Jan Jakub Kolski’s feature Venice has received an honorary mention by the jury for Best Photography at the 35th International Film Festival in Cleveland, US.

The festival’s programme included around 300 films from close on 60 countries.

This is not the first recognition of the work of Director of Photography Artur Reinhart, who was earlier given the Eagles Prize (‘Polish Oscar’) and the awards at the National Film Festival in Gdynia and the Camerimage Festival in Bydgoszcz.

Venice also received the Special Jury Prize for Best Artistic Contribution at last year’s 34th Montreal World Film Festival.

The film is based on a short story by the prominent Polish writer Włodzimierz Odojewski.

Its protagonist is an eleven year-old boy. It has been a long-standing tradition in his family to visit Venice and so his dream, too, is to make a summer trip to the city. His dream is thwarted, however, by the outbreak of war in 1939.

To escape the cruel realities of the world the boy hides in the cellar of his aunt's spacious villa. When one night the cellar is flooded during a storm, the woman decides to distract the boy's imagination by building a replica of Venice there.

Jan Jakub Kolski has won international acclaim for such films as The Potato's Funeral, Jańcio Wodnik, The History of Cinema in Popielawy, Far away from the window, Pornography, and Jasminum. (mk)