34. Polish Film Festival in Gdynia
| Gdynia Polish Film Festival Competition Spotlight: Freedom Is Within Us.Popiełuszko. |
| 17 September 2009 | By Katarzyna Grynienko |
One of the biggest Polish productions of 2008, Freedom Is Within Us.Popiełuszko, competes during the Gdynia film festival.
 Freedom Is Within Us.Popiełuszko tells the story of Jerzy Popiełuszko, a heroic priest associated with the Solidarity movement, who was murdered by the Security Service of the People's Republic of Poland. The movie presents his life starting from his childhood spent on a Polish province, through the formation of his religious calling in the army and the process of becoming a legend during the martial law period till his brutal murder and funeral, which drew over half million people.The movie was shot between August 2007 and April 2008 in the authentic locations of the events presented in the script: Warsaw, Zakopane and Gdańsk. The preparatory stage of this production lasted over 5 years. The creators of the picture gathered a broad documentation and were in direct contact with several witnesses of the priest's life. Rafał Wieczyński, the director and author of the script, consulted Popiełuszko's family and friends as well as historians and the representatives of the Catholic Church engaged in the priest's beatification process. The main role is played by Adam Woronowicz. The director managed to introduce an all star cast to his project including Maja Komorowska, Joanna Szczepkowska, Danuta Stenka, Kazimierz Kaczor, Radosław Pazura, Jan Englert and Władysław Kowalski. The former Polish primate Józef Glemp also made a guest appearance in the picture.  Freedom Is Within Us.Popiełuszko is one of the biggest Polish productions of the last couple of years with over 7,000 cast members and extras. It was produced by Focus Producers (www.popieluszko.pl) with a major budget of 12 million PLN in co-production with IF MAX-FILM SA (www.maxfilm.com.pl). The movie was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute ( www.pisf.pl) with 3.9 million PLN for production. The title was also financed by the Municipal Office of the Masovia Province. The title premiered on February 16 in the National Theater in Warsaw and opened in Polish cinemas on February 17, 2009. The movie was a big success, targeted especially to school audiences as part of their history lessons. The movie's Polish distributor Kino Świat (www.kinoswiat.pl) told FNE that the title was seen by over 1.3 million viewers and made over 17.3 million PLN. Official website of the film :http://www.popieluszko.pl  CreditsDirector - Rafał Wieczyński Screenwriter - Rafał Wieczyński Cinematographer - Grzegorz Kędzierski Set Design - Andrzej Kowalczyk Costumes - Alicja Hornostaj Music composer - Paweł Sydor Producer - Julita Świercz-Wieczyńska Production company - Focus Producers Co-production - IF Max-Film Co-financing - Polish Film Institute, Municipal Office of the Masovian Province Distributor - Kino Świat Cast Adam Woronowicz Maja Komorowska Joanna Szczepkowska Danuta Stenka Kazimierz Kaczor Radosław Pazura Jan Englert Władysław Kowalski and others  Production contact:Focus Producers ul. Puławska 61, 02-595 Warszawa tel.: 22 845 49 94, 501 548 415 fax: 22 845 49 94 email: focus.producers@wp.pl www: http://www.popieluszko.pl |
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