Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival is the largest documentary film festival in Poland, which has built a reputation around the world for over 20 years. The main part of the event takes place in Warsaw, but outside the capital, festival screenings were also held in six other cities. For many years, MDAG was also held in Lublin, but this year’s edition did not come to the largest city in Eastern Poland.
The documentary about activists from the Abortion Dream Team is a hit of the MDAG festival. And people in Lublin “didn’t like the film about abortion”
Some indicate that it is because of the film about Polish abortion activists, which was included in this year’s festival program. The editorial team of the portal decided to ask the director of the Millenium Docs Against Gravity festival, as well as representatives of the Center for the Meeting of Cultures, the place where the Lublin version of the festival has been held so far. The facility is commanded by the Lublin provincial government, which has long been dominated by PiS politicians.
We started working on the contract, just like every year. We sent the Center a list of films we wanted to show. And then a problem arose regarding a film devoted to the topic of abortion. We found out that he ‘didn’t like it’. We were not going to give up and give up this title, said festival director Artur Liebhart.
It is about the film “You are not alone” directed by Karolina Lucyna Domagalska, which presents the fate of activists from the Abortion Dream Team who help women who want to have an abortion. The heroines of the production have been very active in the public space in recent years, which makes them well recognizable. This is also confirmed by the film’s popularity. An additional screening has been planned at the Luna Cinema in Warsaw, and the production takes part in several festival competitions.
Although work on the agreement regarding the Lublin edition was continued and our event was included in the Center’s event plan for this year, there was a twist that we did not expect. We heard another reason for not extending the contract: conflict of interest – revealed the festival director.
The Center for the Meeting of Cultures in Lublin has a year-round sponsor, PKO Bank Polski, a company competing with the title sponsor of the festival, Millennium Bank. – Indeed, the Center has another partner from the banking industry, but it has had it for years, and during previous editions of the festival it did not bother anyone. We decided that since Lublin was not willing to cooperate, there was no point in crushing the copies and we withdrew from there, Liebhart summed up.
The CSK spokesman talks about a conflict of interest regarding the sponsor of a cultural institution. But there were no problems before
The portal’s editorial team also addressed the employees of the cinema located in the Center for the Meeting of Cultures in Lublin. However, when the topic of the film “You are not alone” was to appear, everyone was to avoid answering and refer them to the institution’s spokesman, Andrzej Goliszek.
– We have been cooperating with PKO BP bank for several years, periodically repeating sponsorship applications, it is not a permanent contract. The current agreement, signed in December last year, contains a clear provision that the Center is to “provide the Bank with industry exclusivity during events taking place at the Center for the Meeting of Cultures in Lublin throughout the duration of the agreement,” the official says.
According to CSK’s spokesman, in previous years there was no such clear provision in the annual sponsorship agreements with the bank, so the institution had more freedom in talks with the festival. – Due to the fact that we have now received higher support from the bank and due to a clear provision in the contract, after obtaining legal opinions, organizing the festival in the Center turned out to be impossible – explains Goliszek. Moreover, the official claims that the decision was made before the festival program was known.
The final decision that the festival would not take place in the Center this year was made before the final repertoire of the Lublin part of the event was established, therefore suggestions that it is related to the content of one of the festival films are completely unfounded.
The spokesman for the Lublin Marshal’s Office also commented very sparingly on the matter
However, this message contradicts what the festival director said. Artur Liebhart assured that the films that were to be shown there had been reported to the Lublin Center for the Meeting of Cultures. The website’s editors decided to ask the institution’s superior institution, the Marshal’s Office in Lublin, about this. The spokesman for the provincial government responded only in a short sentence:
We do not comment on the case.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
