Millennium Docs Against Gravity on the list of festivals qualifying for the Oscars®!

This is a huge achievement, because the list of qualifying institutions has practically not changed for decades, and it includes only the most important and largest film events, such as the Berlinale or the Cannes Film Festival.

The possibility of opening the way for the winning film to the Oscar® is the crowning achievement of the 21-year history of the festival. Millennium Docs Against Gravity, which has grown into the second largest documentary film festival in Europe, thanks to its scale and programme has become an important point of world and international premieres and the start of the road to the most important awards. MDAG is also a founding member of the Doc Alliance, a federation of seven European documentary film festivals, and a member of the European Film Academy.

The winner of the Grand Prix - Bank Millennium Award will have an open path to the Oscar® from the 22nd edition in 2025, i.e. it will not have to meet the other conditions of the race for the most important film award in the world. According to the rules set by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, only films that have had their uninterrupted 7-day distribution in the USA (meeting a number of additional conditions), titles nominated by a given country as their candidate in the Best International Film category or those works that won at one of the festivals from the qualifying list can apply for the award.

From now on, MDAG is also on the list, which greatly increases the prestige and importance of the festival's main prize.

The road to such a great distinction consisted of many well-thought-out actions of the MDAG team. First of all, many films have had their Polish, European and international premieres over the years, which then received Oscar® nominations, as was the case with Jonas Poher Rasmussen's "Flee" in 2021. The director writes about MDAG in his recommendation letter: "When I follow the festival program, I see an incredible variety of films – many of them are just starting their festival adventure and later end up on the lists of nominees for the most prestigious awards, including those awarded by the Academy. I was impressed not only by the artistic level of the festival, but also by the fact that the programming team focused on maintaining balance in gender representation and equality, and addressed many important social issues."

Over the past few years, the jury of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Main Competition has included many Oscar® winners or nominees. Among them is Paweł Pawlikowski, a Polish Oscar® winner, who comments on the success of the festival: "Personally, as a Polish filmmaker, I am delighted that my country is organising such a stylish, confident, highly rated and cool film event. I look forward to welcoming other members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from around the world to Warsaw every year."

American director David France, who was a member of the festival jury, highly appreciates the festival: "The selection of films was world-class, the competition was exciting, and the jury – both in the case of the Grand Prix – the Bank Millennium Award, as well as in other categories – was top-class and consisted of leading figures for cinema from Europe and North America. It's the perfect place to premiere any film that deserves awards."

Sigrid Dyekjær, an outstanding film producer nominated for an Oscar®, notes the success of the bold strategy that has been led by the festival for years, positioning documentary films as an attractive offer for the mass audience: "MDAG has become one of the largest documentary film events in the world and surpasses feature film festivals in Poland in terms of publicity and number of viewers."

Congratulations to the entire festival team!

The 22nd edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity will take place from 9 to 18 May 2025 in cinemas and from 20 May to 2 June online on mdag.pl! The naming rights sponsor of the festival is Bank Millennium. For more about the festival go to www.mdag.pllink otwiera się w nowym oknie.

Bank Millennium has been culturally involved since the establishment i.e. for more than 35 years. In parallel to its business activity it has supported national and local cultural events. It is a sponsor of culture on a 360° basis - promoting art in almost all its forms, including: music, painting, sculpture, film, theatre, photography, literature and performance. It reaches for niche and popular culture; it is a long-term partner by design. Support in this area remains very important for the Bank. For more about the bank’s sponsorship see www.bankmillennium.pl/en/about-the-bank/press-centre/patronage-of-the-culturelink otwiera się w nowym oknie.