Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition was initiated in 2010 due to the Festival’s increasing openness to the noteworthy artists and the new film phenomena they create. The selection committee nominates first or second non-documentary feature films made by young directors and cinematographers. The idea of creating additional competition sections was a natural consequence of our previous activities. For years we have been promoting innovative projects that combine intellectual freedom, remarkable insight into world affairs and a desire to inspire other artists of the screen.
Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition brings new discoveries: great movies of high artistic value and great filmmakers whose new ventures surprise not only the Jury members but all audiences around the world as well.
Competition is under the patronage of Polish Filmmakers Association.
CENSURADA
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DIRECTOR: Mario Garza
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: ISLADA (Nicolás Aguado and Ianire Beriain)
PRODUCTION: Koolshiit Productions
COUNTRY AND YEAR: USA, Spain, Mexico, 2025
Spain, 1969. After the death of her brother, a young dyslexic organist begins a forbidden love affair with an idealistic woman who pushes her to write a song and rebel against the highly censorial and conservative society ruled by the dictator, Franco.
EAST OF WALL
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DIRECTOR: Kate Beecroft
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Austin Shelton
PRODUCTION: Station Road, Stetson's Kingdom
COUNTRY AND YEAR: USA, 2025
East of Wall is an authentic portrait of female resilience in the ‘New West’, inspired and performed by the women and girls who live it. Set in the Badlands of South Dakota, Tabatha, a young, rebellious rancher who rescues and resells horses, must make hard choices to deal with her fractured family, financial uncertainty and unresolved grief, all while providing refuge for a group of wayward neighbourhood teenagers.
FATHER
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ORIGINAL TITLE: Otec
DIRECTOR: Tereza Nvotová
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adam Suzin
PRODUCTION: Lava Films
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, 2025
A tragic mistake shatters the life of a devoted father, shaking his marriage and isolating him with guilt. As the threat of prison looms, he begins to question whether he deserves to go on living. But when he and his wife come to see that the tragedy was not a personal failure but something rooted deep in the architecture of the human mind, a fragile path towards forgiveness begins to emerge. Even with this understanding, the question remains: can love survive what no heart was built to endure?
IN THE SHADOW
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ORIGINAL TITLE: La sebarda
DIRECTOR: Salem Salavati
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Amir Aliveisi
PRODUCTION: Mandana Flodsson, Salem Salavati
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Kurdistan, Iran, Sweden, 2025
Kavan is a teenage boy with Down syndrome who lives with his mother and older brother. After reaching puberty, he has been seen masturbating outside the home, in their neighbourhood. This behaviour has neither been accepted nor understood and has caused many problems. His mother sought various options and paths to solve this awkward situation, such as consulting a welfare counsellor, a religious prayer writer, local elders and the mosque, but it became clear that, in their community, where social and legal relations are mostly based on tradition and religion, there is no suitable or definitive solution. This incident caused their isolation and forced them to resort to unconventional and unwanted options chosen by the mother.
RAPTURES
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ORIGINAL TITLE: Rörelser
DIRECTOR: Jon Blåhed
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mimmo Hildén
PRODUCTION: Iris Film AB, Rabbit Films
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Sweden, Finland, 2025
Rakel is a devout Christian living in the far north of Sweden in the 1930s. When her husband, Teodor, forms a sectarian movement claiming to receive directions straight from God, she has no choice but to join the increasingly radical cult. The film centres on Rakel and her growing dilemma as things begin to fall apart. How can she keep her stepdaughter safe and hold her family together when her husband becomes ever more eccentric, his actions in stark contrast to her own beliefs? Based on true events and inspired by the novel Dagning, röd! by Bengt Pohjanen, Raptures is the first feature film ever made with a main dialogue in the minority language Meänkieli.
REEDLAND
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ORIGINAL TITLE: Rietland
DIRECTOR: Sven Bresser
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Sam du Pon
PRODUCTION: Viking Film
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Netherlands, Belgium, 2025
When reed-cutter Johan discovers the lifeless body of a girl on his land, he is overcome with a conflicted sense of guilt. While caring for his granddaughter, he sets out on a quest to track down evil. But darkness can thrive in unexpected places.
SOLITARY
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DIRECTOR: Eamonn Murphy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: David Christopher Lynch
PRODUCTION: Prophecy Films
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Ireland, 2025
In rural Ireland, Brendan, a widowed farmer, lives a quiet life on the edge of a village. When his home is broken into, a growing sense of fear and isolation takes hold. As violence touches the community and trust in the system fades, Brendan must confront what it means to feel safe, to grow old and to be truly alone.