34. Polish Film Festival in Gdynia
| Gdynia Polish Film Festival Competition Spotlight: Hel |
| 16 September 2009 | By Katarzyna Grynienko |
Director/writer Kinga Dębska's Polish/Czech co-production Hel premieres in the Gdynia festival competition in advance of its December 31 theatrical release.
 Hel is a story of a psychiatrist whose life is disrupted when his grown up son is administered to the psychiatric ward where he works. The title refers to the location where part of the movie was filmed.A psychological drama Hel was initially a Zebra Film Studio production, with plans to start shooting two years ago. In the course of pre-production, the film was taken over by Polish Studio Filmowe KALEJDOSKOP (www.kalejdoskop.art.pl) represented by Zbigniew Domagalski as the producer. The studio brought Czech production company In Film Praha to the project, and filming took place in February and March, 2009. "The budget of the movie is 2 million PLN (€440,000) , with 1.35 million PLN ( €300,000) in financing from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl)," Zbigniew Domagalski from KALEJDOSKOP told FNE. "About 20% of the budget is provided by the Czech producer In Film Praha," he added. The movie is a cinema feature debut for Kinga Dębska, who started her career as journalist and documentary filmmaker. The cast of Hel changed in the course of the last two years. The final list includes a new lead actor Paweł Królikowski, Lesław Żurek, star Czech actress Anna Geislerova (winner of the last four Czech Lions for the Best Actress), and Magda Biegańska. Credits: Director: Kinga Dębska Scriptwriter: Kinga Dębska Director of Photography: Wojciech Staroń Production Designer: Marek Zawierucha Producer: Zbigniew Domagalski Production Company: Studio Filmowe KALEJDOSKOP Co-producer: Rudolf Biermann, In Film Praha Supported by Polish Film Institute Cast: Paweł Królikowski Anna Geislerova Lesław Żurek Magda Biegańska Bartosz Żukowski Monika Kwiatkowska-Dejczer Katarzyna Cynke Janusz Chabior Bartłomiej Topa Anna Gornostaj Przemysław Bluszcz Henryk Talar |
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