Fear Of Falling follows the life of Tomek, a young television journalist who leads a very structured life. When he finds out that his father had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital he decides to use his absence to sell his parents apartment. While visiting his father he has to cope with his own guilt and immerse himself in the madness to find out the truth about his origins.
"This film poses a question about the schizophrenic nature of the world, divided between the past and the present, love and manipulation, madness and normality. It touches the theme of the 'fear of falling' known by all of us - a fear of reaching higher and higher, facing challenges, creating our life according to our need. We are exploring the subject of the complicated relations that are created between people close to each other, in this case a father and a son. Relations that can hurt as well as inspire. We wanted it to be a wise film about life in Poland, on how our parents were managing and how we, the younger generation, are looking for our own place," Konopka said.
Konopka is one of the most-awarded young Polish directors. He has a masters degree in film from Jagiellonian University and in Film and Television Directing at the Silesia University. He also completed a documentary dicreting course at the Andrzej Wajda Masters School Of Directing.
His last film, the short feature entitled Rabbit à la Berlin was nominated by the International Documentary Association to compete for an Oscar for the Best Short Documentary in 2009. With this title Konopka was awarded at the Hot Docs in Toronto, Krakow Film Festival and Planete Doc Review.
His previous work Ballad Of The Goat (2004) was awarded by Planete (www.planetechannel.com) television during Berlinale 2004 and broadcast by all the stations worldwide. His film realized as part of the" 30minutes" program entitled Three To Take won 12 prizes at film festivals including the Grand Film at the Brest Film Festival and Best Debut Award at the Message to Man festival at St. Petersburg.
The film was produced by Munk Studio (www.studiomunka.pl) in co-production with Canal+ Polska (www.canaplus.pl), under the artistic guidance of Agnieszka Holland. The film was shot between November 2009 and March 2010 in Warsaw, Silesia and the Tatry Mountains. The script written by Konopka and Piotr Borkowski was awarded during the Polish edition of the Hartley-Merril competition 2010. The film received financial support from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl) and the Polish Ministry Of Culture and National Heritage. Before the screening at the Polish Film Festival at Gdynia the film was presented at several film festivals including the IFF in Berlin and Locarno.
The lead role of Tomek is played by Marcin Dorociński, a young actor praised for his recent performance in Reverse directed by Borys Lankosz. The actor is also part of the cast in another film in the competition at Gdynia this year, Rose directed by Wojciech Smarzowski. The cast of the Fear Of Falling includes Krzysztof Stroinski, Dorota Kolak and Magda Popławska. The director of photography is Piotr Niemyjski and the set was designed by Elwira Pluta.
A Polish distributor has yet to be announced. World sales are managed by Wide Management Enterprise.
Crew:
Director - Bartosz Konopka
Screenwriter - Bartosz Konopka, Piotr Borkowski
Director of Photography - Piotr Niemyski
Music - Maciej Cieślak
Production Design - Elwira Pluta
Sound - Jacek Hamela, Katarzyna Dzida-Hamela
Film Editing - Jarosław Barzan
Costume Design - Katarzyna Lewińska
Production manager - Ewa Jastrzębska
Production - Polish Filmmakers Association, Munk Studio
Producer - Jacek Bromski
Executive Producer - Dariusz Gajewski, Ewa Jastrzębska
Co-producer - Canal+
Distribution -open
World Sales: Wide Management Enterprise
Cast:
Marcin Dorociński
Krzysztof Stroiński
Magdalena Popławska
Dorota Kolak
and others
Production information:
STUDIO MUNKA
ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 7
00-068 Warsaw
tel. 22 556 54 70
fax. 22 556 54 69
www.studiomunka.pl
