The programme and tickets for the 13th TAURON Young Horizons IFF are here! More than 170 titles, with Lucy Lost, Cannes’ Official Selection, as the opening film
The 13th TAURON Young Horizons International Film Festival is returning as a larger hybrid event. The festival will open with the Polish premiere of the visually dazzling animation Lucy Lost. The programme will be filled with other premieres, classic films, new sections, workshops, and post-screening discussions. From 25 September to 4 October, the festival will be hosted by arthouse cinemas in Warsaw, Wrocław, and other Polish cities. At the weekends, the screenings will also be available in all the cinemas within the Helios network. Starting from 8 October, the festival will move online. Festival passes and single tickets are available now.
The programme of the 13th TAURON Young Horizons IFF comprises 16 different sections, including 175 live-action, animated, and documentary films. The opening screening will be the Polish premiere of Lucy Lost (dir. Olivier Clert) – a French animation presented at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. This is a moving and visually stunning story about the quest for identity and freedom, the power of imagination, and the courage to confront one’s past. The film was also featured in the Official Competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. This year, the Young Horizons Festival will close with an award gala and a screening of silent films by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, accompanied by live music.
Competition films
The Main Competition will feature the most interesting Polish and international productions. The best film will be selected by the jury: Magdalena Glapińska (actor, director, educator); Krzysztof Komander (director, screenwriter, editor); and Dawid Muszyński (film journalist and critic). The audiences will also grant their award in this competition. What is more, the jury members will choose the best film in the Documentary Competition and Discoveries Competition. In the latter, a jury panel composed of young cinema lovers will give their vote as well.
This year’s competition sections are full of unique productions, including: Julián (dir. Louise Bagnall, Guillaume Lorin, Mark Mullery) – this visual delight is an animated film for all generations and the latest production from the Oscar-nominated Irish studio Cartoon Saloon; Born in the Jungle (dir. Edmunds Jansons) – an animation filled with adventures, secrets, and tropical nature (both these films premiered at Annecy); Look Back – the latest film by Hirokazu Kore-eda, adapted from a manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto: a compassionate tribute to friendship, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival; Everyone’s Sorry Nowadays (dir. Frederike Migom) – a riveting film, sparkling with youthful energy and dynamic shots, which premiered at the Berlinale in the Generation section; Gugu’s World (dir. Allan Deberton) – awarded with the Crystal Bear at Berlinale in the same section: a gentle story about the need for freedom and the strength of family ties; Viva Carmen (dir. Sébastien Laudenbach) – a visual reinterpretation of the classic opera, combining contrasting colours with Bizet’s score: it premiered at Cannes in the prestigious Directors’ Fortnight section; and, last but not least, Extra Geography (dir. Molly Manners) – a witty story about girls’ friendship, which premiered at Sundance.
From anime to classics – 16 sections filled with film stories
The 16 thematic sections at the 13th TAURON Young Horizons IFF will include: the audience’s beloved Kingdom of Anime (with We Are Aliens – a debut feature film by Kohei Kadowaki, presented as part of the Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes); Coming of Age for teenage cinema lovers; Green Fingers, all about nature; Heads in the Books for literature lovers; and My First Festival for the youngest viewers.
Get ready for cinematic expeditions! The Focus on Denmark section will take you on a trip through Danish cinema, while Between the Fjords – Films from Norway will have you travel to the far North, where picturesque landscapes meet ambient stories.
As in previous years, the sections will include some new additions… Our audiences will get to see most of the cult films from one of the most renowned animation studios, Cartoon Saloon. Among other titles, we will screen the audience’s favourite: the so-called “Irish Folklore Trilogy”, consisting of three award-winning films – The Secret of Kells (dir. Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey), Song of the Sea (dir. Tomm Moore), and Wolfwalkers (dir. Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart), says Agnieszka Sinicka, Festival Programme Director. The Let’s Dance section will include the repremiere of the restored Billy Elliot (dir. Stephen Daldry) and Footloose (dir. Herbert Ross) – these classic bangers are bound to bring our viewers to their feet. The teenage-focused programme will be extended by the Coming of Age Classics section, with four iconic stories about growing up and unconventional and imperfect, albeit loving families, featuring Little Miss Sunshine (dir. Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris) and Lady Bird (dir. Greta Gerwig), Agnieszka adds.
In collaboration with Timeless Film Festival Warsaw, we will invite you to rediscover Timeless Stories: film classics such as The Wizard of Oz (dir. Victor Fleming) and Pippi Longstocking (dir. Olle Hellbom). Our Classics and Festival Favourites sections show the best productions, recognised by the members of competition juries in recent years, and loved by the audiences.
Meetings, workshops, talks
The programme includes films for adult audiences: parents and guardians. On 23 September, Kinoteka in Warsaw will host a special screening of A Family (dir. Mees Peijnenburg), followed by a debate. The speakers will be Marta Niedźwiecka (psychologist and podcaster) and Ula Malko (child psychologist, mediator, co-founder of a psychological counselling centre for parents). The event is organised in partnership with Newsweek Psychologia Dziecka and Newsweek Psychologia Nastolatka.
As in previous years, you can choose from a series of exciting satellite events. We have invited educators to run open creative workshops. Some films will be accompanied by meetings with filmmakers and actors, or introductions and debates hosted by film experts, journalists, psychologists, and other specialists.
Where and when?
The onsite edition of the 13th TAURON Young Horizons IFF will take place from 25 September to 4 October. The full festival programme will be available in the following venues:
Warsaw:
- Kino Muranów (ul. gen. W. Andersa 5);
- Kinoteka (pl. Defilad 1);
- Kino Iluzjon (ul. Ludwika Narbutta 50A) – Coming of Age section;
- Helios cinemas – at the weekends;
Wrocław – Kino Nowe Horyzonty (ul. Kazimierza Wielkiego 19a-21).
Some elements of the programme will also be presented in Kraków (Kino Agrafka, Kino Kika) and Gliwice (Kino Amok).
During the two festival weekends – 26–27 September and 3–4 October – some of the films will be available to watch at 52 cinemas from the Helios group.
As has now become tradition, our event is hybrid, so the 13th TAURON Young Horizons IFF will be available online from 8 to 25 October. This way, you can watch selected films wherever and whenever you wish.
Tickets and passes
For the full festival programme, visit festiwal.mlodehoryzonty.pl.
- To buy a festival pass, also visit festiwal.mlodehoryzonty.pl.
- Single tickets for onsite screenings are available on the festival website, in the cinemas participating in the festival, and on their websites.
- Online festival: to buy single access tickets and passes for the online screenings, visit festiwal.mlodehoryzonty.pl.
Tomorrow, on 4 September, we will send out information about festival accreditations.
The Focus on Denmark section has been developed in partnership with the Embassy of Denmark in Poland.
The Between the Fjords – Films from Norway section has been developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, which coordinates the implementation of the EEA and Norway Grants in Poland (from donor countries: Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein).
