6th Forum of Documentary Film for Young Audiences

We invite you to take part in the 6th Forum of Documentary Film for Young Audiences, which will take place on May 8, 2025, at the Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, as part of the 22nd Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival.

During the Forum, we will present the idea behind the programme SKOK W DOK. Documentary Ideas Lab – why it is worth creating and funding Polish documentary cinema for young audiences. We will showcase the creative process behind the film King Matt the First, which will have its premiere at MDAG, and we will also highlight the work of Czech Television in the context of young viewers.

The Forum is dedicated to filmmakers, producers, distributors, educators, teachers, and parents.

The highlight of the event will be the presentation of eight projects developed as part of the 5th edition of the SKOK W DOK programme and two international projects invited to Poland especially for the occasion. The best projects, selected by us and our partners, will receive cash prizes. The Forum is a great opportunity to exchange ideas and build a support network for Polish documentary films aimed at young audiences.

FORUM PROGRAMME:

May 8, 2025, Ethnographic Museum, Warsaw

9:30–10:30 – Breakfast with KIPA

11:00–11:25 – Forum opening

11:25–12:00 – Case study of the film King Matt the First:
“Who was I making this film for?” – hosted by director Jaśmina Wójcik
(in English, the film will premiere in Poland at Millennium Docs Against Gravity)

Jaśmina Wójcik – visual artist, director, and creator of socially engaged participatory art projects. She focuses on empowering and giving voice to marginalized communities. Director of the creative documentary Symphony of the Ursus Factory (2018). For years, she has been developing empathetic education through original methods of artistic expression with children. She shares creative agency with children, treating them as co-creators and inviting them into dialogue. Her upcoming film King Matt the First, based on the novel by Janusz Korczak, is being developed as part of the SKOK W DOK programme.

12:00–12:15 – Case study: Czech Television and young audiences
– hosted by Daniela Šantrochová (in English)

12:15–12:35 – Coffee break

12:35–14:00 – Pitching of projects developed during the 5th edition of the SKOK W DOK. Documentary Ideas Lab – Part 1 (in English)

14:00–14:45 – Lunch break

14:45–15:50 – Pitching of projects from the 5th edition of SKOK W DOK and international projects selected in cooperation with m:brane – Part 2 (in English)

16:00–18:00 – One-to-one meetings for selected projects

16:10–17:15 – Discussion: “Nothing about us without us” – participatory models in creative and educational processes (in Polish)
Moderated by: Jaśmina Wójcik, Katarzyna Lesisz, Karolina Śmigiel

Katarzyna Lesisz – graduate of the Film Directing Department at the Łódź Film School. Director of the short documentary I Dance for You (2018), which won the main prize in the Kids & Docs Competition at IDFA. Winner of the Małopolska Film Award at the Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia and the Grand Prix at the Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival in Venice for Sashka (2018). Creator of short documentaries My Brother’s Life, A New Tomorrow, and the fiction film Such Is Our Game, screened at numerous international and Polish festivals.

Karolina Śmigiel – film producer, cultural project manager, film educator, and board member of UNI-SOLO Studio, where she produced the documentaries Spring of the Dragons (dir. Jarosław Wszędybył), Letters from Wilcza (dir. Arjun Talwar), and co-produced The End of the World in the Valley of Tears (dir. Jarosław Wszędybył) and Out from the Shadows (dir. P. Seraudie). She is a co-founder of the Dziki Bez Association and co-creator of the Festival of Abstract Thought. Currently associated with the Wajda Film Centre, where she is the Artistic Director of the LET’S DOC Documentary Film Festival for Young Audiences, the author and programme coordinator of the SKOK W DOK. Documentary Ideas Lab, and coordinator of the international FilmED project. She also leads media education programmes at the Creative Initiatives Association “ę”. From 2016 to 2023, she lectured at the Warsaw Film School’s Film Production Department. As a curator, she created a collection of Polish films for children for the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute.

ORGANIZATOR