16-10-2011

Crulic - The Path To Beyond Gets Polish Distribution

By Katarzyna Grynienko

    WARSAW: Crulic - The Path to Beyond, a striking animated documentary based on the tragedy of Claudiu Crulic, will open in Polish cinemas in December 2011.The decision followed the film's theatrical debut at the Warsaw Film Festival (www.wff.pl), where it won two awards.

    The Polish co-producer Fundacja im. Ferdynanda Magellana will distribute the film.

    "We will try to introduce the film all over the country in the beginning of December, focusing on studio cinemas with Blu-ray projectors. Because of the specific topic of the film we are planning to combine the screenings with discussions about human rights," Piotr Czerkawski of Fundacja im. Ferdynanda Magellana told FNE. He added that the Polish version will be voiced by popular Polish actor Maciej Stuhr, a strategy to draw more viewers. The original version is narrated by Romanian actor Vlad Ivanov (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days). The film will screen 11th Watch Dosc IFF (www.watchdosc.pl) in Warsaw and the Jihlava IDFF in the Czech Republic.

    The producer's previous plans for the film changed after very positive audience responses during screenings in Bucharest, Pusan and finally Warsaw. Crulic - A Path To Beyond is a 73 minute animated documentary about the true story of the tragic death of Claudiu Crulic, a 33-year-old Romanian who went on a hunger strike in a Polish prison as a form of protest to his unjust arrest and died due to the negligence of doctors and authorities. Director Anca Damian worked on the film for over two years, collecting data on Crulic including photos, his private journal and even the case files, through the Polish co-producer.

    The film is produced Aparte Film ( www.apartfilm.net) in co-production with Polish Fundacja im. Ferdynanda Magellana (www.fmagellan.pl) represented by Arkadiusz Wojnarowski. The production received financing from the Polish public funds: EUR 50,000 from the Polish Film Institute ( ww.pisf.pl) and EUR 10,000 from Krakow Film Commission (www.film-commission.pl) .