Tongues have been set wagging in film circles after the announcement that this year's Polish Film Festival – the key event in the calendar – has been radically streamlined by artistic director Michal Chacinski.

Only twelve films have been selected for the main competition, a complete turnaround from previous editions of the event, which is staged annually at Gdynia on the Baltic.

“The competition will be a super league,” said Chacinski when quizzed by leading film critic Barbara Hollender for the Rzeczpospolita daily.

“There was a time when about 25 films were created each year in Poland, and all of them were shown at Gdynia.

“Over the last few years, the number of productions has doubled,” he says, stressing that the time had come to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Indeed, by presenting just a dozen films, Chacinski will be bringing the event in line with many international festivals.

Another novelty for the event, now in its 36th incarnation, is that the jury will be predominantly foreign. Asked whether this was a sagacious choice, given that outsiders are often lost in the nuances of Polish history and contemporary society, Chacinski was unrepentant.

“Why do we suppose that films which are important for us are automatically good?” the director postulated.

“The opinion of international jurors is a kind of guarantee of the universality of a film, which helps in its promotion abroad,” he added.

Chacinski noted that whilst all the films were by Polish directors, not all of them were either set in Poland or filmed in the Polish language, citing Jerzy Skolimowski's Essential Killing and Lech Majewski's The Mill and the Cross.

There has been much talk of renewed vigour in the Polish industry over the last few years, and Chacinski hopes that this year's festival will give international critics something memorable to chew on.

The 38th Polish Film festival begins on 6 June. (nh)