About

IDEA

The festival is searching for what’s cool in young, debuting, contemporary audio-visual culture. It’s not afraid to watch videos with 27 views on YouTube, it’s missing the “least popular” sorting option on itch.io and considers Festival Scope Pro decidedly “too mainstream”.

The heart of the festival are four international competitions, in which the audience decides about the awarding of prizes. The Black Horse of Film (feature films from all over the world) and the Black Horse of Animation (short features) present the cinematographic debuts by directors from the entire world, often as their Polish premieres. The Black Horse of Video Games and the Black Horse of Music Video are devoted to new games and music videos.

Additionally, every year festivalgoers are treated to: screenings of films, animations and music videos, video game exhibitions, virtual reality and new technologies, discussion panels and Q&As with artists, concerts, live acts and musical afterparties.

In previous years, the festival hosted a variety of artists from all over the world, including Béla Tarr, Nina Menkes, Phil Mulloy, Laila Pakalnina, Bruce LaBruce, Tami Tamaki, Stephen „M.O.O.N.” Gilarde, Jakuba Dvorský, Mariola Brillowska, Piotr Dumała, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Bodo Kox, Łukasz Barczyk, Sos Sosowski, Wiktor Stribog and Władysław Komendarek.

The event is organized by the culture institution Katowice the City of Gardens and the City of Katowice.

KATOWICE CITY OF GARDENS

The Cultural Institution of the City of Katowice. The organizer of the “Kocham Katowice” (“I Love Katowice”) City Anniversary, Katowice JazzArt Festival, the Gardens of Sounds World Music Festival, Street Art AiR, the “Interpretacje” (“Interpretations”) Festival and Ars Independent Festival.

It earned Katowice’s title of the UNESCO City of Music and by realizing the membership programme of Creative Cities Network, it supports the development of the musical creative industry, giving young artists the ability to grow at the MusicHub incubator, promoting them as part of the Dzielnica Brzmi Dobrze (The District Sounds Good), widening the expertise of industry people during meetings of the Katowice Music Radar or co-funding the best projects with Muzykogranty.

CITY OF KATOWICE

Katowice is a city full of surprises for everyone who has not visited Silesia in a while. Forget about coal – this remarkable city welcomes us with contemporary architecture blending into secession, modernism and brutalism, alternative culture in post-industrial buildings, green parks and the extraodinary hospitality of its citizens, stretching from Nikiszowiec and Murcki to Ligota and the Tauzen.

Before our eyes, the city is dynamically changing its character and image – transforming from Poland’s industrial centre into the cultural heart of the 1,5 million agglomeration. Here, culture is joined with the academic and business pillars of the region. On one hand, the city is full of large investments – the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the International Congress Centre, the Silesian Museum, .KTW – and giant events – OFF Festival, Tauron Nowa Muzyka, Rawa Blues, Intel Extreme Masters. On the other: the vivid, youthful energy of its citizens, pulsating daily through its streets.

KATOWICE CITY OF GARDENS CREW

Director
Piotr Zaczkowski

Programme Department Management
Martyna Markowska

with teams

ARS INDEPENDENT FESTIVAL CREW

Festival Director
Przemek Mateusz Sołtysik
przemek@arsindependent.pl
+48 607 612 840

Spokesperson & Communication
Bartek Sołtysik
bartek@arsindependent.pl
+48 607 884 535

Festival Manager
Matylda Badera
matylda@arsindependent.pl

Festival Producer
Sebastian Łąkas
bastek@arsindependent.pl

Animation Curator
Gabriela Palicka
gaba@arsindependent.pl

Video Games Curator
Jacek Wandzel
jacek@arsindependent.pl

Music Videos Curator
Maciej Gryzełko
maciej@arsindependent.pl

Senior Programmer
Sławomir Kruk
slawek.kruk@arsindependent.pl

Programme
Matylda Badera
Patryk Chromik
Piotr Gacek
Maciej Gryzełko
Natalia Kaniak
Sebastian Łąkas
Martyna Markowska
Gabriela Palicka
Magdalena Pasternak
Martyna Poważa
Patryk Sławicki
Jacek Wandzel
Marcin Wilczyński

Visual Identification
Rafał Włodarek

Sound Identification
Maciej Wojcieszkiewicz aka Stendek

Scenography
Anna Kaczkowska

Logo and Visual Identification System
Marta Gawin
Jakub Swat

Design of the Black Horse statuette
Olaf Brzeski

Photos
Michał Jędrzejowski
Arkadiusz Ławrywianiec
Tymoteusz Staniek
Gosia Szarada

Videos
Piotr Gacek
Tier

Translation
Jacek Wandzel

Proofreading
Emilia Makówka

Consecutive Translation
Emilia Makówka

Movies Subtitles Translation & Proofreading
Patryk Chromik
Gaba Palicka
Martyna Poważa

System of Movies Subtitles
Maciej Gryzełko

Coordination of Voluntary
Aleksander Moś

Website
Dawid Mazur
Maciej Socha
Bartek Sołtysik

Cinema Operators
Paweł Trzepizur

Acoustics & Sound Systems
Michał Paduch