'Father' by Current Film Student Gleb Osatinski Premieres at Krakow Film Festival
Father, a short film written and directed by current student Gleb Osatinski, will have its international premiere at the 60th edition of the Krakow Film Festival in Poland in June. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the festival will take place online between May 31 and June 7. The film will show three times with the final showtimes being announced online on May 10.
Father is an 8-12 minute project from Osatinski’s first year at Columbia. It was produced by current student Megan Higgins, co-produced by current student Jungyoon Kim and assistant directed by current student Christina Yoon. Father is a film about the intergenerational exchange of responsibility, the moment when one definitively and irrevocably ceases to be a child and has to carry life’s burden on one’s own back.
“It is a great privilege for me to know that Father will screen in competition at one of the oldest Film Festivals In Europe. It is a great recognition for all of us. This film means a lot to me, it's a very personal story about my father, me, and my family. Somehow I lived through this story through this film again. And I continue to be there. It is strange to watch this film and hear the lines from it now, more than ever because over time, it became more and more actual to me. I can share this story with the world now and perhaps it will resonate with others. There is hope in everything. It should be this way. Somehow this comforts me.”
Father will be competing with 12 other international shorts in the Live Action Short Film category for a “Golden Dragon Award.” According to the festival’s website, the category presents “short documentaries, feature films and animations of artists from the farthest corners of the world, which makes it the most diverse and intriguing competition section of the festival. The awards granted in this competition shorten the path of applying for an Oscar nomination, and the award for the best European film gives the opportunity to apply for a nomination for the European Film Award.”
During the eight festival days, viewers have a chance to watch about 250 films from Poland and from around the world. They are shown in competition sections and in special screenings. The festival is accompanied by exhibitions, concerts, open-air shows and meetings with artists. Every year, the festival is visited by approximately 900 Polish and international guests consisting of directors, producers, festival programmers and Krakow locals.
Gleb Osatinski has a Masters degree in Physics (Kharkov Polytechnic University) and Computer Science & Finance (New York University). He also received a film degree from the Digital Film Academy in New York and has trained at directing workshops with Adrienne Weiss. After a few years of working on Wall Street, he decided to follow his true passion and become a film director. His short film Pisces of an Unconscious Mind won a Drama Award at the 2011 Official Best of Fest and screened at the Atlanta Film Festival, Woods Hole Film Festival, Magnolia Independent Film Festival, New York City International Film Festival, New Filmmakers NYC and other film festivals around the globe. His second short, The House at the Edge of the Galaxy won the Vortex Sci-Fi & Fantasy Award at the Rhode Island Film Festival and won Short Sci-Fi at the Garden State Film Festival. It was an official selection at the Sarasota, Napa Valley, and Portland Film Festivals, Asiana International, Zero, LA Shorts, Woods Hole, Cannes Short Corner, Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia, and the Atlanta Film Festivals and many more. It was accepted into the Fandor online film library and distributed by Shorts International Worldwide.
