ANOTHER SUCCES OF A FILM PRODUCED BY TUMULT FOUNDATION

Thursday September 24th, 2015

We are proud to inform that Workuta, a documentary made in co-operation with Tumult Foundation, was qualified for The Rebellious, Indomitable, Condemned Documentary Film Festival’sMain Competition. Together with 18 other productions it will compete for the main prize of the festival, Złoty Opornik (Gold Resistor).

The festival is organized by Stowarzyszenie Scena Kultury and this year it will have its 7th edition. The main goal of this innovative sociohistorical project is to re-establish the facts about post-war Poland, and to present the figures and stories of those Polish people who openly opposed the Soviet occupation and frequently had to pay high price for that. Screenings of those films, accompanied by discussions, concerts and exhibitions organized during the festival, are an attempt to show the Polish resistance movement and democratic opposition's struggle with the Communist regime. And thus, it also serves as an invitation to an open discussion about the extremely difficult period for Poland, the years 1939-1989.
 
Still from "Workuta"
 
Still from "Workuta"

Workuta is a film that tells the story of the first car expedition from Central Europe to the titular Workuta, a town located in the northern part of Asia, built over the infamous group of forced labour camps, a symbol of Soviet gulag and a place full of dark legends. It is near-impossible to reach Workuta which is situated within an inhospitable tundra devoid of any roads; the only means to getting there from the outside world is a single railway line built entirely by the gulags' prisoners. Even to this day it is not possible to determine how many lives the place has taken away. The participants of the expedition, which started in the spring of 2011 in Toruń, decided to celebrate the memory of those exiled to Workuta, by forcing their way along the railway line through so-called “zimniaki”, icy trails open only during certain parts of the year. Their aim was simple – to pass a memorial board to the town's authorities. One of the participants, a grandson of a former prisoner, went on the expedition to deal with his family’s past, carrying with him a small, hand-written prayer book, the most valued thing he had of his grandfather who spent over a decade of his life in Workuta. Many years later this priceless family treasure was to get back to the Arctic Circle.
 
Still from "Workuta"
 
Still from "Workuta"

Workuta was finished in 2015. It was made by Jacek Kiełpiński, Radosław Rzeszotek and Paweł Żydowicz, and produced by Marek Żydowicz and the Tumult Foundation in Toruń. Paweł Dyllus, renowned for his work in Maciej Pieprzyca’s Life Feels Good and other film projects, was the documentary's cinematographer. Workuta is another Tumult Foundation production that received wide audience acclaim. Other projects include Jerzy Skolimowski's 11 Minutes and Janusz Majewski's The Eccentrics. The Sunny Side of the Street, recently awarded at the Gdynia Film Festival. Both films were partly co-financed by the Regional Operational Programme for the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship, operated by the Tumult Foundation.

We sincerely invite everyone to participate in The Rebellious, Indomitable, Condemned Documentary Film Festival. It will take place at the Gdynia Film Center from 24th to 26th September 2015. The screening of Workuta is scheduled for 25th September, at 11:45 AM in “Kino Warszawa” Hall.

FINANCED BY THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND NATIONAL HERITAGE OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND AS PART OF THE TASK: CO-ORGANIZATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF THE ART OF CINEMATOGRAPHY EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2024

CO-FINANCED BY: THE CITY OF TORUŃ AND KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE REGION

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