Record attendance of the 21st Millennium Docs Against Gravity

Seven cities, several dozen additional towns as part of the Weekend with the festival, over 150 films presented online during the festival. New sections, meetings with directors and directresses, debates, non-standard accompanying events, VR experiences section. All this contributed to the success of the 21st MDAG. The cinema attendance turned out to be record-breaking - as many as 93,884 people saw the best documentaries from around the world on the big screen. The festival managed to achieve a better result than in the pre-pandemic year 2019.

- We are proud to see how MDAG is developing spectacularly. It is the largest film festival in Poland today, gathering the best documentary films from around the world. We are glad that our cooperation will last another three years. By supporting the event, we facilitate access to culture and social debate to a very large extent. In recent years, sustainability, corporate social responsibility and environmental issues have become a key element of the bank's business strategy, which consistently pursues its ESG goals. We believe that the Bank, as an institution of public trust, has a special responsibility for building awareness in many issues – not only business or economic, but also such as ecology, environmental and climate protection, sustainable development – says Iwona Jarzębska, Directress of the Public Relations Department of Bank Millennium.

Artur Liebhart, director and founder of the festival, conveyed a huge thank you to Bank Millennium, which has been supporting MDAG consistently for 19 years.

- This year, Bank Millennium decided to extend our cooperation for another three years. We are glad that we are guided by the same values and together we create a space for discussion, exchange of views and better understanding of the most important phenomena that change the face of our reality – says Artur Liebhart, director and founder of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival.

For the fifth time, the festival was held in a hybrid form, combining 10 days of the stationary part in cinemas (from 10 to 19 May) with the online part from 21 May to 3 June. The cinema part gathered 93,884 people in person. In turn, the audience result of the online part is 41,983 e-tickets. Assuming that most people don't watch films alone, there were more online viewers. Festivals around the world use a multiplier of 1.7. Thus eventually the online part was attended in total by 71 371 viewers. In total, 165,255 spectators and spectatresses took part in the 21st edition of the festival. The online part also gives the opportunity to participate in the festival to cinema lovers and loveresses from outside the festival cities and people with disabilities for whom it is difficult to get to the cinema.

During the 21st MDAG in the Main Competition, not only the Grand Prix was awarded – the Bank Millennium Award, which went to the film "No Other Land". In the festival cities, local prizes were awarded to the competition twelve: the Grand Prix of Lower Silesia in Wrocław, the Award of the President of the City of Gdynia, the Freedom Award funded by the city of Poznań, the Audience Award of the Silesian Voivodeship in Katowice and the Bydgoszcz Art.Doc Award.

As every year, the films that are most popular with the audience will be released in cinemas by Against Gravity. The first of them will be "Towards the Sun" by Agnieszka Kokowska, which will be shown on the big screen to the Polish audience on 19 July.

The dates of the next i.e. 22nd edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity are already known – the cinema part will be held on 9-18 May, while the online part will be be from 20 May until 2 June 2025.

Bank Millennium has been involved in culture promotion for more than 30 years now. In parallel to its business 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 and is a long-term partner by design.

More about the bank’s sponsoring at:

www.bankmillennium.pl/en/about-the-bank/press-centre/patronage-of-the-culturelink otwiera się w nowym oknie

For more about the festival go to:

www.mdag.pllink otwiera się w nowym oknie