One of the most popular Polish directors and a master of Polish comedy Juliusz Machulski tackles the horror film genre in his new film Lullaby.

A series of mysterious events take place in a small, picturesque town where the visitors and habitants suddenly start to disappear. The atmosphere thickens and tension grows as two policemen investigate. The trails lead nowhere, and innocent victims still disappear without a trace. The action is swift and full of sudden turns as the mystery is revealed bit by bit as a peculiar vampire family enters the picture. The plot is conveyed with a strong dose of humor, a trade mark of the director. 

Machulski, a director, screenwriter, producer and actor, had his directing debut in 1979. He founded and heads the ZEBRA Film Studio (www.zebrafilm.pl) since 1988. Machulski is the author of several internationally known Polish comedies including Vabank, Sexmission and Vinci. In 1998 Walt Disney Productions bought the rights to remake his hit comedy Killer, which held the box office record for a Polish comedy until 2008. 

"When I started making films I had the ambition to test myself in every genre that interested me - science fiction, criminal and also horror. But for a long time I didn't have a good idea for a horror film. I made a couple of attempts, but it wasn't until Lullaby that the material turned out to be right for me: full of distance, thrill, irony and foremost the comedic potential. The fusion of horror and comedy is an interesting challenge, because when we laugh we're clearly not scared, and horror films are made to scare us," Machulski said. 

The film has a cast of popular Polish actors. The script, written by Adam Dobrzycki, was adapted by Machulski to give it a more comic shape. The music was composed by the renowned Polish film composer Michał Lorenc.

The film was shot  in September 2009 on location on special sets build in Konstancin and the heritage park at the Ethnographic Museum in Olsztynek. The producer of the film is Zebra Studio in co-production with Monolith Films (www.monolith.pl), Studio Filmowe OTO (www.otofilm.pl) and Nonstop Film Service (www.nsfs.pl). Lullaby's budget of 5.2 million PLN (EUR 1.3 million) was 50% financed by the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl). 

The movie premiered in Polish cinemas on February 12, 2010 and is nationally distributed by Monolith Films. 

Crew:

Director                         Juliusz Machulski

Screenwriter                   Adam Dobrzycki

Script adaptation            Juliusz Machulski

Cinematographer            Arkadiusz Tomiak

Costumes                      Ewa Machulska

Set design                     Wojciech Żogała

Music                            Michał Lorenc                     

Production Manager        Andrzej Stempowski, Łukasz Rogalski

Production Company       ZEBRA Film Studio

Executive Producer         Wojciech Danowski

Producer                        Juliusz Machulski

Co-production                 Monolith Films, Studio Filmowe OTO, Nonstop Film Service

Co-financing                   Polish Film Institute

Cast:

Robert Więckiewicz

Małgorzata Buczkowska

Janusz Chabior

Krzysztof Kiersznowski

Ewa Ziętek

Michał Zieliński

Production Contact:

Studio Filmowe ZEBRA 
Puławska 61 
02-595 Warsaw 
Tel/fax: +48 22 845 54 84, 845 65 88 
e-mail: zebra@zebrafilm.pl