02/11/2011

Poland’s entry in the race for the 2012 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, Agnieszka Holland’s In Darkness last weekend won the Best Director Award at the 56th Valladolid Film Festival.

Co-produced by Poland (Studio Filmowe Zebra), Germany (Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv GmbH) and Canada (The Film Works), In Darkness looks back at the Holocaust through the true story of Leopold Socha, a Polish man who risked his life to save some Jews during the Second World War.

At first, it was only for financial gain that this delinquent (played by Robert Wieckiewicz) decided to help the Jews from Lvov to hide in the water pipe network. But he changed and later showed himself to be determined to rescue these victims of persecution from extermination and was prepared to sacrifice his life and that of his close relatives for that aim.

In Darkness doesn’t just tell the story of this metamorphosis. Holland’s film also paints a realistic picture of the situation after the liquidation of the Lvov ghetto and the relations between Poles, Jews, Ukrainians and Germans.

The film is scheduled for release in Poland and Canada in January 2012. International sales are being managed by Beta Film.

Also in the prize list at the Valladolid Film Festival, Best Film went to Belgian director Geoffrey Enthoven’s Hasta la Vista! [+see also:
trailer
interview: Geoffrey Enthoven
film profile], while French helmer Robert Guédiguian’s LUX Prize 2011 nominee The Snows of Kilimanjaro [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Robert Guédiguian
interview: Robert Guédiguian
film profile] won the Silver Spike.

(Translated from French)