film jury
SUZAN Beraza
Suzan was born and raised in the Caribbean. Her films have shown on PBS, Pivot TV and on the Documentary Channel, at Lincoln Center, and at many festivals. Her first film, ‘Bag It’, was a winner of the Britdoc Impact Award in Berlin and has been televised in over thirty countries. Her latest project, ‘Uranium Drive-In’ was a recipient of Sundance Institute and Chicken and Egg funding and was featured at Good Pitch and at Hot Docs Pitch Forum. The film was awarded the Big Sky Award, was honored for documentary excellence by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and was part of the American Film Showcase, an international film program of the U.S. State Department. Her current project, ‘Massacre River’ is the recipient of ITVS funding and was selected for the Latino Media Market, Camden International Film Festival Points North Fellowship, and IFP Spotlight on
Documentaries. Suzan has been Festival Director for Mountainfilm festival in Telluride, Colorado for the past year.
ALAN FORMANEK
Alan’s climbing passion eventually brought him to freeing old aid routes in the Slovakian Tatras, climbing rock routes in the Alps and the Dolomites, doing a few long winter enchainments / mixed climbs around the Old Continent, and finally tasting the real Italian pizza. He was one of the pioneers of modern free climbing in Czechoslovakia in late 1970s and early 1980s, and he is credited for freeing many milestone multi-pitch rock routes in the High Tatras. Among other things, he did the second ascent of ‘Tempi Moderni’ on his beloved Marmolada in early July of 1984, and a rare ascent of then badly protected and mysterious ‘Amplesso Complesso’ in Val di Mello in 1985, both climbed fast and lightweight, in home made soft bedroom-slipper-type shoes, home made harnesses and without using friends.
Alan graduated in Electrical Engineering and Comparative Literature. In his academic studies and work he zoomed on film and literature and on the ways of adapting novels into films. He later blended his academic credits with his blasting climbing fire to create two mountain film festivals in Vancouver (Canada) and Bratislava (Slovakia). He has been running the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival since 1998, and the Hory A Mesto (Mountains and City) festival in Bratislava since 2000. Alan has been the Programming Director for the San Vito Climbing Festival in Sicily since 2010. He was also involved with the High Adventure Mountain Festival in Ogden, Utah, and at the Taos Mountain Film Festival.
WOJTEK KOZAKIEWICZ
Filmmaker who, for the last ten years, has focused mostly on filming sports stories. He has been working with the world’s best climbers and highliners. His films have been awarded prizes at major film festivals including Bilbao Mendi, Kathmandu, Ladek and Krakow. Based in Krakow, Poland. Sport climber since 2004.
BARTŁOMIEJ ŚWIDERSKI
Bartłomiej Świderski works as a director of documentary and commercials films. He is the author of ‘Sati’, with Dariusz Załuski’s cinematography. The film tells the story of a mountaineer Piotr Morawski and his wife Olga. ‘Sati’ was screened at several dozen festivals all over the world and was awarded prizes in, among others, Trento, Bilbao, Poprad and Qatar. Bartłomiej Świderski studied directing and film production at the Faculty of Radio and Television of the University of Silesia and at Wajda School.
He has also worked as an assistant director of feature films by Grzegorz Zariczny, Lukasz Grzegorzek and Anka & Wilhelm Sasnal. He made his debut as an actor in 2016 starring in the film ‘Kamper’.
PAWEŁ WYSOCZAŃSKI
Director, graduate of the Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television of the University of Silesia in Katowice. Author of such films as ‘Punkt widzenia’ (Point of View) – short film made when he was still at university, awarded numerous prizes, among them the Silver Dinosaur in Kraków; ‘W drodze’ (On the Way) – a tale about a miner in Silesia who went to meet the Dalai Lama; this film received awards in Poland – among others in Warsaw, Wrocław, Poznań. Another film, ‘Kiedyś będziemy szczęśliwi’ (We Will Be Happy One Day) tells the story of a young man from Lipiny in Silesia, who with his cell phone camera shoots videos about the dreams of his peers. ‘We Will Be Happy One Day’ was awarded prizes in, among others, Los Angeles, Madrid, Reykjavik, Leipzig, Kiev, Jihlava and Miskolc, and was broadcast by six European TV networks. Next film, ‘Jurek’, portrays the life of Jerzy Kukuczka, famous Himalayan mountaineer. ‘Jurek’ received 27 prizes all over the world – in Vancouver, Bilbao, Kathmandu, Islamabad, Ulju in South Korea, Copenhagen, Kendall, Lublana… Since 2011 Paweł Wysoczański has been an expert of the Polish Film Institute. He is now finishing his latest film about a Polish doctor – Helena Pyz – who for 30 years has worked in a leprosy rehabilitation centre in Jeevodaya, India.
