Media release: POLISH FILM FESTIVAL AUSTRALIA ANNOUNCES 2019 DATES AND LINE-UP
Announcement posted by Jameson & Co 17 Oct 2019
(Opening night film: Golden Lion and Golden Berlin Bear nominated “Mr Jones” – directed by Academy Award® nominee Agnieszka Holland)
Polish Cinema In Australia, Inc is proud to announce its line-up for the seventh annual Polish Film Festival, showcasing the best of Poland’s filmmaking – plus a special screening of an Australian documentary - over two November weeks in Melbourne, with Festival highlights screening in early December for Sydney audiences.
Melbourne’s much-loved independent cinemas, The Classic and Lido will be home to Polish Film Festival - Australia 2019 from November 22 to December 1; and in Sydney, the Ritz Cinemas will hold two screenings each day on the weekend of December 7 & 8.
Setting the tone of quality, award-winning festival programming, opening the Festival will be Academy Award® nominated director Agnieszka Holland’s acclaimed biopic, Mr Jones, which had its Australian premiere at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival and received Best Film nominations at the 2019 Polish Film Festival (Golden Lion) at the Berlin International Film Festival (Golden Berlin Bear).
Starring James Norton, Joseph Mawle, Peter Sarsgaard and Vanessa Kirby, Mr Jones is a compelling and powerful film about Welsh journalist Gareth Jones and his efforts to expose Soviet atrocities in the 1930s.
Another highlight will be Australia-based director Simon Target introducing his insightful documentary, The Polish Missionaries, featuring music by Cezary Skubiszewski.
Also screening will be Jacek Borcuch’s Dolce Fine Giornata – starring "the dame of Polish cinema" and best Sundance 2019 Actor Award winner Krystyna Janda; multi-award winning director Filip Bajon’s beautifully crafted, epic period drama, The Butler; Werewolf, a disturbing World War II thriller by writer-director Adrian Panec; 53 Wars , Ewa Bukowska’s evocative psychological drama adapted from the autobiographical novel by Grażyna Jagielska; Kinga Debska’s “Best Film” nominated Playing Hard ; Olga Chajda’s outstanding directorial debut, the acclaimed LBGTQIA sensual drama, Nina; multi-award-winning director Wojtek Smarzowski’s controversial box office hit, Clergy ; and last but not least, based upon the Italian hit comedy Perfect Strangers”, Tadeusz Sliwa’s Nie znajomi (NB: in Polish only – no English subtitles).
The Polish Film Festival will also feature more special guests and themed multi-cultural events, to be announced in the coming weeks.
Session times and ticketing information for Polish Film Festival Australia 2019 will be announced on November 1, through www.polishfilmfestival.com.au.
Connect with Polish Film Festival Australia online:
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM
MEDIA CONTACT:
Erin Jameson – 0419 323 663 erin(at)jamesonandco(dot)com
FILM SYNOPSES
Mr. Jones (2019)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6828390
A Welsh journalist breaks the news in the western media of the famine in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s.
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Stars: James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard
Dolce Fine Giornata / Slodki Koniec Dnia (2019)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9358106
Directed by Jacek Borcuch. With Krystyna Janda, Kasia Smutniak, Antonio Catania, Lorenzo de Moor. The stable family life of a poetess living in Tuscany begins to fall apart , after she develops a relationship with a young immigrant, and as she makes a controversial acceptance speech after a terrorist attack in Rome.
Director: Jacek Borcuch
Stars: Krystyna Janda, Kasia Smutnialk, Antonio Catania
VIEW TRAILER
The Butler / Kamerdyner (2018)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6712374
Set between 1900 and 1945, the film follows a Prussian family von Krauss, and a forbidden love story between the Kashubian boy Mateusz and the German aristocrat girl Marita
Director: Filip Bajon
Stars: Janusz Gajos, Anna Radwan, Sebastian Fabijanski
VIEW TRAILER
Werewolf / Wilkolak (2018)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7203520
Children liberated from a Nazi concentration camp have to overcome hunger, thirst and vicious dogs in an abandoned mansion surrounded by the forest.
Director: Adrian Panek
Stars: Kamil Polnisiak, Nicholas Przygoda, Sonia Mielnicka
VIEW TRAILER
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7434040
Anna, whose husband Witek is an acclaimed 1990s war correspondent, keeps waiting for him to return safely from each war he reports from. But soon she gets overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. Its ambitious genre blend, marrying suspense and horror tropes to a tormented love story.
Director: Ewa Bukowska
Stars: Magdalena Bukowska, Grazyna Jagielska
VIEW TRAILER
Playing Hard / Zabawa, zabawa (2018)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7419468
We look at three women. The 40-year-old prosecutor Dorota, the young student Magda and a distinguished surgeon, Teresa. They have something in common, an alcohol addiction.
Director: Kinga Debska
Stars: Agata Kulesza, Maria Debska, Dorota Kolak
VIEW TRAILER
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7461300
Nina, a teacher in her mid-30s struggling to have a child, looks for a surrogate mother. It would seem that with her husband, she has found an ideal candidate, yet Nina falls for the woman who could have given birth to her child.
Director: Olga Chajdas
Stars: Julia Kijowska, Eliza Rycembel, Andrzej Konopka
VIEW TRAILER
The Polish Missionaries (2018)
Far from their own country, a determined band of Polish missionaries have given up their comfortable lives to heed their call in remote Papua New Guinea. There, they go beyond preaching gospel or handing out bibles – perhaps beyond even religion itself – to work with the Papuans towards a better life. Over a number of years, the missionaries build roads, hospitals and schools, while also struggling with the effects of poverty, disease and a lack of formal education in the young state.
This Polish-Australian documentary delivers an uplifting example of how faith-based aid workers from wealthy nations can help those in poorer countries.
Director: Simon Target
Cinematography : Simon Target
Editing: John Pleffer
Music: Cezary Skubiszewski
Produced by: Handheld Pictures
Producers: Simon Target, Beata Zatorska
VIEW TRAILER
Clergy /Kler (2018)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8738964
Clergy received a wide release in Poland on September 28, 2018 and grossed $29,913,342, breaking several box office records. About 935,000 viewers watched the film in its opening weekend, the best opening for a Polish film in Poland in 30 years. International rights to The Clergy have been sold to a number of foreign countries, including Austria, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, the United States and Canada.
The film has aroused passionate debate in a deeply religious country, winning awards, but also triggering calls to be banned. Smarzowski has said he “did not want to attack faith itself” but “the men who make up the Church and those who are not saints and act like outlaws”.
Director: Wojtek Smarzowski
Stars: Janusz Gajos, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Robert Wieckiewicz, Jacek Braciak
VIEW TRAILER
Perfect Strangers / Nie(znajomi) 2019 NB: In POLISH only
Another variation of the Italian hit comedy, Perfect Strangers by Paolo Genovese, but is shining in its Polish context.
Seven long-time friends get together for a dinner. When they decide to share with each other the content of every text message, email and phone call they receive, many secrets start to unveil and the equilibrium trembles.
Director: Tadeusz Sliwa
Stars: Tomasz Kot, Kasia Smutniak, Maja Ostaszewska, Lukasz Simlat
VIEW TRAILER
Melbourne’s much-loved independent cinemas, The Classic and Lido will be home to Polish Film Festival - Australia 2019 from November 22 to December 1; and in Sydney, the Ritz Cinemas will hold two screenings each day on the weekend of December 7 & 8.
Setting the tone of quality, award-winning festival programming, opening the Festival will be Academy Award® nominated director Agnieszka Holland’s acclaimed biopic, Mr Jones, which had its Australian premiere at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival and received Best Film nominations at the 2019 Polish Film Festival (Golden Lion) at the Berlin International Film Festival (Golden Berlin Bear).
Starring James Norton, Joseph Mawle, Peter Sarsgaard and Vanessa Kirby, Mr Jones is a compelling and powerful film about Welsh journalist Gareth Jones and his efforts to expose Soviet atrocities in the 1930s.
Another highlight will be Australia-based director Simon Target introducing his insightful documentary, The Polish Missionaries, featuring music by Cezary Skubiszewski.
Also screening will be Jacek Borcuch’s Dolce Fine Giornata – starring "the dame of Polish cinema" and best Sundance 2019 Actor Award winner Krystyna Janda; multi-award winning director Filip Bajon’s beautifully crafted, epic period drama, The Butler; Werewolf, a disturbing World War II thriller by writer-director Adrian Panec; 53 Wars , Ewa Bukowska’s evocative psychological drama adapted from the autobiographical novel by Grażyna Jagielska; Kinga Debska’s “Best Film” nominated Playing Hard ; Olga Chajda’s outstanding directorial debut, the acclaimed LBGTQIA sensual drama, Nina; multi-award-winning director Wojtek Smarzowski’s controversial box office hit, Clergy ; and last but not least, based upon the Italian hit comedy Perfect Strangers”, Tadeusz Sliwa’s Nie znajomi (NB: in Polish only – no English subtitles).
The Polish Film Festival will also feature more special guests and themed multi-cultural events, to be announced in the coming weeks.
Session times and ticketing information for Polish Film Festival Australia 2019 will be announced on November 1, through www.polishfilmfestival.com.au.
Connect with Polish Film Festival Australia online:
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
MEDIA CONTACT:
Erin Jameson – 0419 323 663 erin(at)jamesonandco(dot)com
FILM SYNOPSES
Mr. Jones (2019)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6828390
A Welsh journalist breaks the news in the western media of the famine in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s.
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Stars: James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Dolce Fine Giornata / Slodki Koniec Dnia (2019)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9358106
Directed by Jacek Borcuch. With Krystyna Janda, Kasia Smutniak, Antonio Catania, Lorenzo de Moor. The stable family life of a poetess living in Tuscany begins to fall apart , after she develops a relationship with a young immigrant, and as she makes a controversial acceptance speech after a terrorist attack in Rome.
Director: Jacek Borcuch
Stars: Krystyna Janda, Kasia Smutnialk, Antonio Catania
VIEW TRAILER
_________________________________________________________________________________________
The Butler / Kamerdyner (2018)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6712374
Set between 1900 and 1945, the film follows a Prussian family von Krauss, and a forbidden love story between the Kashubian boy Mateusz and the German aristocrat girl Marita
Director: Filip Bajon
Stars: Janusz Gajos, Anna Radwan, Sebastian Fabijanski
VIEW TRAILER
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Werewolf / Wilkolak (2018)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7203520
Children liberated from a Nazi concentration camp have to overcome hunger, thirst and vicious dogs in an abandoned mansion surrounded by the forest.
Director: Adrian Panek
Stars: Kamil Polnisiak, Nicholas Przygoda, Sonia Mielnicka
VIEW TRAILER
_________________________________________________________________________________________
53 Wars / 53 wojny (2018) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7434040
Anna, whose husband Witek is an acclaimed 1990s war correspondent, keeps waiting for him to return safely from each war he reports from. But soon she gets overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. Its ambitious genre blend, marrying suspense and horror tropes to a tormented love story.
Director: Ewa Bukowska
Stars: Magdalena Bukowska, Grazyna Jagielska
VIEW TRAILER
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Playing Hard / Zabawa, zabawa (2018)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7419468
We look at three women. The 40-year-old prosecutor Dorota, the young student Magda and a distinguished surgeon, Teresa. They have something in common, an alcohol addiction.
Director: Kinga Debska
Stars: Agata Kulesza, Maria Debska, Dorota Kolak
VIEW TRAILER
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Nina (2018)https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7461300
Nina, a teacher in her mid-30s struggling to have a child, looks for a surrogate mother. It would seem that with her husband, she has found an ideal candidate, yet Nina falls for the woman who could have given birth to her child.
Director: Olga Chajdas
Stars: Julia Kijowska, Eliza Rycembel, Andrzej Konopka
VIEW TRAILER
_________________________________________________________________________________________
The Polish Missionaries (2018)
Far from their own country, a determined band of Polish missionaries have given up their comfortable lives to heed their call in remote Papua New Guinea. There, they go beyond preaching gospel or handing out bibles – perhaps beyond even religion itself – to work with the Papuans towards a better life. Over a number of years, the missionaries build roads, hospitals and schools, while also struggling with the effects of poverty, disease and a lack of formal education in the young state.
This Polish-Australian documentary delivers an uplifting example of how faith-based aid workers from wealthy nations can help those in poorer countries.
Director: Simon Target
Cinematography : Simon Target
Editing: John Pleffer
Music: Cezary Skubiszewski
Produced by: Handheld Pictures
Producers: Simon Target, Beata Zatorska
VIEW TRAILER
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Clergy /Kler (2018)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8738964
Clergy received a wide release in Poland on September 28, 2018 and grossed $29,913,342, breaking several box office records. About 935,000 viewers watched the film in its opening weekend, the best opening for a Polish film in Poland in 30 years. International rights to The Clergy have been sold to a number of foreign countries, including Austria, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, the United States and Canada.
The film has aroused passionate debate in a deeply religious country, winning awards, but also triggering calls to be banned. Smarzowski has said he “did not want to attack faith itself” but “the men who make up the Church and those who are not saints and act like outlaws”.
Director: Wojtek Smarzowski
Stars: Janusz Gajos, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Robert Wieckiewicz, Jacek Braciak
VIEW TRAILER
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Perfect Strangers / Nie(znajomi) 2019 NB: In POLISH only
Another variation of the Italian hit comedy, Perfect Strangers by Paolo Genovese, but is shining in its Polish context.
Seven long-time friends get together for a dinner. When they decide to share with each other the content of every text message, email and phone call they receive, many secrets start to unveil and the equilibrium trembles.
Director: Tadeusz Sliwa
Stars: Tomasz Kot, Kasia Smutniak, Maja Ostaszewska, Lukasz Simlat
VIEW TRAILER