„Horizons of Freedom. Emigration – perspectives” enjoyed a large following.

So far, 60 screenplays have been submitted for the „Horizons of Freedom. Emigration – perspectives” contest and they’re still coming! The contest for an emigration themed radio play – a co-initiative of the Emigration Museum in Gdynia, Polish Radio Theatre, and Polish Radio Program 3 – is enjoying a huge following amongst creative circles in Poland and abroad. The best works will be selected by a jury consisting of Wojciech Pszoniak, esteemed theatrical and film actor, Janusz Kukuła, Head Director and Chief of Polish Radio Theatre, Magdalena Jethon, Director of Polish Radio Program 3, Karolina Grabowicz-Matyjas, Director of the Emigration Museum in Gdynia, and Adam Kamiński, poet, prose writer, and literary critic. The jury will debate in November and the award ceremony will take place on December 2 during the „Great Splendor” celebration in Warsaw.

All the submitted works are competing for the main prize of 5000 PLN and two additional prizes of 3000 PLN and 2000 PLN respectively. Screenplays selected by the Jury will be turned into radio plays in the studios of Polish Radio Theatre and subsequently aired by Polish Radio Program 3. The participants’ task was to create a fictional story of any convention – but not longer than 30 standard pages – which could serve as a basis for a 45-minute long radio play.

The organizers did not pose on the authors any limitations of theme or form. Everything that showed the diversity and the actuality of the emigration problem, and carried a universal message, was considered. The contest – as designed by the initiators – was to portray Poles in a situation that marks the personal freedom of which they had dreamed, by means of giving an account of a modern Polish emigrant’s life, their desires, and their goals. The right to decide where we want to live, work, evolve, and establish our families, is one of elementary manifestations of freedom. Poles’ particular attachment to the idea of one’s right to decide their fate – also in private life – has always awaken their dreams, gave birth to ambitions, and inspired them to make bold plans. Oftentimes, the only way to make them come true was to embark on a journey and to look for a place where anything is possible.

The amount of works we received, as well as numerous inquiries sent not only from Poland, but also from the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, and even the United States and Australia, illustrate a real chance that the scripts can portray experiences of emigration–something shared today by thousands of young Poles–in a diverse and moving way.