04/02/2014 - Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal, a popular duo who competed in Rotterdam in 2011, will unveil their new opus in Berlin

The new film by Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal, Parasite [+see also:
trailer
film profile], will have its world première in the Forum section of the 64th Berlinale (which takes place from 6 to 16 February 2014). Having come to people’s attention with Swineherd in 2008, the two filmmakers had been selected to compete in Rotterdam in 2012 with It Looks Pretty From a Distance, a film that also won the Wroclaw Film Award at the New Horizons Festival in 2011 as well as the top award at the 2012 Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz. As was the case with the duo’s two previous films, Parasite was filmed in Super 16 mm, and was then transferred to 35 mm.

The storyline focuses on an old, sick man and a young mother. They initially seem to be very different people, but after the man stops working in a factory, he loses his stride and, little by little, seems to withdraw from life. The woman, who is always very attached to her child, virtually forming a single body with him, can no longer find any of her youthful energy. However, the contrast between these two characters is only an illusion, because in reality, their lives, full to the brim with monotonous daily routines, are unravelling painfully.

The cast includes Joanna Drozda (who already appeared in It Looks Pretty From a Distance) and the non-professional actor Jerzy Gajlikowski, who passed away in March 2013. It is worth noting that the photography directing was overseen by Wilhelm Sasnal himself.

Parasite was produced by Anka Sasnal, Wilhelm Sasnal, Sadie Coles HQ and the Filmpolis studio.