07-05-2012

FNE at Gdynia Film Festival: In Darkness

By FNE Staff

    {mosimage}GDYNIA: The Polish Oscar-nominated film In Darkness by Agnieszka Holland competes at the Gdynia Polish Film Festival (www.fpff.pl) running through 12 May 2012.

    Set in WWII, In Darkness follows the true story of Leopold Socha, a Catholic Pole and a small time crook who helped and sheltered a group of Jews hiding from the Nazi-imposed ghetto for over a year. He took money for his help, but what was initially a way of making a profit transformed into an emotional relationship with those that he was hiding, until finally he was ready to heroically fight for their lives. Socha is played by one Poland's most accomplished actors Robert Więckiewicz, who was awarded the Silver Bear during the IFF in Berlin and the Polish Film Award: The Eagles (www.pnf.pl) for the Best Actor. The cast includes Maria Schrader, Benno Fürmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Kinga Preis, Herbert Knaup, Krzysztof Skonieczny, Marcin Bosak, Julia Kijowska and Michał Żurawski. The cinematographer is Jolanta Dylewska, whose work on In Darkness won the grand prix of the 2011 Plus Camerimage IFF (www.pluscamerimage.pl) and the Polish Film Award: The Eagles for Best Cinematography.

    {mosimage}In Darkness is a coproduction between Poland's Studio Filmowe ZEBRA (www.zebrafilm.pl), Canada's The Film Works Ltd. and Germany's Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv (www.schmidtzkatze.eu), with a budget of over 22 million PLN ( EUR 5.6 million) including 3.6 million PLN from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl).. Filming began in September 2010 and lasted till January 2011.
    The film premiered in Poland on 5 January 2012 distributed by Kino Świat (www.kinoswiat.pl). The production remains the most popular Polish title of the year, with 70,000 admissions during the opening weekend and 1,157,634 tickets sold to date. In 2011, the film was picked up for US and Canadian distribution by Sony Pictures Classics (www.sonyclassics.com).

    {mosimage}Crew:
    Director - Agnieszka Holland
    Screenwriter - David F.Shamoon
    Director of photography - Jolanta Dylewska
    Music - Antoni Komasa Łazarkiewicz
    Production designer - Erwin Prib, Katarzyna Sobańska, Marcel Sławiński
    Sound - Robert Fletcher, Daniel Pellerin
    Editing: Michał Czarnecki
    Costume designer - Katarzyna Lewińska, Jagna Janicka
    Make-up - Janusz Kaleja
    Production manager - Andrzej Besztak
    Production company - Zebra Film Studio
    {mosimage}Producer - Juliusz Machulski
    Co-produced by - SCHMIDTz KATZE FILMKOLLEKTIVE, The Film Works
    Co-financed by - Polish Film Institute
    Executive producer - Wojciech Danowski
    Distributed by - Kino Świat
    World sales - Beta Cinema

    Cast:
    Robert Więckiewicz
    Agnieszka Grochowska
    Krzysztof Skonieczny
    Michał Żurawski
    Kinga Preis
    Julia Kijowska

    Production information:
    Studio Filmowe ZEBRA
    Puławska 61
    02-595 Warsaw
    Tel: +48 22 845 54 84
    Fax: +48 22 845 65 88
    e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    www.zebrafilm.pl