Maciej Drygas is a Polish documentary film maker, radio and cinema director, screenwriter, and teacher in the Lodz Film School. Laureate of numerous international awards, including the European Film Academy prize “Felix”, an analogue of the American “Oscar” prize. He creates documentary films for more than 20 years, his most famous works are “Hear My Cry” (1991), “Zero Gravity” (1994), “Voice of Hope” (2002), “A Day in the PPR” (2005). He graduated from the All-Union State Cinematography Institute in Moscow (Russia).

The director is known for his long and meticulous planning of filming. He spent more than a year and a half to find traces of Ryszard Siwiec, a Polish citizen who committed self-immolation to protest against the totalitarian regime. This is also the theme of the “Fiery Protests” project organized jointly by the Czech Culture Center and the Polish Institute in Kyiv.

Docudays UA is the only international festival of films about human rights in Ukraine. After the completion of the main festival event in Kyiv Docudays UA will travel around the country. Each year the Traveling festival Docudays UA visits about a hundred of Ukrainian cities and towns. Docudays UA belongs to the International Human Rights Film Network (HRFM).