Brushing shoulders with the most famous personalities of Polish films, watching the greatest productions of the year and taking part in various meetings and social events: this is what is in store for all film fans who visit the coastal city of Gdynia- now the venue of the annual , most prestigious Polish Film Festival.

Agnieszka Bielawska reports

Sixteen films are competing for the Golden Lions, the greatest Polish film award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia on the Baltic coast. This year sees the 33 edition of biggest and oldest Polish film festival, which covers a huge chapter of Polish cinematography. Poland's culture minister Bogdan Zdrojewski says it is very important cultural event on the Polish scene since film is one of the biggest assets of Polish culture: 'There is no doubt that Polish film industry has such attainments of which we can be very proud. Polish film is known worldwide and is one of the major assets of Polish culture. What started after 1945 is now one of Poland's biggest prides.'

Among the films competing for the main prize are some which had won international applause , such as Malgorzata Szumowska's '33 Scenes from Life' awarded at Locarno or Michal Rosa's 'Scratch' very favourably received in Venice. This year the festival is dominated by films of young directors says Malgorzata Rakowiec, the event's spokesperson: 'Most of the films are made by 30, 40 years old directors, itis very often their second or third film which means that they have already a strong position in Polish film. Young people can say something more, make films, which could be seen by younger people. Not only the historical problems, but normal life. Not only Polish subjects but problems important for everyone in the world.'

However, universal problems are also present in films by two representatives of the older generation. Krzysztof Zanussi, one of the flag names of the Polish film school presents his latest film entitled 'Warm heart' and Jerzy Skolimowski comes back after a 17 year long silence with 'Four nights with Anna', a film enthusiastically applauded during this year's Cannes Festival. Skolimowski left Poland in 1969 , he worked in Italy, Great Britain and Hollywood, scoring several major film awards. He left the film industry 17 years ago and took to painting. He decided to return to film making to prove that films can be made in a different way, his way, and showed a moving story of desire and limits of human love. He revealed that 'Four nights with Anna' won great praise from its first viewer: 'My first viewer was Roman Polanski. I worked on postproduction in Paris. I called him late at night saying that I'd finished the film. He was there in some 30 minutes, and we had a private screening. What Roman said later just confirmed my belief that I had managed to exactly what I wanted.'

However, the Gdynia festival is not only competition and awards. The five-day film feast abounds in many sideline events, says Malgorzata Rakowiec: 'Films for children, exhibitions, also musicals on the beach and the possibility of meeting actors and directors which is very important here.'

The festival, which is termed as the greatest feast of the Polish film industry winds on September 20th.Organisers expect some 45-50 thousand viewers and the participation of over 400 filmmakers and actors.