POLISH FILMS AT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2012

17-05-2012

POLISH FILMS AT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2012

By Press Release PISF

QUINZAINE

DIRECTOR'S FORTNIGHT CANNES 2012

DRAWN FROM MEMORY

Portret z pamięci 25'

Poland 2011

OFFICIAL SCREENING (preceded by an on-stage introduction by the director)

Thursday May 24, 14:30, Théâtre Croisette, 50, La Croisette

Saturday May 26, 19:30, Studio 13, 23, avenue du Docteur Picaud

Screenplay and directed by: Marcin Bortkiewicz: // Cast: Irena Jun, Małgorzta Zajączkowska, Marek Kantyka //Cinematography by: Malte Rosenfeld // Produced by: the Polish Filmmakers Association Studio Munka // co-financed: Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej

Marek decides to make a documentary about his grandmother. She agrees, but only if she can fulfill her dream of playing

a vampire. As he films both a series of home horror movies and his documentary, Marek comes to realize that his

grandmother's memory is failing and that his movie is turning into something completely different from the one he set out to make.

Marcin Bortkiewicz

Film and theatre director, dramatist, screenwriter and actor, was born in Słupsk in 1976. A graduate of the University of Gdańsk and the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing, his theatre work to date has encompassed Theatre Rondo, Słupsk, the Wojciech Bogusławski Theatre in Kalisz, the Witkacy New Theatre in Słupsk and Ecce Homo Theatre in Kielce. His latest premiere, Super Susan, with Ewa Kasprzyk, took place on 12th March 2011 in Warsaw's Kamienica Theatre. He has collaborated with film producer Darek Ditki and his Biuro Pomysłów production company, the KALEJDOSKOP Film Studio, the Munk Studio, the HARPOON FILMS Studio and Sebastian Petryk of PS FILM. He has written and directed a number of non-fiction shorts, namely Silence, The Rules of the Game, Cat Trail, From the Diary of a Young Filmmaker. His debut short non-fiction film, Early Learning received an Honourable Mention from the jury of the 2009 Krakow Film Festival. He wrote and directed the sixth of the Decalogue 89 cycle, The Lodger .

MARCHE DU FILM

VIVA BEL@RUS!

Drama 98'

Poland 2012

Market screenings:

Tuesday May 22 13:30 RIVIERA 4

Wednesday May 23 11:30 PALAIS B

Director: Krzysztof Łukaszewicz Written by: Krzysztof Łukaszewicz, Frank Viachorka // Cast: Dzmitry Vincent Papko, Karolina Gruszka, Aleksander Malchanau // Cinemaography by: Witold Stok // Producer: Włodzimierz Niderhaus // Production Company & World Sales: WFDiF Documentary and Feature Film Studios email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. // Co-financed by: Polish Film Institute

INSPIRED BY THE STORY OF FRANK VIACHORKA, ACITIVIST OF THE BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION, CO-AUTHOR OF THE SCREENPLAY FOR THE FILM "VIVA BEL@RUS!".

Belarus has been under the dictatorship of Lukashenko for 15 years. Miron (23) is not interested in politics, he thinks his friends from the democratic opposition make just a bunch of daydreamers. However, the next concert of his "apolitical" rock band triggers off an anti-regime manifestation among the audience. Miron, despite his inborn heart disease, is enlisted for the army for 15 months by way of punishment for "fomenting political unrest among young people".

In his military unit, Miron has to face up to abject conditions which do not meet basic human needs and the absurdity of Soviet-inspired indoctrination.

For the commanding officers, ubiquitous "hazing" is a means of manipulation of their conscript soldiers. Miron starts secretly, via an "illegal" mobile, dictating his girlfriend Vera, his diary of "a conscript soldier". The diary posted by Vera on an internet blog shows the army as a miniature version of the social and political relations in Lukashenko's Belarus. Miron combines fragments of the blog into satirical songs "in honour of the army and the regime", and they soon become real hits among young people. The regime starts a plot to discredit and crush Miron.

KRZYSZTOF ŁUKASZEWICZ

Director, Screenplay Co-Author

In his early career he worked as an assistant of Jerzy Hoffman and Jerzy Kawalerowicz. Co-author of the screenplay for the Polish feature film "General Nil" which received wide acclaim both in Poland and abroad. He debuted as a director with the film "Lynch" based on his screenplay. "Lynch" by Łukaszewicz received the Grabd Prix at the Koszalin Debut Films Festival "The Young and The Cinema". It was also presented at the Grand Contest of the International Film Festival. The International Regiofun Festival and Kyiv International Film Festival.

BATTLE OF WARSAW 1920 3D

(Bitwa Warszawska 1920 3D)

War Drama 115' Poland 2011

Market Screening: Monday May 21 @ 18:00 in the Star 1

Directed by: Jerzy Hoffman // Screenwriters: Jarosław Sokół, Jerzy Hoffman //Cast: Daniel Olbrychski, Borys Szyc, Natasza Urbańska // Cinematography: Sławomir Idziak // Produced by: Zodiak Jerzy Hoffman Film Production // co-financed by: Polish Film Institute

Festivals: Busan IFF 2011, Polish Film Festival in Chicago 2011

International sales: VMA

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ola (Natasza Urbańska), an actress in a Warsaw revue theater, is engaged to Jan (Borys Szyc), a cavalry soldier and poet. When Jan receives the order to leave for the front, he pleads with Ola to marry him forthwith posthaste. During the war, Jan is accused of being a communist and inciting Bolshevik revolution. He is court-martialed and sentenced to death for hostile activities against the Polish nation. „The Battle of Warsaw 1920" is a truly impressive spectacle with gripping and realistic battle scenes replete with cavalry, infantry, bayonet charges, tanks, armored vehicles, armored trains and period aircraft - none of which is often seen nowadays. The film recreates history as a series of events as extreme as the time in which the story unfolds.

Should you need more information feel free to contact me at: +48 695 363 335 or visit at the Polish Cinema Stand at La Croisette 6, vis a vis the Palais des Festivals, top floor.

Olga Domżała