Prizes and distinctions awarded to the festival
Our festival received the prestigious Polish Film Institute (PISF) awards in 2009 and 2023 for Best International Film Event in Poland.
Our festival is a four-time nominee to the Polish Film Institute award for Best International Film Event in Poland:
2019 – for the 15th edition of MDAG
2013 – for the 9th edition of MDAG
2009 – for the 5th edition of MDAG
2023 for the 19th edition of MDAG
Artur Liebhart, the director and founder of Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, was decorated with the Gold Cross of Merit in 2013 for his contributions to Polish culture.
Against Gravity, the company behind the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, is the recipient of four Polish Film Institute awards:
In 2019 we received the Polish Film Institute award for the national distribution of Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski’s The Prince and the Dybbuk, which premiered at the 15th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival;
In 2017 we received the Polish Film Institute award for the national distribution of Paweł Łoziński’s You Have No Idea How Much I Love You, which premiered at the 13th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival;
In 2014 we received the Polish Film Institute award for the distribution of an independent foreign film in Poland – Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan;
In 2012 we received the Polish Film Institute award for the distribution of an independent foreign film in Poland – Paradise: Love, the first part of Ulrich Seidl’s cinematic trilogy.
The Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper gave the Festival its 2008 Wdecha award for the most interesting cultural event in the capital city.
MovieMaker Magazine placed Millennium Docs Against Gravity on its 2019 list of 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World. Apart from MDAG, only three other European festivals made it to the list: DokuFest in Kosovo, Glasgow Short Film Festival, and Skábmagovat held in the Finnish town of Inari. The 21 remaining festivals take place in the US and Canada.
The Special Award - Remote Culture has been granted by the ‘Polityka’ weekly during Annual Polityka’s Passport Gala for the very first time. The award went to the founder and Millennium Docs Against Gravity Director – Artur Liebhart.
MDAG Now an Oscar®-Qualifying Festival!
The remarkable growth of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival in recent years has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. MDAG has officially been added to the prestigious list of Oscar®-qualifying festivals in the category of Best Feature Documentary! This is a tremendous achievement for the entire team, as this exclusive list has remained virtually unchanged for decades and includes only the world’s most important and renowned film events—such as Berlinale or the Cannes Film Festival. Having grown into the second-largest documentary film festival in Europe, MDAG has become a key destination for global and international premieres, and a launchpad for films on their journey to the most prestigious awards—something experts emphasized in their letters of recommendation.
MDAG is also a founding member of Doc Alliance, a federation of seven leading European documentary festivals, and a member of the European Film Academy. The ability to open the road to the Oscars® for the winning film is a crowning achievement of the festival’s 21-year history.
Members of the Academy on MDAG
In recent years, the Main Competition jury at Millennium Docs Against Gravity has featured numerous Oscar® winners and nominees. Among them is Paweł Pawlikowski, Polish Academy Award winner, who expressed his enthusiasm:
“As a Polish filmmaker, I’m personally thrilled that my country is home to such a stylish, confident, highly regarded, and cool film event. I’m happy to welcome fellow members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to Warsaw every year.”
The jury has also included American director David France, who praised the festival:
“The film selection was world-class, the competition thrilling, and the juries—both for the Grand Prix – Bank Millennium Award and other categories—were first-rate, composed of leading voices in cinema from Europe and North America. It’s an excellent place to premiere any award-worthy film.”
Oscar®-nominated producer Sigrid Dyekjær also highlighted the festival’s success in boldly positioning documentary film as a compelling offering for wide audiences:
“MDAG has become one of the largest events presenting documentary films worldwide and now surpasses fiction film festivals in Poland in terms of publicity and audience size.”