Overview

I wanted this festival to take place at the end of the world, is how Roman Gutek, the founder of New Horizons, describes his idée fixe, a personal utopia, that lies at the heart of the festival’s beginnings. A utopia offering the perfect conditions for sharing cinematic experiences. Back in that analogue era, Sanok became a kind of pilgrimage site for the initial New Horizons viewers. They knew exactly what films they wanted to see over the six screenings a day, though they weren’t always sure where they’d sleep that night. Rain poured down in torrents, and the river running beside the town threatened to swallow up the campsite, risking cutting Sanok off from the rest of Poland. I came down from the mountains just for Mekas, gasped one student, lungs burning as he emerged from the ventilation-starved Kino Pokój. Iran battled a storm in the Sanok House of Culture, while the American independents stirred up storms of their own.