We know the motto of the 21st edition of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival

The 21st MDAG will take place from May 10th to May 19th in eight cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź, Bydgoszcz, and Lublin), followed by an online edition from May 21st to June 3rd on mdag.pl.

This year the festival will focus on human relationships and showcase the boundless complexity of human nature. - On one hand, it allows for friendship, love, and empathy. On the other hand, it is our species that is responsible for the destruction of ourselves and the planet, which is not just a home for us - says Karol Piekarczyk, artistic director of MDAG.

From the poster of this year's edition of the festival, Maria Smolarz, the protagonist of the film "Rave", looks at the audience. The author of the poster interprets the idea of being in a relationship with oneself and the world in an original way. The young protagonist's face, reflected in the mirrors, refers to documentary cinema on many levels: it is a look at oneself and reality from a new, fresh perspective. The presence of the protagonist entering adulthood is also a way of establishing contact with the younger audience, which participates in the festival in increasing numbers every year.

The programme of this year's festival reveals intimate and personal stories that are meaningful to all of us in a broader perspective. Films will be presented that, although they take place in different corners of the world, resonate with us through the universality of the experiences of the protagonists. One of the important topics that will be addressed is happiness. How do we understand it and how do we strive for it? What is inner happiness? How do we achieve happiness in our relationships with others and in our relationship with the world? Is there or can there be such a thing as a collective, social sense of happiness? One of the films that will ask these questions will be “Agent of Happiness". It is a story about a pollster from Bhutan, who, at the request of the king, travels through his country and asks his compatriots about their level of satisfaction with life.

MDAG 2024 is also about the forgotten stories of outstanding women, erased from the pages of history, artists and pioneers in their fields. Among them are female footballers, whose stories we get to know in the film "Copa 71". Against many odds, they paved the way for modern women's football. Once again, Polish cinema is reaching the heights of international documentary cinematography. Two films made by Polish directors were in the Main Competition of the festival: "Forest" directed by Lidia Duda and "The Last Expedition" by Eliza Kubarska. The form of this year's films is delightful in terms of the variety and quality of the productions presented. From the film "Mother Vera", whose aesthetics oscillate between the films of Alain Resnais and Paweł Pawlikowski, through "Ibelin" intertwining documentary form and animation, conceptual musical collage in "Soundtrack to the Coup d'État", to "Nocturnes" with captivating cinematography and the hypnotic sound of the Himalayan forest.

The films of this year's festival show that staying in a relationship with the world and building strong local communities, but also taking care of our own happiness, are tools for creating a better future.

We invite you to the festival!