Bank Zachodni WBK has become a sponsor of the artistic festivals organized by the Lodz Film School to take place in 2015. The festivals are: the 33rd Drama Schools' Festival, 13th "Łodzią po Wiśle" Festival and the next edition of the Munk Prize Competition. As a result of this, the bank will be involved with the main artistic events organized by the Lodz Film School which promote young artsists at the treshhold of their professional careers.

The bank’s sponsorship of the school festivals is not accidental. Its support of worthwhile projects and cooperation with prominent centres of culture, is well-known and a special part of the bank’s long-lasting tradition of investing in the development of Polish art and culture. It pays special attention to the preservation of national heritage and at the same time encourages passion for culture in Polish society by making their participation in attractive cultural events possibile. It also promotes gifted young artists and enables them to stretch their wings and show-case their talent to a wider audience.

The Drama Schools’ Festival has been organized by the Lodz Film School since 1983. Jan Machulski, a great actor and long-term Dean and lecturer of the Lodz Film School Acting Department was the Festival’s originator. Since then, each festival edition has been an exceptional opportunity for those professionally involved in theatre to compare drama teaching methods and how young actors portray characters. The programme of each festival consists of diploma plays performed by the acting students of the following Polish Drama Schools: Warsaw Theatre Academy, Krakow Drama School and its Wroclaw filia, and the Lodz Film School. Festival website: www.festiwalszkolteatralnych.pl

The student film festival, ‘Łodzią po Wiśle’ is the premiere public screening of the short films made by Lodz Film School students in a given academic year. Since 2003, Warsaw has been the festival site, where film-goers can see recent student shorts. In total, the presentation adds up to 900 minutes of screen time consisting of films by directors, cinematographers and animators. Not only is the festival the place where the students’ first films’ confront the audience, but it is also a forum to discuss the future of Polish cinema; a place where the future of Polish cinema can be ‘witnessed’. Festival website: www.lodziapowisle.pl

The Andrzej Munk Prize Competition is one of the oldest film competitions in Poland. It has been organized by the Lodz Film School since 1965 and devoted to the debut films of young directors and cinematographers. The prestigious prize is intended to promote the young film-makers and boost their professional careers by distributing their debut works. The prize winners have always been defiant artists, seeking new means of film expresion and setting new trends in Polish cinema. Amongst past winners of the Munk Prize there are such prominent Polish film-makers as Krzysztof Zanussi, Andrzej Żuławski, Jerzy Skolimowski and Mariusz Grzegorzek. Competition website: www.konkursmunka.pl.

The web-site of Bank Zachodni WBK, the Lodz Film School festivals sponsor: www.bzwbk.pl