POLISH FILMS COMPETITION 2017 LINE-UP!

Friday October 20th, 2017

We announce the line-up of the Polish Films Competition of the 25^th anniversary edition of the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography CAMERIMAGE. In this competition the award goes to both the cinematographer and the director of the winning film.

Amok

It was one of the most thrilling events in Polish literature… and in Polish forensics. Young writer Krystian Bala described a terrible crime in his novel Amok in 2003. Some time later, he was accused of committing the same crime! It led to a sensational case filled with many twists and turns that was covered by media from all over the world. The movie Amok is a psychological thriller inspired by real events. The plot centres around the confrontation between two dark, ambiguous characters: the writer/alleged murderer and the policeman who is trying to solve his case.

Director: Katarzyna Adamik
Cinematographer: Tomasz Naumiuk

Produced by: K&K Selekt SP. z o. o.
Polish distributor: KINO ŚWIAT Sp. z o. o.

Poland, 2017

Art of Loving, The. Story of Michalina Wislocka

The Art of Loving by Dr Michalina Wisłocka is a book that created great turmoil (in the positive sense of the word) in Polish minds like no other. This erotic guidebook published in 1978 (during the communist era, which, despite its slogans, was a very strict time in terms of sexuality) broke taboos and sold nearly 7 million copies. The movie reveals the interesting life of the author, her amazing character, and her struggle to publish her book in the face of political and religious obstacles.

Original title: Sztuka kochania. Historia Michaliny Wisłockiej
Director: Maria Sadowska
Cinematographer: Michał Sobociński

Produced by: Watchout Productions Sp. z o. o.
Polish distributor: NEXT FILM Sp. z o. o.

Poland, 2017

Beyond Words

Michael is a 28-year-old lawyer who lives and works in Berlin and speaks German fluently. Aside from some personal beliefs, he is practically identical to his friend and boss, Frantz. However, every Friday he stops speaking German and becomes who he really is: Michałek, the Pole. He spends a weekend with his father, Stanisław, to meet him for the first time. This psychological drama shows the spiritual and emotional life of an emigrant. It presents, directly and indirectly, the problem of one’s roots and alienation in a different culture.

Original title: Pomiędzy słowami
Director: Urszula Antoniak
Cinematographer: Lennert Hillege

Produced by: Opus Film Sp. z o. o.

Poland, Netherlands, 2017

Birds Are Singing in Kigali

fot. Ewa Łowżył, materiały KOSFILM

Roughly 800,000–1,000,000 deaths in 100 days – according to various sources, that’s the number of people killed during the unimaginable massacre that took place in the spring and summer of 1994 in Rwanda, when the Hutu militia slaughtered the Tutsi population in cold blood. This film does not try to reconstruct those events, nor to find their causes. It is a psychological drama that shows the trauma of a young Tutsi woman who nearly died during the genocide and the Polish ornithologist who saved her and took her to Poland. This is a story about friendship, the struggle for a normal life, and the problems faced by refugees.

Original title: Ptaki śpiewają w Kigali
Directors: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze
Cinematographers: Józefina Gocman, Krzysztof Ptak, Wojciech Staroń

Produced by: Joanna Kos-Krauze KOSFILM
Polish distributor: KINO ŚWIAT Sp. z o. o.

Poland, 2017

Damned One, The

‘Damned soldiers’ is the term that describes Polish soldiers from the resistance who didn’t stop fighting after World War II and took up guerrilla warfare against the new communist government installed by the Polish-Soviet security service. Their actions were morally ambiguous, and to this day are a source of much controversy among historians and publicists.
The hero of this Konrad Łęcki movie is based on the character of one of the last damned soldiers – Józef Franczek, aka ‘Lalek’ or ‘Laluś’.

Original title: Wyklęty
Director: Konrad Łęcki
Cinematographer: Karol Łakomiec

Produced by: Fundacja Między Słowami
Polish distributor: Kondrat-Media Sp. z o. o.

Poland, 2017

I'm a Killer

They called him the ‘Zagłębie vampire’. He murdered fourteen women in cold blood in Silesia from 1964 to 1970, and attempted to murder another seven. Yet it’s still unclear whether he really committed those monstrous crimes. The movie tells the story of a detective from the Civic Militia. His superiors manipulate him because they want to catch and sentence the alleged criminal for political reasons. I’m a Killer is not only a thriller, but also a moral dilemma that presents Polish social reality from before the fall of communism.

Original title: Jestem mordercą
Director: Maciej Pieprzyca
Cinematographer: Paweł Dyllus

Produced by: RE Studio
Polish distributor: NEXT FILM Sp. z o. o.

Poland, 2016

Reconciliation, The

Ania, Erwin, Franek: young, beautiful, full of life. Before the war, in 1939, they promised each other lifelong friendship and that nothing would break them apart. They were wrong. They meet again in 1945, just before the surrender of the Third Reich, in a former Nazi concentration camp that has been turned by the new Polish authorities into a place of suffering for all who dare to stand against the country’s glorious future. Poles, Silesians, Germans – the camp consists of everyone who collaborated in any form with the Nazis, or simply those who do not fit into the new order of things. Thus, the meeting is far from joyful, the old promises are meaningless. Ania and Erwin are imprisoned there, while Franek works as a camp guard, one of many Poles who seek revenge for their war suffering. Initially the man has noble intentions – he would like to help Ania escape and marry her – but each subsequent day in the camp changes him into a human beast, not dissimilar to the ones that recently vanished.

Original title: Zgoda
Director: Maciej Sobieszczański
Cinematographer: Walentyn Wasjanowicz

Produced by: Studio Filmowe KALEJDOSKOP
Polish distributor: KINO ŚWIAT Sp. z o. o.

Poland, 2017

Spoor

Janina Duszejko is a retired engineer, a vegetarian, and a passionate animal lover. She lives alone in the mountains and believes in astrology. An eccentric figure with a strong personality. One winter night, she finds the body of her neighbour, a poacher, surrounded only by roe deer tracks. The police are powerless to do anything, so she starts her own investigation. She meets with hostility, but also finds a few allies. The movie is an adaptation of the novel Drive Your Plough over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. It presents picturesque landscapes and combines different genres, from thriller to comedy.

Original title: Pokot

Directors: Agnieszka Holland, Katarzyna Adamik
Cinematographers: Jolanta Dylewska, Rafał Paradowski

Produced by: Heimatfilm, Česká Televize - Czech Television, Studio Filmowe TOR. Nutprodukce
Polish distributor: NEXT FILM Sp. z o. o.

Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, 2017