Poland is very well represented at Locarno
- The film The Last Family by Jan P Matuszynski is one of the ten titles in the programme for the 69th Locarno Film Festival
The feature film The Last Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dawid Ogrodnik
film profile] by Jan P Matuszynski, starring great Polish actors Andrzej Seweryn and Dawid Ogrodnik, among others, is one of the films in the official competition of the 69th edition of the Locarno International Film Festival (to be held from 3-13 August 2016).
The Last Family tells the story of Zdzislaw Beksinski, one of the most famous Polish painters of the second half of the 20th century, whose works were extremely sombre and macabre, along with that of his wife, Zofia, and their son Tomasz, a music journalist and very well-known Polish radio presenter. Like his paintings, which touched on grisly subjects such as death, something of an obsession for Beksinski, the artist’s life turned into a living nightmare when his wife died after falling ill in 1998, and his son committed suicide one year later on Christmas Eve. Beksinski himself was killed in 2005, dying after being stabbed 17 times in his apartment.
The screenplay for the film was written by Robert Bolesto, and the photography is by Kacper Fertacz. The feature was produced by Aurum Film and co-produced by HBO Poland, Lightcraft and regional fund the Mazovia Warsaw Film Commission.
The programme also feature two Polish documentaries, which will be screened as part of Critics’ Week: Monk from the Sea [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Rafal Skalski, and Komunia by Anna Zamecka. Skalski’s film paints the portrait of a Thai man torn between the nocturnal delights of Bangkok and ancient Buddhist tradition. In Komunia, Zamecka presents Ola, a 14-year-old girl who is left to look after her young autistic brother by herself when her mother leaves home.
Among the eight films that will be screened in the Signs of Life section is The Sun, the Sun Blinded Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal
film profile] by Anka Sasnal and Wilhelm Sasnal, the story of which is based on The Stranger by Albert Camus. This Polish-Swiss co-production is being produced by Wilhelm Sasnal and Hauser & Wirth Zürich Gallery.
This year, the First Look section, which is dedicated to films currently in post-production, will centre around Poland. The programme features 13 Summers Underwater by Wiktoria Szymanska, Birds Are Singing in Kigali by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze, The Butler by Filip Bajon, The Day of Chocolate [+see also:
trailer
interview: Dawid Ogrodnik
film profile] by Jacek Piotr Bławut, I'm a Killer by Maciej Pieprzyca, and Zgoda by Maciej Sobieszczański.
(Translated from French)
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