War Games at Toronto and Munich
Dariusz Jabłoński ’s documentary War Games (Gry Wojenne) will be presented at two important international festivals: Toronto Hot Docs (April 29-May 9) in the World Showcase Hot Docs section and the Munich DOK.fest (May 5-12) in the DOK.International Official Selection.
Jabloński’s film is a portrait of Polish colonel Ryszard Kukliński (nicknamed Jack Strong) who passed on to the CIA over 40,000 strategic documents from the Warsaw Pact between 1972 and 1981, which has been confirmed by the Americans.
The film’s press kit says: "Some believe that if Kukliński hadn’t passed on those documents to the CIA, the whole of Europe would today still be suffering the consequences of a global nuclear disaster. The Americans see Kukliński as a true hero, the Russians consider him a traitor and the Poles remain divided".
The director started work on the film in 2004, just before the colonel’s sudden death. War Games is therefore a film about Kukliński, but he doesn’t appear before the camera.
The documentary’s production was spread over more than five years, the time needed to get the most important witnesses of Kukliński’s activity in the United States, Russia and Poland to speak up.
Jabłoński has made several documentaries, including The Photographer, which was lauded at Biarritz in 1999 (Golden FIPA Grand Prize and Planet Award) and the Amsterdam IDFA in 1998 (Grand Prize, VPRO Joris Ivens Award). It also won the Europa Prize for Best Non-fiction TV Programme in 1998 and the Grimme Award 2000 in Germany.
The director’s filmography also includes the narrative feature Strawberry Wine, based on a novel by Andrzej Stasiuk.
War Games was produced by Apple Film (founded and headed by Jabloński), in co-production with TVP, Arte and Trigon Production. It will be distributed by Kino Świat.
(Translated from French)
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