The Messenger follows Jan Nowak-Jeziorański’s mission, which took place moments before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising. The story is inspired by true events from the times when ‘Jan Nowak’ travelled to the West and back with secret missions as a messenger and emissary of the Commander-in-Chief of the Home Army.
“The biggest challenge was to take a story that is very well known - the Uprising, and to present it so as the audience can forget that they've known it by heart since early school age and to cheer the hero in his actions. The second most important thing was to build Nowak's character in a way that we believe in this ordinary man, a student of Economics, who is forced by circumstances to perform extraordinary tasks”, director Władysław Pasikowski told FNE.
The film was produced by the Warsaw Rising Museum in coproduction with TVP, Chimney Poland, the Mazovia Institute of Culture, the Mazovia and Warsaw Film Commission.
The project was partially supported by the income that the Warsaw Rising Museum had made through the distribution of its previous production, the documentary Warsaw Uprising (distributor: Next Film), which has had over 600,000 admissions since its premiere in May 2014.
The Messenger also received 1.2 m EUR / 5 m PLN of production support from the Polish Film Institute. The grant was assigned as one of the first executive decisions from the new PISF Director Radosław Śmigulski.
The Messenger was released in Polish cinemas by Kino Świat.
Production Information:
Producer:
Warsaw Rising Museum (Poland)
Coproducers:
TVP (Poland)
Chimney Poland (Poland)
Mazovia Institute of Culture (Poland)
Mazovia and Warsaw Film Commission (Poland)
Credits:
Director: W;adysław Pasikowski
Screenwriters: Władysław Pasikowski, Sylwia Wilkos
DoP : Magdalena Górka
Music : Jan Duszyński
Production design : Wojciech Żogała
Costume design : Małgorzata Braszka, Michał Koralewski
Cast: Patrycja Volny, Philippe Tłokiński, Julie Engelbrecht, Tomasz Schuchardt, Martin Butzke, Adam Woronowicz, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Jan Frycz, Mariusz Bonaszewski, Mirosław Baka, Wojciech Zieliński, Sławomir Orzechowski, Grzegorz Małecki, Agnieszka Suchora
