More than 90 feature films showcasing the best in U.S. moviemaking will take center stage next month at Poland’s American Film Festival (AFF), whose 14th edition takes place Nov. 7 – 12 in Wrocław, Poland.
Founded in 2010 as the sister event of the long-running New Horizons Film Festival, the AFF bills itself as the first film event in Central Europe solely devoted to the works of contemporary and classic American cinema.
In putting together the program for the 14th edition, festival director Ula Śniegowska says she and the programming team spent the past year “scouting the festivals and trying to get our hands on the pulse of what’s happening in American auteur and independent film.” The festival, which includes titles that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Cannes and other leading fests, is similar in spirit to France’s long-running Deauville American Film Festival, which mounted its 49th edition this year.
The festival opens Nov. 7 with “Dream Scenario,” director Kristoffer Borgli’s examination of viral celebrity described as “a singular mix of comedic and sinister” by PvNew’s chief film critic Peter Debruge. The film stars Nicolas Cage, whose performance Debruge said ranks among the actor’s best. “It really seems to us like a perfect opening film — a crowd-pleaser that will also bring reflection and talk about the world we live in,” says Śniegowska.
Other highlights include the Polish premiere of two-time Academy Award winner Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” the “Sideways” director’s portrait of a prickly history teacher at an elite New England prep school, played by Paul Giamatti, as well as Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” the American filmmaker’s Priscilla Presley biopic that won best actress for lead Cailee Spaeny at the Venice Film Festival. The festival closes with “Memory,” a New York-lensed romance by Mexican auteur Michel Franco that stars Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, who won best actor in Venice for his performance.
Meanwhile, a retrospective will present a selection of films by the late Camille Billops and her partner, James V. Hatch, whose powerful and unflinching documentaries — including the 1992 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner “Finding Christa,” which was the first film by a black woman to take the top prize in Park City — are little known to Polish audiences. “They are part of rewriting cinema history, which should begin to include voices that have been overlooked for years,” says Śniegowska. “In this particular case, the voices of black women.”
The American Film Festival has two competition strands whose winners are chosen by audience members. The Spectrum section spotlights contemporary American cinema with a focus on mid-career filmmakers or those making significant directorial debuts. The American Docs competition, meanwhile, offers a panorama of non-fiction films. Last year’s winners in the two categories were Alex Lehmann’s “Acidman” and Amy Bandlien Storkel and Bryan Storkel’s “The Pez Outlaw.”
In addition to its non-competitive sections, the festival also presents its Indie Star Award each year to recognized masters of independent filmmaking, with past winners including Todd Solondz, Jerry Schatzberg, Sarah Driver, John Waters and 2022 recipient Nina Menkes.
This year, dual honors will be handed out: one to director Alex Ross Perry (“Her Smell,” “Listen Up Philip”), who was praised by AFF curator Piotr Czerkawski as “one of the most original filmmakers in American independent cinema,” and will be in Wrocław to present a selection of works he’s written, directed or produced while also giving a masterclass.
Also being honored is producer Adele Romanski, best known for Barry Jenkins’ Oscar winner “Moonlight,” as well as Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun” and Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always.” Along with a retrospective of her work, which Śniegowska says has “set the development of American cinema in recent decades,” Romanski will join a panel on the state of filmmaking in the wake of the Hollywood strikes.
Those strikes put a monkey wrench in planning this year’s event, says Śniegowska, as many studios and distributors decided to delay the release of films slated for fall premieres. The lineup of the American Film Festival nevertheless boasts 94 feature films, including 63 Polish premieres, with organizers hoping to build on the success of last year’s edition, which drew more than 34,000 people to festival screenings and events — a 20% bump from the previous year.
Another highlight for attendees in Wrocław is U.S. in Progress, an event running parallel to the AFF that spotlights American narrative feature projects in rough or final cut seeking finishing funds, matching them with European buyers and top Polish image and sound post-production companies. This year the event will offer cash and in-kind awards totaling $120,000.
The event, which runs Nov. 8 – 10, also features one-on-one matchmaking sessions between American and Polish partners in an effort to boost collaborations between the two screen industries.
