Based on one of the most significant episodes in Polish history, Hiszpanka centers on a group of clairvoyants and spiritualists trying to protect renowned Polish pianist and politician Jan Paderewski from Doctor Abuse, a mentalist working for the Prussian Army. The plot fuses historic facts and fiction, showing real historic episodes in a new provenance. Hiszpanka is planned as a major costume production using extensive special effects.
Principal photography, which began on 3 October 2012 will also take place in Poznań, Łódź, Wrocław and Gdynia. wrapping by the end of January 2013.
The film is produced by Studio Filmowe KADR (www.sfkadr.com) and Film-Art (www.film-art.pl) in coproduction with Nina, Alvernia Studios (www.alvernia.com), TP S.A.(www.orange.pl) and ITI Cinema (www.iticinema.com.pl). The start of production was preceded by a year-long development stage, including over six months of special effects development with Platige Image. The film received financial support from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl) and the Marshal Office of the Wielkopolska Region Marek Woźniak (www.en.umww.pl) which organized a special contest for a script about the Greater Poland Uprising. Barczyk wrote the winning script.
"This film is a gigantic adventure. We travel in time and change genres. I hope that it will be a proposition to approach history as a mystery, a happening that is created by our mind and point of view -- just as our reality, and similarly it can be subjected to a critical and even ironic gaze. It is certain that we do not reconstruct history here but create it," Barczyk said.
The creative producer is Maciej Szwarc and the director of photography is Karina Kleszczewska. The international cast includes Crispin Glover, Florence Thomassin, Bruce Glover, Karl Markovicks, Thomas Schweiberer, Jakub Gierszał, Jan Peszek, Agnieszka Podsiadlik, Magdalena Popławska and Piotr Głowacki. The leading role of Paderewski had not yet been cast.
Hiszpanka is scheduled to premiere on 27 December 2013, on the 95th anniversary of the Greater Poland Uprising. It will be distributed by ITI Cinema.
Production contact:
Studio Filmowe Kadr
ul. Puławska 61
02-595 Warszawa
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