Editor

American Film Academy enlarged the list of awards qualifying for application for the Academy Award to include the Silver Dragons given at Krakow Film Festival.

For several years, Krakow Film Festival has been among the events whose winners are automatically entitled to applying for Academy Award nomination in the short film category. Until now, the chance of nomination for the Academy Awards applied only to the winner of the Golden Dragon, that is, the main award of the International Short Film Competition, in which documentary, animated and feature films up to 30 minutes are shown. Beginning with the next year's edition of Krakow Film Festival, also the winners of the Silver Dragon for the best animation and the Silver Dragon for the best short feature film will be able to apply for Academy Awards.

This enlargement of the Academy Award list is a direct result of the visit to Krakow by Torene Svitil, the director of the Academy Awards Office in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, responsible for, among others, the best short film, the best foreign film award and the best documentary film awards. Torene Svitil was the member of the short film competition jury at the 52^nd Krakow Film Festival and after getting acquainted with the programme and the festival's character, she decided to add two new awards to the list qualifying for the Academy Awards.

"We are very glad about this distinction," says Barbara Orlicz – Szczypula, Krakow Film Festival's Director of the Programme Office. “It is a proof of the appreciation of our attempts to constantly improve the standard of our festival. It is also wonderful news for the participants of the competition - now the Silver Dragons can also be a passport to a world-wide career."

In the past, Krakow Film Festival has opened the door to the global film salons. It was in Krakow where the first laurels were given to such people as Roman Polanski ("Mammals" 1963) or Krzysztof Kieslowski (among others "First Love" 1974, "Zyciorys" 1975) and among more contemporary filmmakers - Andrea Arnold ("Wasp" 2000) and Sergei Loznitsa ("Polustanok" 2000).

Krakow Film Festival is also accredited by International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) and European Film Academy (EFA).