| Gdynia Polish Film Festival Competition spotlight: Phenomenon |
| 17 May 2010 | By Katarzyna Grynienko |
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Phenomenon, a directing/screenwriting debut from Tadeusz Paradowicz, is a crazy comedy about the search of the ultimate perfect man.
Paradowicz, a renowned Polish television and film actor, graduated from the Łódź Film School in 1979, and has been the head of the Studio N-Ar (www.studionart.com.pl ) advertising and film production house for the last 15 years. The director managed to gather an outstanding cast of young Polish actors including Ewa Hornich in her debut leading role. They are accompanied by Allesandro Bertolucci playing an Italian archeologist and Jan Nowcki, one of the legends of the Polish cinema, as an extravagant millionaire.
The movie was shot between in August and September 2008 on location in Warsaw, Płock, Gdańsk and Cracow. The production company is Studio N-Art in co-production with PAY Studio (www.pay.com.pl), Ross Media and Eine Doppelthe Methode. The final budget of the production was 3.5 million PLN (EUR 870,000) with a 500,000 PLN in financing from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl) and 250 000 PLN from the City of Płock (www.ump.pl).
Crew: Director Tadeusz Paradowicz Screenwriter Tadeusz Paradowicz Cinematographer Grzegorz Kędzierski Costumes Agata Uchman, Olga Turczak Set design Kamil Kuc Music Piotr Miki Mikołajczak Production Manager Krzysztof Wiech Production Company Studio N-art Executive Producers Piotr Budnik, Harry Jerzy Kasperski, Beata Zglenicka Co-producers Zbigniew Franczak, Ali Jasari, Tomasz Karczewski, Marcin Piasecki, Włodzimierz Co-financing Polish Film Institute, City of Płock
Ewa Hornich Monika Dryl Anna Oberc Rafał Cieszyński Łukasz Nowicki Przemek Cypriański Allesandro Bertolucci Jan Nowcki
Production contact: Studio N-Art Sp. z o.o. Al.Lotników 1 02-668 Warsaw Tel./fax (022) 853 65 43, 853 65 44 |
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Phenomenon evolves around the lives of three heroines: an eccentric film star, the spoiled daughter of a millionaire, and her loyal, big hearted but small-minded best friend. Despite their differences, they are all after the same thing: the perfect man. They come across a real gallery of choices including a mama's boy-celebrity, a handsome Italian archeologist, self-confident biker, a determined but unsuccessful actor, an extremely fertile screenwriter and even a couple of Polish rap artists, who also contribute to the music score to the film. Each one of them can turn out to be the perfect candidate.
"I consciously engaged in an experiment of breaking the conventions, mixing styles and choosing good entertainment cinema over pseudo-deep psychological characters. Phenomenon evolves around the madness of present times, where money and the hunger for fame are what matter most; but this movie has also a second underlying layer, where cinema connoisseurs will find several links and allusions and maybe, a piece of themselves," Paradowicz told FNE. 
Phenomenon opened in Polish cinemas May 7, 2010. Before the official premiere the film was awarded with the Audience Prize during the XII Polish Film Comedy Festival "Sami Swoi" in Lubomierz. The Polish distributor is Kino Świat (
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