Ania Winiarska's Documentary 'Good Girls' Premieres at Ji.hlava
A documentary filmed inside a correctional centre for girls in Poland is premiering at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival in the Czech Republic. The film, Good Girls, was directed by Ania Winiarska, who is also credited as its scriptwriter, according to Variety.
The festival's 30th edition runs from 23 October to 1 November, as Cineuropa reported. Good Girls will have its world premiere there and sits in the festival's Opus Bonum Documentary section.
The girls on screen are aged between 10 and 18. A production listing from Film i Väst places the centre in Łódź, Poland, and describes teenage girls being taught to become "good citizens" under strict conservative rules. The film is in Polish and runs 1 hour 15 minutes.
Winiarska is Polish and lives in Sweden. She told Variety that it took her two years before she could begin filming. That wait is a reminder of how long documentaries of this kind can take to reach the camera, since access to a closed institution has to be negotiated first.
The film is produced by Story, Film i Väst and Tekele Productions. The Swedish public film company Film i Väst is one of its three producers, and listings describe it as a Sweden-Finland production.
Stranger Film Sales is handling international rights. A sales agent's job is to find buyers for a film in territories outside its home market, which is how documentaries often reach cinemas, television and streaming services beyond the festival circuit. Variety has published an exclusive clip from the film.
For a documentary, a premiere at a major festival is usually the first public showing, and the sales deals tend to follow it. Who buys the film, and where, will decide how far audiences outside the festival hall see it.
