Thirty-one directors from around the world selected for the Papaya Young Directors Award

The Papaya Young Directors award gala will take place on July 2nd in Warsaw and will be broadcast online and in partnering venues across the world. The PYD international jury has selected thirty-one winning scripts out of the 1,656 ideas that were submitted for the competition.

A record number of productions slated for this year’s competition will be directed by young and aspiring filmmakers from ten countries — the UK, Poland, Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Belarus, and the United States. The proportion of male and female filmmakers among this year’s submissions was almost a 50/50 split, and the selectees include those with non-binary gender identities.

All of the productions planned for the competition will seek to minimize their adverse environmental impact, primarily by reducing transportation, using rented equipment, along with recycled sets and props. To offset the carbon footprint of the films, 1000 m² of biodiverse forest will be planted. All planned environmentally-friendly solutions have been drawn up in collaboration with AdGreen and the Las Na Zawsze Foundation. The organisers will also be providing psychological and mental support, including educational tools and the opportunity to bring any and all concerns to the production team at Papaya Films, in an effort to eliminate discriminatory behaviour at every stage of production.

The films will be premiered in June 2021, a week prior to the Award Gala which takes place in an open-air venue in Warsaw and will be broadcast globally online.

Main partners: Audioteka, BMW Polska, DPD, Durex, Facebook, IKEA, Kayax, Link4, McDonald’s, Multikino, Samsung Electronics Poland, and Tyskie. Foundations: Camera Femina, Cosmos for Girls, and Kuchinate – African Refugee Women's Collective.

Competition Partners: ATM System, CPC Brand Consultants, Girls in Film, Heliograf, MakOnLine, Lunapark, Panavision, Ströer, and TIDAL.

Finalists:

Alexandros Tsilifonis (Greece)

Alice Johannessen (UK)

Bára Halířová (Czech Republic)

Bartosz Fic (Poland)

Daniele Rossi & Mario Rebussi (Italy)

Emilia Korytnicka (Poland)

Ewa Borowska & Dominika Struzik (Poland)

Hubert Grupiński & Jakub Woźniak (Poland)

Jamal Wade (USA)

Jarek Dąbrowski (Poland)