The Main Competition with the Golden, Silver and Bronze Frog Awards has been the most important part of the Festival since its first edition in 1993. From the very beginning the idea behind the competition has been to present feature films with images that significantly contribute to the way stories are told. The visual value of these films results from cooperation between directors and cinematographers. The Main Competition emphasizes the enormous contribution of a cinematographer to the art of film.

A black comedy that tells the story of Riggan – an actor famous for portraying an iconic superhero – as he struggles to stage a Broadway play. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career, and himself. The people who surround him are also trying to cope with various problems, such as drug addiction, sex life, and self-realization. Riggan is played by Michael Keaton, who was a superhero on the big screen himself as Batman.

Polish title: Birdman czyli (Nieoczekiwane pożytki z niewiedzy)
Directed by: Alejandro G. Ińárritu
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Producer: Fox Searchlight Pictures, New Regency Pictures, Worldview Entertainment, M. Productions, Le Grisbi Productions
Polish distributor: Imperial CinePix Sp. z o. o.

Lu Yanshi and Feng Wanyu are a devoted couple forced to separate during the Chinese Cultural Revolution when Lu is arrested and sent to a labour camp as a political prisoner, just as his wife is injured in an accident. Released during the last days of the revolution, he finally returns home only to find that his beloved wife has amnesia and remembers little of her past. Unable to recognize Lu, Feng patiently waits for her husband’s return.

Original title: Gui lai
Directed by: Yimou Zhang
Cinematography: Xiaoding Zhao
Producer: Le Vision Pictures

Set in Iran, where dance is illegal, Desert Dancer tells the true story of Afshin Ghaffarian who risked his life to fight for his dream to become a dancer and start a dance group. The film plays against the backdrop of the 2009 election protests, where the passion and defiance of a young generation lit the flame of revolution still sweeping the Middle East and Africa.

Directed by: Richard Raymond
Cinematography: Carlos Catalan
Producer: CrossDay Productions Ltd.
Polish distributor: Monolith Films Sp. z o. o.

Adam is a young humanist who loses his beloved woman and best friend in a car accident. He resigns from his post as a symbolic literature lecturer and starts working at a supermarket checkout. He escapes his misery by falling asleep and reading the Divine Comedy by Dante. In 2010 another catastrophe occurs – this time it’s even more horrible than Adam’s personal tragedy: the plane crash in Smolensk. The film is a product of artistic creation, full of visual metaphors and literary references.

Polish title: ONIRICA - Psie pole
Directed by: Lech J. Majewski
Cinematography: Lech J. Majewski, Paweł Tybora
Producer: Stowarzyszenie Twórców i Mecenasów Kultury i Nauki Angelus Silesius
Polish distributor: Stowarzyszenie Twórców i Mecenasów Kultury i Nauki Angelus Silesius

A Polish woman and an Italian man – Kasia and Angelo – both deeply believe in God. They are in love, but Kasia’s devotion to God turns out to be stronger and she takes the veil. In order to be closer to his beloved and convince her to change her mind, Angelo moves to Poland. He starts working at a corporation – his despotic boss harasses him, also because of his faith, and incites unethical practices. The film portrays a collision of different value systems and poses the question about God’s place in today’s world.

Polish title: Obce ciało
Directed by: Krzysztof Zanussi
Cinematography: Piotr Niemyjski
Producer: Studio Filmowe TOR
Polish distributor: KINO ŚWIAT Sp. z o. o.

April, 1945. The Allies make their final push in the European Theatre. A battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy commands a Sherman tank and his five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, and with a rookie soldier thrust into their platoon, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.

Polish title: Furia
Directed by: David Ayer
Cinematography: Roman Vasyanov
Producer: QED International, Le Grisbi Productions, Huayi Brothers Media
Polish distributor: Monolith Films Sp. z o. o.

‘Godfather of Soul’, ‘Mr Dynamite’, ‘The Hardest Working Man in Show Business’: The R&B legend James Brown is credited with many attributes. But who is this multi-faceted musician? Based on the incredible life story of James Brown, the film will give a fearless look inside his music, moves and moods, taking audiences on the journey from his impoverished childhood to his evolution into an incredibly influential figure of the twentieth century.

Directed by: Tate Taylor
Cinematography: Stephen Goldblatt
Producer: Imagine Entertainment, Jagged Films, Wyolah Films
Polish distributor: United International Pictures Sp. z o. o. (UIP Poland)

This film proves that not all Polish heroes had to fight with a weapon in hand. On second thought... Zbigniew Religa, a cardiac surgeon, did have a weapon too: a scalpel. He was wielding it at the operating table when he was saving human lives by performing the first successful heart transplants in Poland. He also battled for the right to perform such treatments and for his own clinic. His enemies included superstitions, certain members of the medical community and some governmental authorities, as well as his own human weaknesses.

Polish title: Bogowie
Directed by: Łukasz Palkowski
Cinematography: Piotr Sobociński Jr.
Producer: Watchout Productions sp. z o. o.
Polish distributor: Next Film

Kolia lives in a small town near the Barents Sea, in North Russia. He has his own auto-repair shop. His shop stands right next to the house where he lives with his young wife Lilya and his son from a previous marriage Roma. Vadim Shelevyat, the mayor of the town, wants to take away his business, his house and his land. First he tries buying off Kolia, but Kolia cannot stand losing everything he has. So the mayor starts being more aggressive.

Original title: Leviafan
Polsih title: Lewiatan
Directed by: Andrei Zvyagintsev
Cinematography: Mikhail Krichman
Producer: Non-Stop Production
Polish distributor: Against Gravity Sp. z o. o.

Diane, a widowed, over-forty-year-old, but young-at-heart single mother finds herself burdened with the full-time custody of her explosive 15-year-old ADHD son, Steve. As they try to make ends meet and struggle with their unpredictable ménage, the new girl across the street, Kyla, benevolently offers needed support. The relationship between mother and son might improve, but the threat of a catastrophe is ever-present.

Polish title: Mama
Directed by: Xavier Dolan-Tadros
Cinematography: André Turpin
Producer: Metafilms
Polish distributor: Solopan

A story about the last quarter century of the great, if eccentric, British landscape painter and progenitor of Impressionism, J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father and loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives with incognito in Chelsea, where he dies.

Directed by: Mike Leigh
Cinematography: Dick Pope
Producer: Channel Four Films (Film Four - Film4), Focus Features International, Lipsync Productions, Thin Man Films Ltd., Xofa Productions
Polish distributor: United International Pictures Sp. z o. o. (UIP Poland)

Kurt, who suffers from the rare Marfan syndrome and is almost blind, lives with his clinging mother and dreams of being accepted at Shark School in L.A. The rejection of his application forces Kurt to take his life into his own hands and he separates from his mother. He meets Conny, a 13-year-old runaway from a broken home. She participates in Kurt’s protest, not knowing into which abyss his journey is leading.

Original title: Mein blindes Herz
Polish title: Moje ślepe serce
Directed by: Peter Brunner
Cinematography: Franz Dude
Producer: Cataract Vision

Occupied Palestine knows neither simple love nor clear-cut war. The relationship between the sensitive baker Omar and Nadia is a secret. Omar is accustomed to dodging surveillance bullets to scale the separation wall to visit his beloved. On the other side of the wall, he becomes a freedom fighter who must face painful choices about life and manhood.

Directed by: Hany Abu-Assad
Cinematography: Ehab Assal
Producer: ZBROS
Polish distributor: Art House

Three Brazilian boys, Raphael, Gardo and Rato, accidentally get caught up in a colossal corruption scandal with many powerful enemies from the world of police and high-class politics. Intimidated and tortured, they become fugitives, with only a young activist and a cynical priest by their side. However, they do not intend to give up, and embark on a dangerous and exciting larger-than-life adventure that will change their lives forever.

Polish title: Śmieć
Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Cinematography: Adriano Goldman
Producer: O2 Filmes, PeaPie Films, Working Title Films
Polish distributor: United International Pictures Sp. z o. o. (UIP Poland)

Haunted by memories of her mother, Bobbi sets out to hike more than a thousand miles on the Pacific Crest Trail all on her own. She has absolutely no experience in walking such long distances. Wild reveals her terrors and pleasures – as she forges ahead on a journey that maddens, strengthens, and ultimately heals her.

Polish title: Dzika droga
Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
Cinematography: Yves Belanger
Producer: Fox Searchlight Pictures, Pacific Standard
Polish distributor: Imperial CinePix Sp. z o. o.