26/01/2012

"This nomination is already a major success and victory for the film, for all the team and for Poland which submitted the film". Film director Agnieszka Holland expressed her satisfaction after the nomination announcement for In Darkness which is among the five titles in the running for the 2012 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, to be awarded on February 26.

In Darkness is set in Lvov, during the Second World War and is inspired by real-life events. The filmmaker has focused on the story of Polish man Leopold Socha (Robert Więckiewicz). This small-time thief is confronted with the atrocities of the war and turns into a hero: he hides a group of Jewish people threatened with extermination in a water pipe network, risking his own life and that of his close relatives in the process.

Co-produced by Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv (Germany), Studio Filmowe Zebra (Poland) and The Film Works (Canada), In Darkness has already won numerous awards at festivals, in particular at Plus Camerimage in Bydgoszcz, at Mar Del Plata and at Valladolid.

"Some Americans were shocked by the film and at the screenings I attended, viewers reacted like in Poland: this film pierces the conscience," said Holland to TVP. "My greatest joy is the significant number of admissions recorded in three weeks in Poland. I’ve been told that viewers leave theatres feeling so moved that they are unable to speak."

Launched on January 5 on a 102-print run, In Darkness had totalled over 480,000 admissions on January 22.<>

(Translated from French)