“Common Baltic. Short Film Contest” Third Edition

“Common Baltic. Short Film Contest” Third Edition

Adam Mickiewicz Institute acting under the brand of Culture.pl, Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, Pomeranian Film Foundation and the Gdynia Film School announce the third edition of “Common Baltic. Short Film Contest” – a contest for a short length film devoted to the universal theme related to the Baltic Sea Region.

Films one to five minutes long may be submitted. The organisers invite participants to engage in creative pursuits and answering the questions: how has the Baltic Sea region been changing in terms of arts, society, politics and economy? Is there a common identity shared by the countries from the Baltic Sea region? Does the Baltic Sea unite or perhaps divide the nations living at its coasts?

The contest is open to all participants, both professionals and amateurs aged 18 and over from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and Poland. The authors of four best films will be awarded a video camera each and an invitation to the Polish Film Festival. Films may be submitted by no later than 11 August 2017 via an online submission form available on the Culture.pl website.

The winners will be selected by the jury comprising:

  • Michał Oleszczyk, PhD – film critic; film expert; Artistic Director of the Polish Film Festival (2013-2016);
  • Jerzy Rados – Deputy Director of the Gdynia Film School; director; scriptwriter; photographer;
  • Grzegorz Skorupski – film expert of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

There will be four prizes awarded at this year’s edition: three winners will be selected by the jury whereas the fourth one will be selected by Internet users. Due to large popularity of the contest, the jury will shortlist ten films which will be available at the Culture.pl portal, where the Internet users will be voting for their favourite film.

The winners will be announced on 31 August 2017.

The authors of the best films will be awarded a GoPro Hero5 Session video camera in September, at the 42nd edition of the Polish Film Festival. The winners who accept the invitation of the organisers to participate in the Festival will have the opportunity to see the latest Polish films and take full advantage of the Festival’s events.

As Michał Oleszczyk, PhD, puts it:

“The sea is the best teacher of change. Being apparently made of nothing but water, the sea actually contains all physical states. Water, ice, and vapour constantly transform into each other and thus teach us about change. It is both a radical and inconspicuous change resulting in eternal, cyclical existence.

In this year’s edition of the Common Baltic Contest, we’d like to encourage you to have a closer look at the process of change. It’s up to your sensitivity and creativity how you define it. You may want to observe the changing physical sates of the Baltic Sea; its changing coastline, or flora and fauna. You may also focus on people living in the Baltic region, the nations who do not consider themselves neighbours often enough.

Your task is to show the Baltic Sea and the Baltic states from an unconventional perspective. Show us the change taking place in your neighbourhood. Show us the physical states of nature and culture. This change concerns each of us.”

The Rules and Regulations of Common Baltic 2017 and the submission form are available at the www.culture.pl website.