03-05-2012

FNE at Gdynia Film Festival: You Are God

By FNE Staff

    {mosimage}GDYNIA: Leszek Dawid tackles the story of a legendary Polish hip hop band in his drama You Are God, screening in the main competition of Poland's national film festival in Gdynia (www.fpff.pl).

    {mosimage}Paktofonika, a Polish hip hop band, was considered to be the voice of a whole generation of young Poles growing up in the 90's. The group was established in 1998 and created three extremely popular studio albums: "Cinematography," "I am God" and "Cinematography Archive." The band's activity was terminated by the sudden and tragic suicide of one of the band members. Dawid shows the dramatic faith of three friends coming from the same tough neighborhood and paying the highest price for their music and a sense of freedom from the system. The leading roles of the three members of Paktofonika are played by Marcin Kowalczyk, Dawid Ogrodnik and Tomasz Schuchardt, awarded with the Golden Lion Prize at Gdynia in 2010 for his performance in Marcin Worna's The Christening (www.odeon.com.pl).

    {mosimage}Dawid's debut feature drama Ki (www.skorpionarte.pl), starring Roma Gąsiorowska, won several major film awards in 2011 including the discovery Of The Year Prize for Dawid and the Best Female Performance Prize for Gąsiorowska during the 36th PFF in Gdynia. The director of photography for You Are God is Radosław Ładczuk, most recognized for his work in Jan Komasa's Suicide Room (www.sfkadr.com) which was awarded for Best Cinematography at the 2011 Golden Duck Awards (www.zlotekaczki.pl) and at the 19th Plus Camerimage IFF (www.pluscamerimage.pl).

    You Are God was shot on location in Katowice and the Silesia region. The film is produced by Studio Filmowe KADR (www.sfkadr.com) in co-production with Silesia Film (www.silesiafilm.pl), The Chimney Pot (www.chimney.pl), and Kino Świat (www.kinoswiat.pl). The budget of the picture was 4.6 million PLN (EUR 1.1 million) with 2.5 million PLN in financing from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl). The producer told FNE that the film was a long awaited production, preceded by several consultations with fans of the band and film professionals in the form of open readings of the script, where it was very well received.

    {mosimage}The screening at the 37th Gdynia Film Festival (www.fpff.pl) will be the first showing of the finished picture. The Polish theatrical release is planned for 9 November 2012, distributed by Kino Świat (www.kinoswiat.pl).

    Crew:
    Director - Leszek Dawid
    Screenwriter - Maciej Pisuk
    Director of photography - Radosław Ładczuk
    Music - PAKTOFONIKA, Wojciech Alszer, Sebastian Salbert
    Production designer - Katarzyna Sobańska, Marcel Sławiński
    Sound - Leszek Freund
    Editing - Jarosław Kamiński
    Costume designer - Agata Culak
    Music - Ewa Drobiec
    Production manager - Józef Jarosz, Adam Łukaszek
    Production company - Studio Filmowe Kadr
    Producer - Jerzy Kapuściński, Łukasz Barczyk
    Co-produced by - Silesia Film" Film Institution, The Chimney Pot, Kino Świat
    Co-financed by - Polish Film Institute
    Executive producer - Wojciech Kabarowski
    Distribution - Kino Świat

    Cast:
    Marcin Kowalczyk
    Katarzyna Wajda
    Dawid Ogrodnik
    Tomasz Schuchardt
    Arkadiusz Jakubik

    Production information:
    Studio Filmowe KADR
    Puławska 61
    02- 595 Warsaw
    tel./fax [22] 845 49 23
    e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    www.sfkadr.com