual freedom, remarkable insight into world affairs and a desire to inspire other artists of the screen.

Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition brings new discoveries: great movies of high artistic value and great filmmakers whose new ventures surprise not only the Jury members but all audiences around the world as well.

Competition is under the patronage of Polish Filmmakers Association.

**********

DANCE FIRST

Parisian bon vivant, World War II Resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright, philandering husband and recluse... Samuel Beckett lived a life of many parts. Titled after Beckett’s famous motto “Dance first, think later,” the film is a sweeping account of the life of this 20th-century icon.

Director: James Marsh
Cinematographer: Antonio Paladino
Produced by: 2LE Media, Sky
Country and year: UK, USA, 2023

DEAD SHOT

Cr. Mark Mainz

When a border ambush goes wrong, a retired Irish paramilitary Michael witnesses the fatal shooting of his pregnant wife by British Sergeant, Tempest. Now wounded, and presumed dead, he escapes, taking his revenge to the dark and paranoid streets of 1970’s London. Raw and suspenseful, Dead Shot is an adrenaline-fueled thriller that will leave audiences weighing up the true cost of revenge.

Polish title: Czas gniewu
Directors: Charles Guard, Thomas Guard
Cinematographer: Mattias Rudh
Produced by: Highland Midgie, Piecrust Pictures, Rocket Science, Stylopik, Upper Street, Vested Interest
Polish distributor: Monolith Films
Country and year: UK, 2023

DEVIL IN THE LAKE

Bo-Yeong moves into the mansion of the previously wealthy grandmother, Wang, as a care giver with a dangerous intention. Mrs Kim, the only blood relative of Wang who hired Bo-Yeong, sets conditions such as ‘Do not bring anyone, especially children’, and ‘Do not go near the reservoir’. Ominous and bizarre signs continue in Grandmother Wang’s huge mansion located next to a reservoir called ‘Gwimot’, where people are dying, and Bo-Yeong finds out that foreigners who have visited the place have suffered a mysterious death.

Original title: 귀못
Director: Se-woong Tak
Cinematographer: Ju-Yeol Han
Produced by: Korean Broadcasting System (KBS)
Country and year: South Korea, 2022

LIES WE TELL

The daunting, rambling estate of Knowl is no home for a young woman on her own, and certainly not for Maud - just 18 years old. Freshly burdened with the sudden death of her father, and granted inheritance to his entire estate when she comes of age at 21, Maud is alone, unschooled in the ways of society, and vulnerable. In a bewildering turn of events, Uncle Silas is revealed as Maud’s guardian in her father’s will. A pariah of ‘society’, he is infamous for being a most vicious man, and a suspected murderer.

Director: Lisa Mulcahy
Cinematographer: Eleanor Bowman
Produced by: Blue Ink Films
Country and year: Ireland, 2023

LUISE

Alsace in the late summer of 1918. Luise, a young farmer, lives alone on an isolated farm near the French border. One morning, in her house, she discovers Hélène, a French woman pursued by Hermann, a German soldier. Being injured, Hermann is forced to stay on the farm for a while, even though this makes him a deserter. Luise decides to give them both shelter. While the two women get closer to each other, Hermann feels increasingly excluded and tries to stand in their way.

Director: Matthias Luthardt
Cinematographer: Lotta Kilian
Produced by: 27 Films Production, Les Films de L'Etranger
Country and year: Germany, France, 2023

RAPTURE

One night, a 14-year-old boy collecting cicadas in the forest with other villagers disappears and cannot be found anywhere. There is a rumour that an alleged group of child kidnappers is prowling around the village at night. The villagers believe these kidnappers are trained and sent by the big hospitals in the city for a human organ transplant business. As the villagers are not sure whether the missing boy has been kidnaped by the prowlers or by the forest nymph, they organize a Village Defence Party to guard the village at night.

Original title: Rimdogittanga
Director: Dominic Sangma
Cinematographer: Tojo Xavier
Produced by: ANNA FILMS, Doha Film Institute
Country and year: India, China, Qatar, Switzerland, Netherlands, 2023

A SONG SUNG BLUE

Cr. The Seventh Art Pictures

Liu Xian will always remember the loneliest and bluest of summers when she was 15. After her mother has to go abroad for work, Xian is thrown into the care of her father, a free-spirited photographer, whom she has barely seen since her parents’ divorce. He’s struggling financially and is fooling around with his assistant who has an 18-year-old daughter, Mingmei. Soon, Mingmei appears like a ray of shining light to Xian. During this restless summer, the conflict between the innocence and the impulses of youth will leave an indelible mark on Liu...

Original title: Xiao bai chuan
Director: Zihan Geng
Cinematographer: Jiayue Hao
Produced by: The Seventh Art Pictures
Country and year: China, 2023

STRANGE DARLING

One day in the twisted love life of a serial killer.

Director: JT Mollner
Cinematographer: Giovanni Ribisi
Produced by: Miramax
Country and year: USA, 2023

SUPPRESSED

Martin was a veterinarian at the top of his game, until a dramatic life changing incident at work. It resulted in an inability to communicate with the world, spending the rest of his days in total isolation. The women in Martin's life are the narrators: his wife, his mother and his colleague, Jana, whose horse he was treating on that fateful day. After years of care, Martin was suddenly discovered dead.

Original title: Němá tajemství
Director: Tomáš Mašín
Cinematographer: Anna Smoroňová
Produced by: Ceská Televize, DONART Production
Country and year: Czech Republic, 2023