How to combine helping with joy and self-development? See more than meets the eye? What makes us help more willingly and with conviction? It’s sensitivity. It is an emotion, a sense of strength that appears when someone weaker, inspiring, or another is next to you. And we can do something for him. Even… telling his story.

On 10-12 April, the Sensitive Festival will take place in Gdańsk . It is under the patronage of Olivia Business Centre! Not only will the official opening of the Festival take place in Olivia, but also a charity auction of graphics for the benefit of the charges and projects of the Leave Your Trace Foundation, and in particular for the implementation of the application hospiCare in children’s home hospices all over Poland. The main partner of the exhibition, apart from Olivia Business Centre, is the Gdańsk Business Centre Club Lodge.

Press and film reports nominated for awards in this year’s edition of the Sensitive Festival, which will take place in the Tri-City on 10-12 April, have already been selected. In Olivia Business Centre, Gdynia Film Centre and Shakespeare Theatre you will be able to take part in: an exhibition of the best Polish graphics, screenings of reportages and film documentaries and a ceremonial gala of awarding statuettes for the most sensitive artists. Over the course of 3 days, you will also be able to participate in discussion panels with prominent Polish reporters, talking about difficult and inspiring topics.

Festival of good emotions

The Sensitive Festival was created to combine art, emotions and sensitivity with helping terminally ill children and Children’s Home Hospices in an interesting and inspiring way. How? Among other things, through the
hospiCare
application, which is being created for them, which facilitates the work of medical teams and caregivers of young patients. All proceeds from the festival will be donated to help them – the charges and partners of the Leave Your Trace Foundation, which is also the organizer of the festival.

Festival programme

The opening of the festival will take place on 10 April at the Olivia Business Centre. It will be accompanied by the opening of the exhibition BEST POLISH GRAPHICS, organized in cooperation with professors of the Academies of Fine Arts in Wrocław and Gdańsk. On that day, Olivia will host a CHARITY AUCTION of graphics for the beneficiaries and projects of the Leave Your Trace Foundation, and in particular the implementation of
the h
ospiCare
application in children’s home hospices all over Poland. The main partner of the exhibition, apart from Olivia Business Centre, is the Gdańsk Business Centre Club Lodge.

– It is always worth supporting the development of attitudes that encourage us to be more sensitive and to look carefully at people and their needs. Such activity makes us more open to the world, we look at the bigger picture, we feel more, so we can do more. This is an extremely important activity that contributes to building social capital, which is still, unfortunately, a scarce commodity. says Monika Bogdanowicz, Corporate Intelligence Manager Communication in Olivia Business Centre. – At Olivia, we do and want to do important things, hence our involvement in the Sensitive Festival. Once again, we can become a space for integration and building relationships between people, and in addition, the goal of the meeting in Olivia of representatives of many communities is noble. We help together. I am convinced that the celebration of sensitivity, and I mean the opening of the Festival in our country and the festival itself, will not leave anyone passive.

The culmination of the festival is the Final Gala, which will take place on 12 April at the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre. This year, in addition to the award ceremony, the culminating event will be a panel discussion on whether the work of a reporter can change the world. It will be attended by m.in. Katarzyna Włodkowska and Anna Śmigulec from “Duży Format”, Ewa Żarska from “Polsat News” and Kamil Bałuk from the Institute of Reportage. Last year, it was hosted and hosted by Grażyna Torbicka and Janusz Daszczyński.

– Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this festival, the Sensitive Festival, which seems to be a very obvious idea. And yet, no one had thought of it before. A big round of applause for the organizers for such an authentic idea – said Grażyna Torbicka opening the final gala last year. Of course, the art of film or press reportage is supposed to sensitize, but there is more to it than that, to show the special themes that make us interact with art, but we also know that this art serves a purpose. Something real and very important.

During the Sensitive Festival, there will also be plenty of inspiration for children and young viewers.

– We search the web for things that can help children better understand their everyday problems: intolerance, violence, hate, addictions, otherness or the death of a loved one. A short YouTube video will reach them much better than a “sermon” from a parent or educator. And it is to teachers and parents that we want to give ideas on how to show a difficult topic in an attractive way – says Durga Szymańska , the main coordinator of the Festival. – We want to inspire young people to show their own films about their own problems and achievements. That is why this year’s accompanying project was created called the Sensitive Festival KIDS.

The screenings for young people will be accompanied by a lecture and a conversation about life, passing away and death. It will be led by Katarzyna Kałduńska, an extraordinary nurse from the Pomeranian Hospice for Children in Gdańsk who works with departing children and their families. She conducts workshops for young people and schools, teaching them what is difficult for us to talk about and what is taboo in our culture. They will also be enriched by a discussion panel about the value of life and everyday life seen from a wheelchair and through the eyes of a healthy teenager taking care of a sick friend. The protagonists of the panel are Kuba Płaziński – a protégé of the Leave Your Trace Foundation and the Pomeranian Hospice for Children in Gdańsk and his friend Kacper, while the guest is Łukasz Pilip, a journalist of “Duży Format”, who works with young heroes of difficult stories on a daily basis.

Sensitive Creators

The quality of the works submitted to the festival is very high – this applies especially to press reports. Therefore, the jury has a very difficult task to select the winners of each category. The prize for the winners of each of them are statuettes by Marcin Rząsa, a sculptor from Zakopane, who prepares them especially for this occasion.

The organizers also appreciate exceptional people who selflessly help others. Sensitive Person is a special category, created to honor people involved in helping those in need. Without expectations, but with mindfulness. Without the need for publicity – from the heart. Unique, dedicated, helpful, irreplaceable. Sensitive to others. After consultations with Tri-City hospices and families of sick children helped by the Leave Your Trace Foundation, exceptional people from different backgrounds and with different types of sensitivity will be selected and awarded.

What is important, the hosts, artists, participants and organizers work at the Festival voluntarily – taking nothing in return but the joy and satisfaction that comes from helping people combined with the development of their sensitivity.

“We would like to thank from the bottom of our hearts all the companies and people who have left their mark in creating and implementing the idea of the Sensitive Festival. It is impossible to name each of them, but we believe that, just like us, they have great satisfaction and will continue to be with us. We would especially like to thank the Gdynia Film Centre, the Shakespeare Theatre and the Olivia Business Centre. Thanks to your trust, the Festival can change the world at least a little bit – says Paula Rettinger-Wietoszko.

Honorary Patronage

The festival was held under the honorary patronage of the Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship Mieczysław Struk, the Mayor of Gdynia Wojciech Szczurek, the Mayor of the City of Sopot Jacek Karnowski and the Mayor of the City of Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz.

How to take part in the Festival and help?

Tickets for film screenings are available at the Gdynia Film Centre’s box office, and every zloty from the tickets will help change the world for the better.

Sensitive Festival:
http://wrazliwy.pl/

KIDS Sensitive Festival:
http://www.kid.wrazliwy.pl/

hospiCare:
http://hospicare.pl/