27/06/2011

Honoured with the title of best actor, won with Little Time, Polish film-maker Andrzej Barański is preparing for another competition at the Karlovy Vary Festival (the 46th edition of which begins on Friday) with Heritage, which will make its international debut.

Heritage focuses on Zbyszek (Rafal Zawierucha), a young inhabitant of a poor village in East Poland. His father was killed by alcohol and his mother, a recluse, tries to make a living through meagre work. Zbyszek tries to escape his difficult life but he keeps failing – an injury prevents him from pursuing a career in sports, he flunks his university course, he has no luck in intimate relationships and, despite being very ambitious, doesn’t achieve. Helped enormously by the black and white cinematography provided by Jacek Petrycki, Andrzej Barański manages to depict universal fears and desires in this film, by creating one of the most interesting characters in new Polish film-making.

Karlovy Vary’s public will also be able to discover six further Polish productions. The animated feature George the Hedgehog by the Wojtek Wawszczyk - Jakub Tarnowski duo will be presented in the East of the West section and two documentaries will participate in the genre competition: The Declaration of Immortality by Marcin Koszalka and At the Edge of Russia by Michal Marczak.

Of particular note out of competition are Komeda - Soundtrack for a Life by Claudia Buthenhoff-Duffy (2011 section: A Musical Odyssey) and the study film http:// by Bartosz Kruhlik (section The Fresh Selection). Finally, The Mill and the Cross [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Lech Majewski
film profile] by Lech Majewski features on the programme Another View, which groups together films considered to be of high artistic value.

(Translated from French)