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In his new film, Happy Aphonia Jan Jakub Kolski looks at the art of wrestling and goes back to begginings of cinema.
Happy Aphonia (Afonia i Pszczoły) is a parable story set at the begining of the 20th century, taking place in a small train station where Aphonia lives with her paralyzed husband, a former wrestling champion. The woman's most prized possession is one of the first models of the camera, which she uses to film almost every detail of her everyday routine. The appearance of a Russian soliderchanges the quiet and calm life of the couple. The woman let's herself fall deeply in love with the stanger, who returns her affection but also uses her to find a secret sketchbook of wrestling tricks invented by her husband.
The movie was produced by Argomedia Production in co-operation with Odra Film (www.odra-film.wroc.pl), Studio Filmowe Wrocław and financing from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl) and the Lower-Silesia Province. Argomedia Production told FNE that the movie has a total budget of 3.3 million PLN ( €810,000 ) with 2 million PLN from the Polish Film Institute. Kolski (Pornography, Jasminum) is known for his warm, sensual aesthetic as well as parable and magical scripts. He worked on this title in a couple of shooting sessions which took place between February and May, 2008.
"It is a movie made with a small budget, with the intention that everything which appeared in the script would make it to the screen. It was created without production comforts, without all of the things that are associated with the film set. It is a thing made by a couple of people blind and deaf to the sound of the word 'impossible'," Kolski said.
Happy Aphonia brought together Polish and Russian acting talents of Grażyna Błęcka-Kolska as Aphonia, Polish actor Mateusz Saniternik as her husband, and Andrey Bilanov, a Russian actor and judo wrestler. The director of photography was Krzysztof Ptak, a strong proponent of digital technologies in the Polish cinema and a long time colleague of Kolski. Music was created by Dariusz Górniok, an accomplished Polish composer debuting in the genre of feature film soundtracks with this title.
The official premiere took place in Warsaw on June 4, 2009. The movie entered Polish cinemas on June 5, released by Best Film on 41 copies.
Production contact: Argomedia Production ul. Kościuszki 55, 50-011 Wrocław tel.: 71 337 37 38 email: argomedia@op.pl
Crew:
Driector - Jan Jakub Kolski Scriptwriter - Jan Jakub Kolski Cinematographer - Krzysztof Ptak
Music - Dariusz Górniok Editing - Witold Chomiński Producer - Lambros Ziotas Production Company - Argomedia Production Co-production - Odra Films, Studiow Filmowe Wrocław
Cast:
Grażyna Błęcka-Kolska - Aphonia Mariusz Saniternik - Rafał, her husband
Andrey Blianov - Ruski Wojciech Solarz - Leszek Zofia Zoń - Anielka
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