Let us announce the jury of the ON AIR Main Competition at the 23rd edition of the BellaTOFIFEST International Film Festival!
The time has come to present the jury in the Main Competition of the 23rd edition the BellaTOFIFEST International Film Festival: the ON AIR International Competition for début and sophomore feature films.
During this year’s edition of the festival, the winner of the Golden Angel for the director of the best international film - an award funded by the President of Toruń Paweł Gulewski – will be chosen by a jury composed of the following outstanding artists: Gabriela Muskała, Jowita Budnik, Anna Maliszewska, Andrzej Konopka, Piotr Trojan, and Tomasz Wasilewski.
Gabriela Muskała
She is an actress, screenwriter, playwright, and film director. She is a graduate of and an academic teacher at the Film School in Łódź. She performed on theatre stages in Łódź and Warsaw. Since 2019, she has been part of the team of actors at the National Theatre in Warsaw. She has received numerous prestigious awards and honorary mentions, including four Złota Maska (Golden Mask) Theatre Awards, the Grand Prix Award at Festiwal Piosenki Aktorskiej (Stage Songs Review) in Wrocław, the Eagle Polish Film Award, the Best Female Actor Award at the Gdynia Film Festival, or the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis, to name a few. Her recognition and popularity came with roles in such films as ‘Fuga / The Fugue’ by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, ‘7 uczuć / 7 Emotions’ by Marek Koterski, ‘Moje córki krowy / These Daughters of Mine’ by Kinga Dębska, ‘Wymyk / Courage’ and ‘Cała zima bez ognia / One Long Winter Without Fire’ by Greg Zgliński, the latter of which won an award at the Venice Film Festival in 2004, and in the following TV series: ‘Londyńczycy / The Londoners’, ‘Głęboka woda / Deep Water’, ‘Królestwo kobiet’, or the latest television production ‘Skazana / The Convict’. Featuring a script written by Gabriela Muskała, the film ‘The Fugue’ had its début at Cannes Film Festival, in 2018. The actress played the main character Alicja, for which she received awards at the Athens Avant-Garde Film Festival (AAGFF), Cinergia Film Festival in Łódź, and the Off Camera Film Festival in Cracow, and many more. She is a co-author of a number of popular theatre plays, which were presented on theatre stage in Poland and abroad. This year, she has received her fifth nomination for the most important Polish Film Award (The Eagle) in the ‘Discovery of the Year’ category, in recognition of directing and writing a script for her feature début ‘Błazny / The Clowns.’
Jowita Budnik
She is an actress and a pupil of the Theatre Centre established at the Jan and Halina Machulski Ochota Theatre, and a graduate of the Institute of Applied Social Sciences at the University of Warsaw. She started her career in acting as early as in 1985, when she debuted in the film ‘Kochankowie mojej mamy / My Mothers’ Lovers’ directed by Radosław Piwowarski. Her film portfolio features more than eighty roles in feature films and television productions, with the TV series ‘Rzeka kłamstwa / River of Lies’ and ‘W Labiryncie / The Labirynth,’ and the films ‘Z odzysku / Retrieval,’ ‘Jeziorak / Waterline,’ ‘Cicha noc / Silent Night,’ ‘Ikar. Legenda Mietka Kosza / Icarus. The Legend of Mietek Kosz’ and ‘Wszystkie nasze strachy / Fears’ among the most important ones. She made guest appearances on theatre stages in Warsaw, for example in the Ochota Theatre, Powszechny Theatre, Polonia Theatre, Studio Theatre, and Kamienica Theatre. A real pivotal point in her career came when she met Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze. She was cast in all of the films directed by this duo of film directors: ‘Dług / The Debt,’ ‘Mój Nikifor / My Nikifor,’ the film trilogy ‘Wielkie rzeczy / Big Deals,’ ‘Plac Zbawiciela / Saviour Square’ (she contributed to the script), the latter of which brought her the Golden Lions Award at the 31st edition of the Gdynia Film Festival, the Eagle Polish Film Award, and an award for the Best Actress at the Valladolid International Film Festival. Then, she work with them on the film ‘Papusza / Doll’ - the film about the first Polish-Gypsy poetess Bronislawa Wajs was showered with awards at Polish and international film festivals. The latest of the films she made in cooperation with Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze was ‘Ptaki śpiewają w Kigali / Birds Are Singing in Kigali’ (for the role played in the film, Jowita Budnik received numerous award, for example the Crystal Globe Award for the Best Actress at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival).
Anna Maliszewska
She studied journalism at the University of Warsaw, and graduated from Wajda School. She made commercials and many award-winning music videos for which she received two Fryderyk Awards and seven Yach Awards, to name a few. In 2008, she made the short film ‘Pokój szybkich randek / Room For A Quick One’ which won the Audience Award at the Gdynia Film Festival. One year later, in 2009, the same film was nominated for the Golden Lion Award, as part of the film triptych ‘Demakijaż.’ She debuted in 2022 with the film ‘Tata / Dad’ produced by Metro Films, Warner Bros and Family Production UE. The film was nominated for the Golden Lions Awards in Gdynia, and won many awards, for example the Award of the Ecumenical Jury at the 25th edition of the Warsaw Film Festival, the Dominika Kulczyk Award for the Best Film in the Polish Film Competition at the Mastercard Off Camera Film Festival in Cracow (2023), an award for the best script at the Koszalin Film Début Festival ‘Young and Film’ (2023), and an award for the best début film at the Polish Film Festival in Chicago. Anna Maliszewska is the originator, co-writer of the script for, and the director of the TV series ‘Infamy’ (made for Netflix Poland), which tells the story of a young Roma girl coming back to Poland after long years spent as an emigrant. She is currently working with Ewa Puszczyńska on a new film project produced by HBO Max.
Andrzej Konopka
He is a film, theatre, and television actor. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Acting at the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Cracow. He performed on stages of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Cracow, the Kazimierz Dejmek New Theatre in Łódź, and Studio Theatre in Warsaw. He is one of the members of the ‘Pożar w Burdelu’ cabaret and theatre troupe. He is a versatile actor and worked with many renowned Polish film directors of both sexes. He was cast in the film ‘Róża / Rosa’ (2011) and ‘Kler / Clergy’ (2018), both directed by Wojciech Smarzowski, in ‘Wałęsa. Człowiek z nadziei / Walesa: Man of Hope’ (2013), and ‘Powidoki / Afterimage’ ((2016) directed by Andrzej Wajda, in ‘Córki dancingu / The Lure’ (2025) directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, in ‘Moje córki krowy / These Daughters of Mine’ by Kinga Dębska, in ‘Pokot / Spoor’ by Agnieszka Holland, or in ‘Biała odwaga / White Courage’ (2024) directed by Marcin Koszałka, to name a few. Andrzej Konopka received two nominations for the Eagle Polish Film Awards in the Best Supporting Actor category for the films ‘25 lat niewinności / 25 Years of Innocence’ (2020) directed by Jan Holoubek and ‘Chrzciny / The Christening’ (2021) by Jakub Skoczeń. Film enthusiasts also know him from many roles in popular television productions, including ‘Pakt / The Pact’ (2015, 2016), ‘Belfer’ (2016), ‘Wataha / The Pack’ (2017, 2019), or ‘Przesmyk’ (2024). He received the ‘Sędziwój Aktorski’ Film Award at the Nowe Kino - Nowy Sącz Film Festival for the best leading character in the short film ‘Redaktor’ (2016), and an award for acting for the role of the brothel-keeper in the stage performance ‘Herosi Transformacji i miecz Chrobrego’ presented during the 23rd edition of Ogólnopolski Konkurs na Wystawienie Polskiej Sztuki Współczesnej (All-Poland Competition for Polish Contemporary Play Performance,’ in recognition of ‘a unique stage personality and temper’ (2017).
Piotr Trojan
He is an actor, screenwriter, and film director. He is considered to be one of the most multi-talented and sensitive artists of his generation. He has received many prestigious awards, including the Eagle Polish Film Award, and special mentions at the Gdynia Film Festival. He is widely appreciated both by film critics and cinema enthusiasts for the profound and authentic film roles. He is a graduate of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, in the piano and guitar class. He also graduated from Acting Department at the Leon Schiller Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź. He gained experience in directing by participating in the ‘Studio Prób’ Feature Film course at Wajda School. In the years 2015-2017, he was an academic teacher at Szkoła Aktorska Haliny i Jana Machulskich (School of Acting) in Warsaw.
Tomasz Wasilewski
A winner of the Flisak Award given by the President of Toruń at the TOFIFEST International Film Festival (2014), and a winner of the Thorunium Honorary Medal (2017). He is a film director and screenwriter considered to be one of the most interesting contemporary author of cinéma d'auteur in Europe. He was born in 1980, in Toruń. He completed a course in film directing at the Academy of Film & Television in Warsaw. He is also a graduate of the Department of Film And TV Production Organization of the Film School in Łódź. His feature début was the film ‘W sypialni’ (2012), which premièred during the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. His sophomore feature film ‘Płynące wieżowce / Floating Skyscrapers’ (2013) received awards for the Young Directing Talent and Best Supporting Actress, and an award of the Young Jury, at the Gdynia Film Festival. It was also recognised as the best film by representatives of IndieWire. His greatest success to this date came with the film ‘Zjednoczone stany miłości / United States of Love’ (2016), for which he received the Silver Bear Award for the script at the Berlin International Film Festival, five honorary mentions at the Gdynia Film Festival, including an award for directing, and a nomination for the European Film Award in the Best Script category, and many others. The latest film from Tomasz Wasilewski, ‘Głupcy / Fools’ (2022) was selected for screening at Karlovy Vary IFF, São Paulo IFF, and Thessaloniki IFF. His film productions were reviewed in the most important film magazines, such as The Hollywood Reporter.
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