Schedule Of Events
Friday November 10th - Sunday November 12th, 2023

Screening Room 1

6:30 pm: Opening Gala

8:00 pm: Festival Opening

Opening the 30th AAPFF and Announcement of the Documentary and Short Films Competition Winners.

8:20pm: Zielona granica/The Green Bordercking Bornholm

A Syrian family leaves the violence of their country behind. Their goal is to get from Belarus to Poland and finally to the haven of Sweden. But while travelling through the Polish-Belarusian border region, they become a political plaything instrumentalized both by the Polish government and press for their own purposes. Polish master director Agnieszka Holland delivers a haunting and moving drama. Her complex political portrayal focuses on the interplay between officials, activists, and civilians. An unsparing film that forces our society not to look away.

Satuday, November 11th, 2023

Childrens Program ages 3 and older

10:00am: Opening of the Children’s Program

10:05am: Kicia Kocia/Kitty Kotty, re . Marta Stró?ycka, animation, 2019, 49 min.

A clever cat together with her understanding owners and three faithful friends bravely discover the world, learning vital rules and patterns of daily life. Her adventures reflect everyday life of children and show their typical behaviour. The world presented here is full of warmth, revealing joys and worries of daily life.

11:00 am – 12:00 am
Childrens Book Fair

Documentary Film Program

1:00pm: Do ostatniej kropli/Until the Last Drop dir. Ewa Ewart, documentary, 2023, 70 min.

It is a film about rivers and people, their relationship and interconnectedness. The documentary exposes the global cost and consequences of the destruction of nature “in the name of progress”. Rivers have been especially badly hit. The film conveys a strong message about one of the greatest threats to human civilization: the growing freshwater crisis. It tells a story of despair and desperation but also one of determination and hope.

2:15pm: Intermission

2:30 pm: Wszystko o moim ?yciu/All About my Life dir. Piotr Jaco?, documentary, 2022, 81 min.

Michael is a truck driver and a Mathematics Engineer. Kacper wants to be a film director. Hektor and Luba make a patchwork family. Maja is an activist and Ma?gosia is an artist. What do they have in common? Their gender identity – different from the one assigned at birth. This reportage is a collective portrait of young Poles expecting one thing – a sense of dignity. Dignity in diversity.

Evening Program
    
5:30pm: Tam, gdzie p?acz? ptaki/Where the Birds Cry dir. Jakub Wenda, short narrative, 2023, 16 min.

Fourteen-year-old Szymon lives in a seaside village. The boy is going through one of the most turbulent stages in his life – puberty. The boy’s monotonous life is interrupted by an unexpected visit from his childhood friend. An ordinary meeting on a cliff turns into his first summer romance.

Q And A
with dir. Jakub Wenda

6:30pm: Intermission

6:00pm: Strz?py/Shreds dir. Beata Dzianowicz, drama, 2022, 100 min.
 
The Pateroks are a loving, multi-generational family. Their lives are peaceful and humorous. Suddenly a crack appears in this harmonious reality: Grandpa Gerard begins to act strangely, breaking social conventions and norms. It turns out that these are the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

7:40pm: Intermission

8:00pm: Tam, gdzie p?acz? ptaki/Where the Birds Cry dir. Jakub Wenda, short narrative, 2023, 16 min.

Fourteen-year-old Szymon lives in a seaside village. The boy is going through one of the most turbulent stages in his life – puberty. The boy’s monotonous life is interrupted by an unexpected visit from his childhood friend. An ordinary meeting on a cliff turns into his first summer romance.

Q And A
with dir. Jakub Wenda

8:40pm: Intermission

9:00pm: Tata/Dad dir. Anna Maliszewska, comedy/drama, 2022, 110 min.
Marko, a single father, aims to secure his daughter’s future after an economic crisis. After a few failed attempts, Marko begrudgingly accepts a devil’s deal and makes the ultimate sacrifice.

Children's program ages 7 and older
Screening Room 4

10:00am: Opening of the Children’s Program

Announcement of the AAPFF Poster Contest Winner and Awards Ceremony.

10:15am: Dzie? czekolady/The Day of Chocolate, dir. Jacek Blawut, family, 2018, 80 min.

Through the window, Dawid watches a new neighbor move into a house next door. The girl is his age. She’s wearing a strange skirt. Later, Dawid finds out it’s a Hawaiian hula skirt and the girl’s name is Monika. He also learns why Monika’s grandma has gone away to Hawaii. Most probably, he’s going to tell her that his sister is a cat now. For sure, the boy and the girl will be brought closer together by their strength to save their precious memories about the loved ones who departed this life. The mad Time Hopper will help them cross the gate in an old clock that leads to a place where time rules are completely different. Yet, to pay him, is chocolate enough.

Sunday, November 12th, 2023

Short Narrative And Documentary Films Program
Screening Room 1

10:00am: Przed zmierzchem/Before Dusk dir. ?ukasz Nowak, short narrative film, 2023, 24 min

Lazy holidays. Janek wanders around his native town, a famous resort, with a pack of his closest friends. One day, his attention is drawn to a beautiful vacationer. Their short acquaintance reveals Janek’s trauma.

10:30am: Kto Ci bedzie okna my?/Who Will Clean Your Windows dir. Dariusz Janiczak, documentary, 2022, 43 min.

The last year of school is a very difficult time for Darek, a 24-year-old student with intellectual disabilities. He leaves the place where he spent more than 10 years and must start all over again. During this trying time, he can count on his friend from school, Daniel, to help him cope with this new challenge. Together they reflect on passing and loss, and Darek records on his camera what is important to him. Each of them, in their own way, must cope with what they do not fully understand and what they will face.

11:15 am: Intermission

11:30am: G?os/The Voice dir. Dominika Montean-Pa?ków, documentary, 2022, 73 min.

14 men, age 19 to 35, enter the novitiate of the Society of Jesus to check their vocation and become or not the future Jesuits. Within two years, they have to make a decision for life: either stay in the order and take vows or leave.

Afternoon Program

2:30 pm: Filip/Filip dir. Micha? Kwieci?ski, drama, 2022, 125 min.

Polish war drama based on the semi-biographical novel by Leopold Tyrmand. In 1943, Filip, a young Polish Jew, escapes from the Warsaw Ghetto. Disguised as a French gentile, Filip works as a waiter in an exclusive hotel restaurant in Frankfurt and enjoys all the charms of life surrounded by luxury, beautiful women, and friends from all over Europe.

Cost:
$12 general admission
$8 seniors and students
$7 – children’s program
Free admission – documentaries and short films
Free admission – for UM students with valid ID

Date: November 10 - 12, 2023

Location: Michigan Theatre, 603 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI 48103

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