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FESTIVALS Poland

Gliński’s Piggies in competition at Karlovy Vary

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Robert Gliński returns to competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival (July 3-11), where his latest film, Piggies [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
is among the 14 titles vying for the 2009 Crystal Globe.

The Polish director won the Special Jury Prize at the Czech event in 2001 for Hi Tessa, which also picked up the FIPRESCI Prize (for "the harrowing portrait of a young girl trying to survive in a dysfunctional society, conveyed on screen in a powerful, realist style").

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In Piggies, Gliński once more explores the difficult reality of life on society’s margins. In the slang of the Polish-German border area, where the film is set, the term "świnki“ ("piggies") denotes the teenagers who prostitute themselves.

Sixteen-year-old Tomek (Filip Garbacz) and his friends are gradually drawn into the criminal world of paedophiles. Tomek decides, not without difficulty, to sell his body in order to satisfy the material desires of Marta, the girl he loves. This decision proves costly.

Piggies is the first narrative feature produced by Polish company Widark in co-production with Germany’s 42Film.

Polish cinema is also represented at this year’s Karlovy Vary Festival by Michał Rosa’s Scratch [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
in the East of the West section; Xawery Żuławski’s Snow White and Russian Red [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
in the Forum of Independents; and Marcin Koszałka’s Till It Hurts in the documentary competition.

Meanwhile, Juliusz Machulski’s How Much Does the Trojan Horse Weigh? will screen in the 20 Years of Freedom section (organised to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Velvet Revolution).

Finally, Andrzej Wajda’s Sweet Rush [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
is in the Horizons section line-up and Jacek Głomb’s Operation Danube will be presented out of competition.

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(Translated from French)

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