The Verdict of the Jury of the 15th International Gombrowicz Festival!

The 15th International Gombrowicz Festival has ended!
The closing gala of the Festival was hosted yesterday evening by the Director, Małgorzata Potocka, and the Jury's verdict was handed over by Mrs. Lena Frankiewicz.

The Jury of the Gombrowicz Festival, composed of: Lena Frankiewicz, Bożena Sawicka, Łukasz Maciejewski, Tomasz Tyczyński, Jacek Wakar, decided to award the following prizes:

• GRAND PRIX - in the form of „Gombrowicz’s Hat" - sculpture by Marzenna Olszewska - Bałka based on an idea by Małgorzata Potocka and PLN 10,000 for the best performance of the Festival for the play "Iwona, Princess of Burgundy" by the Ludowy Theater in Krakow, directed by Cezary Tomaszewski.
• Actors’ group award in the amount of PLN 6,000 for the Simul Theater, Koniereni, Tokyo, Japan, team composed of: Yumi Akamatsu, Yuko Hazuki, Conan Amok, Teruyuki Nagamori and Naoki Takeoka, for the originality and consistency of form and the unobvious meeting of Gombrowicz and Japanese culture.
• Prize of PLN 6,000 for Cezary Tomaszewski for directing the play "Ivona, Princess of Burgundy" by the Ludowy Theater in Krakow, for an attempt to break the spiral of violence and create an alternative fate for the title character.
• Two equal acting awards of PLN 5,000 each, for:
  
  1. Beata Schimscheiner for her portrayal of Ivona in the play "Ivona, Princess of Burgundy" by the Ludowy Theater in Krakow, for the heroine's rebellion against the author and the tradition of staging his drama.
  2. Tomasz Schimscheiner for his role of Gonzalo in the "Trans-Atlantico" by Ludwik Solski Theater in Tarnów, for Gonzalo's sadness and helplessness laced with irony.
  
  
• Prize of PLN 5,000 for Michał Dracz for the set design of the play "Premeditation Crime" by the Jan Kochanowski Popular Theatre in Radom, for creating a stage space which builds a special kind of tension between the actors and the audience.
• Honorable group mention in the amount of PLN 4,000 for the Culitos Theater from Buenos Aires, Argentina, team composed of: Luján Bournot, Natalia De Elia, Lucrecia Aguirre, Milagros Plaza Diaz, for the joy of playing Gombrowicz in the performance "Ferdydurke".
• Honorable mention in the amount of PLN 3,000 for Anna Pijanowska for the role of Iza in the play "Ivona, Princess of Burgundy" by the Ludowy Theater in Krakow, for emphasizing the sisterhood of the heroine with Ivona and Ophelia.
• Honorable mention in the amount of PLN 3,000 for Piotr Kondrat for the role of Lokaj in the play "Premeditation Crime" by the Jan Kochanowski Popular Theatre in Radom, which has become the spiritus movens of Gombrowicz's world.
• Honorable mention in the amount of PLN 3,000 for Mateusz Śmigasiewicz for the music in the play "Ivona, Princess of Burgundy" by the Wanda Siemaszkowa Theatre in Rzeszów, which builds a minimalist, tense counterpoint to the performance.
• The audience gave recognition to "Trans - Atlantico" by Ludwik Solski Theatre in Tarnów.

Congratulations to all winners! It is nice to see such an enormous variety and richness of Gombrowicz's works’ visions. We are happy to host great artists from Poland and abroad, it is an extremely inspiring experience!

For us the Festival is a beautiful theatrical celebration and we are very pleased to be able to share it with you!