The jury of the Main Competition “Making the Path” Mastercard OFF CAMERA will have to choose one from among the ten competition films that caused admiration at the largest film festivals in the world, which will receive the Andrzej Wajda Krakow Film Award and $25,000. The winner of the 16th edition of Mastercard OFF CAMERA was Tonia Noyabrova for the film “Do You Love Me?”. The following people will decide who will receive the statuette this year: Andrzej Seweryn, Christopher Hampton and Alise Gelze.
Andrzej Seweryn is an actor and theater and film director, as well as a teacher. In 1968, he graduated from the State Theater School in Warsaw, after which he was employed at the Ateneum Theater in the capital. His first outstanding film role was Maks Baum in Andrzej Wajda's “The Promised Land”. Subsequent films that brought him critical acclaim include: “On the Silver Globe” by Andrzej Żuławski, “The Border” by Jan Rybkowski, “Man of Iron”, “Without Anesthesia” and “The Conductor” by Andrzej Wajda.
Andrzej Seweryn was awarded the Order of Fine Arts and Humanities, the Legion of Honor of the French Republic, the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for Merit to Culture of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
Christopher Hampton he made his debut at the age of 18 with the play “When Did You Last See My Mother?”. Its adaptation in London made him the youngest playwright in the West End. Since then, he has written many plays, including “The Philanthropist”, “The Savages”, “Hollywood Tales”, “The White Chameleon”, “All About Eve” and “The Life of Mrs. Pomsel”. Hampton is the author of librettos for three operas by Philip Glass, co-author of three musicals, one of which is “Sunset Boulevard”. He translated into English, among others: plays by Ibsen, Molière and Chekhov. To date, his plays, musicals and translations have won him four Tony Awards, three Olivier Awards, five Evening Standard Awards and a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. Hampton is the author of numerous film scripts, such as “Dangerous Liaisons”, “Total Eclipse”, “The Quiet American”, “Atonement”, and “The Father” with Anthony Hopkins in the main role.
His film awards include two Oscarsthree BAFTA awards, an award from the European Film Academy, an award from the American Writers' Guild, a Prix Italia, a special award from the Jury of the Cannes Film Festival, Screenwriter of the Year from the Hollywood Film Awards and a Collateral Award from the Venice Film Festival for the best literary adaptation.
Alise Gelze produced both long and short films that had their premieres at prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Berlinale, Rotterdam IFF, and Karlovy Vary IFF. Alise's most famous productions include “Oleg” by Juris Kursietis, whose world premiere took place in Cannes, “Mother, I Love You” by Janis Nords, which won over 15 national and international awards, including an award at the Berlinale, and “Mellow Mud” by Renars' and Vimby, which won the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale.
Alise is an award winner of the Latvian Ministry of Culture, a graduate of EAVE and ACE Producers and a member of the Latvian National Chamber of Producers as well as the European Film Academy.
The jury of the Polish Feature Film Competition will select from among ten Polish productions the one that will win a prize of PLN 100,000, and will also choose the Best Actress, the Best Actor and the winner of the Mastercard Rising Star award. The jury of the Polish Competition will include: Kate Rhodes James, Lenka Tyrpáková, Isabel Lamberti and Michael O'Connor.
KateRhodesJames she studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the UK. She quickly realized that she was on the wrong side of the camera and set off on an adventure into the world of casting. Her first casting experience was assisting on the series “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” produced by Lucasfilm.
Kate has collaborated with directors such as Ridley Scott, Edward Berger, Tom Shankland, Noah Hawley, Miguel Sapochnik, Lone Scherfig, Clare Kilner, Alan Taylor, Donald Glover, Hiro Murai and many others. Currently, Kate is in the process of casting Ridley Scott's new film, a biography of the Bee Gees, continuing her cooperation with the outstanding filmmaker with whom she shot “Napoleon”, “The Last Duel” and “The House of Gucci”.
Lenka Tyrpáková is a selector, film festival consultant and Artistic Director of the Finale Film Festival in Pilzno. In the years 2005-2023, she cooperated with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival as a member of the selection committee and as a selector of films from Central, Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
Since 2008, she has been a selector of the Prague Short Film Festival, and in 2023 she became the Artistic Director of the Finale Czech Film Festival in Pilsen, the largest domestic competition festival for Czech films. Lenka cooperates as a consultant with several international film festivals and is a member of the European Film Awards.
Isabel Lamberti she was born in Germany but grew up in Spain and the Netherlands. While developing her film career, Isabel fell in love with cinema “on the border”, blurring the line between documentary and fiction. Her short films “Volando voy”, “Amor” and “Father” were shown and awarded at numerous international film festivals. “La Última Primavera” (“Last Days of Spring”) is Isabel's feature-length debut, the world premiere of which took place at the San Sebastian Festival, where the film won the New Directors Award.
“Last Days of Spring” was also shown at the prestigious Cannes festival, in the Cannes Acid section. The film was shown at many other international festivals and won numerous awards, including the Krakow Film Award at the Mastercard OFF CAMERA festival in 2021.
Creativity and versatility Michael O'Connor made him work as a costume designer with the best British directors. The most appreciated and well-known film on which Michael worked is “The Duchess” directed by Saul Dibb and starring Keira Knightley. For this particular production received an OscarBAFTA and Costume Designers' Guild.
Michael was also nominated for the above-mentioned awards for his work on the films “The Lady in the Shadows” with Ralph Fiennes and Felicity Jones, and “Jane Eyre” directed by Cara Fukanaga with Mia Wasikowski. Other projects he worked on include “Brick Lane” by Sara Gavron, “Miss Pettigrew's Extraordinary Day” by Bharat Nalluri with Amy Adams and Frances McDormand. He also carried out joint projects with Oscar winner Forest Whitaker. Michael also designed costumes for Pete Travis's film “Dredd”, “Tulip Fever” by Justin Chadwick, “A Private War” by Matthew Heineman, “Ammonite” by Francis Lee, “The Mad World of Louis Wain” by Will Sharpe, “Emily” by Francis O'Connor , Andrew Cumming's debut “Escape from the Darkness”, “Lee” by Ellen Kuras with Kate Winslet or “Firebrand” by Karim Ainouz.
All jurors will be seen during the event Closing Gala of the 17th Mastercard OFF CAMERA on May 4, 2024 in the Auditorium Hall. Krzysztof Penderecki ICE Kraków Congress Center, during which we will meet the winners of all ten competitions with a prize pool of over PLN 300,000.
Schedule of shows as well as tickets and passes on sale at offcamera.pl. The festival starts on April 26.