In Three Minutes. 21:37 director Maciej Ślesicki explores the image of contemporary Poland in the moment of grief after the death of Pope John Paul II. The cast of popular Polish actors, some from the director's previous commercial successes, includes Bogusław Linda, Piotr Adamczyk, Marcin Dorociński, Andrzej Grabowski, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Cezary Pazura and Marian Dziędziel.

Three minutes. 21:37 looks at Poles joined by faith a week after the death of the Pope, when millions of lights were turned off across the country as a manifest of unanimous grief. The plot covers four parallel stories of people who will unconsciously impact each other by their behaviour and actions. 

Ślesicki, a filmmaker and producer, had a highly praised debut with Dad (1995). He continued his style of mixing film genres with intelligence and humor in his next film, tje action comedy Sara (1997), a major commercial success. He also wrote and directed the first Polish modern sitcom, the 13th Police Station. In 2004 he co-founded the Warsaw Film School (www.szkolafilmowa.pl) along with Polish actor Bogusław Linda. In 2005 he joined a independent producer Jolanta Rojek to establish Paisa Films (www.paisafilms.pl). 

"I've always wanted to make a film about contemporary Poland, about people that I know," said Ślesicki. "After the Pope's death beautiful moments of national solidarity took place. But what if at 21:37, in the moment when the whole nation stood still, somebody would hurt someone else? This question became the initial point to this film," he said. "During these few minutes of darkness the lives of my heroes either changes radically or sometimes it ends... But the nice impluse of solidarity in the nation is not the topic of the film. It is not a religious film. It's a film about a down-to-earth miracle."

The shoot for the film took place in Warsaw in fall 2008. Three minutes. 21:27 is produced by Paisa Films (www.paisafilms.pl) in co-operation with the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl), EBH Polska (www.ebh.cc) Security Technologies (www.st.com.pl),OTO Film Studio (www.otofilm.pl), John Paul II Thought Center (www.centrumjp2.pl), The National Culture Center (www.nck.pl), The John Paul II Institute ( www.ijp2.pl). The budget was some 5 million PLN (EUR 1.2 million) with 3 million PLN financing from the Polish Film Institute. 

Credits:

Director - Maciej Ślesicki

Screenwriter - Maciej Ślesicki

Cinematographer - Andrzej Ramlau

Producer - Maciej Ślesicki, Jolanta Rojek

Production company - Paisa Films

Co-producer - EBH Polska

Co-financing - Polish Film Institute 

Cast:

Bogusław Linda

Piotr Adamczyk

Marcin Dorociński

Andrzej Grabowski

Zbigniew Zamachowski

Cezary Pazura

Marian Dziędziel

Production contact:

ul. Bokserska 1, 02-682 Warszawa 
tel.: 22 853 17 10
email: biuro@paisafilms.pl
www: http://www.paisafilms.pl

www.trzyminuty.paisafilms.pl