When considering the form of this competition, the festival’s organisers decided to especially promote searching for films with a young spirit, innovative ones, as well as very original and independent works. These pieces rarely find their way to cinemas through regular distribution or they are screened for a very short time. Their presence at the ERA NEW HORIZONS festival gives an opportunity to show the latest and most valuable Polish production not only to the participants of the festival, but also to film specialists from all over the world, as many of them come to Wrocław. So far the winners of this competition were: Facing Up / Przebacz by Marek Stacharski and Shame / Wstyd by Piotr Matwiejczyk (ex aequo, 2006) and Paradise Too Far Away / Raj za daleko by Radosław Markiewicz (2007).

The selected films will be judged by an international jury, who will choose the winner of the Wrocław Film Award, funded by the Mayor of Wrocław, the amount of which is PLN 100,000 (60,000 for the director and 40,000 for the producer). The jury, as every year, will include distinguished filmmakers and critics from all over the world, which will undoubtedly help Polish films break through into the international arena.

Starting from this year special support will be granted also to directors who are taking their first steps in filmmaking. The Marshal of Lower Silesia, who is the festival’s partner, funded a special reward for the best directorial debut.