2019 New Horizons IFF: Céline Sciamma, Xavier Dolan & Quentin Tarantino Part of 19th Edition

The 19th New Horizons International Film Festival is opening with one of the best films from this past Cannes in Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Woman on Fire and will close out with Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. The complete program of the 2019 festival has just been released today (our Tommaso Tocci will covering the fest and will also be participating in A Sunday in the Country in Wrocław lab) with some major titles in the dozen titles in the New Horizons International Film Competition. The fest takes place between 25th July to 4th August. Here are the selections:

Opening and closing
The 19th New Horizons International Film Festival will open on 25th July with the Polish premiere of Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu), which was awarded with Best Screenplay at the Cannes Festival, directed by Cèline Sciamma who will attend the festival together with Adèle Haenel, the lead. On 3rd August, after the award ceremony, viewers will be able to see Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – the latest film by Quentin Tarantino, one of the major masters of contemporary cinema, which was rapturously received by viewers and critics alike at the Cannes Film Festival. The screening in Wrocław of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood will be one of the first screenings in Europe.

Hits from world festivals
This year’s program also includes the most important titles from other world festivals, including the Golden Palm winner in Cannes – Parasite by Bong Joon-ho, Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory, Gareth Jones – the latest work by Agnieszka Holland, Young Ahmed by Dardenne brothers, awarded with the Best Directing Award in Cannes and Matthias & Maxime by Xavier Dolan, shown for the second time in the world (after screenings in Cannes). A special event of this year’s festival edition will be the international premiere of Xawery Żuławski’s Bird Talk, based on the script by his father, Andrzej Żuławski – one of the legends of Polish cinema.

The New Horizons International Film Competition
Ray & Liz by Richard Billingham
Bait by Mark Jenkin
Alva by Ico Costa
Koko-di Koko-da by Johannes Nyholm
Jessica Forever by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel
Children of the Dead (Die Kinder der Toten) by Kelly Copper and Pavola Liski
Russian Youngster (Malchik russkiy) by Alexander Zolotukhin
Take Me Somewhere Nice by Ena Sendijarević
Tunisia – Tlamess by Ala Eddine Slim
Spain – Fire Will Come (O que arde) by Oliver Laxe
Jinpa by Pema
Ghost Tropic by Bas Devos

The winner will be selected by a jury composed of Isabella Eklöf (director of last year’s winner, Holiday), Johann Lurf (visual artist and director, author of, among others, Reconnaissance and ★), Rasha Salti (Lebanese curator, programmer and scriptwriter), Agnieszka Smoczyńska (director of the award-winning The Lure and Fugue) and Kim Yutani (programme director of the Sundance Festival).

Retrospectives
This year’s retrospectives include Catalan visionary director Albert Serra – author of the superb Death of Louis XIV (La mort de Louis XIV), Olivier Assayas, recognized for Irma Vep and Sils Maria among others; a singular artist, blurring the boundaries of mainstream and art-house cinema; Albertina Carri – one of the most significant Argentine filmmaker; and Shūji Terayama – a Japanese director, subversive theatre reformer whose Pastoral Hide and Seek (Den-en ni Shisu) was nominated at Cannes Film Festival in 1975. The festival will also feature a special focus on contemporary film from Argentine.

Polish Days
The most important industry event of the festival is called Polish Days and it is the largest industry event in Poland. This year’s selection incluses: 5 completed feature films, 8 works in progress and 10 projects in development. New films of Maciej Pieprzyca, Jan Komasa, Anna Jadowska, Jagoda Szelc or Leszek Dawid will be presented to over 200 guests and invitees.