01-05-2012

FNE at Gdynia Film Festival: Shameless

By FNE Staff

    {mosimage}GDYNIA: In his moving debut Shameless, Filip Marczewski explores the issues of social taboo in contemporary Poland.

    Shameless, screening in competition at Poland's national film festival in Gdynia, is the story of a teenager coping with taboo romantic feelings for his older sister. The boy runs away from home to the small town where his sister lives. She is involved with a married man, who turns out to be the leader of a neo-fascist movement with vast political ambitions. The teen fights for his sister by discrediting the older man, while ignoring the attentions of a young gypsy girl.

    {mosimage}"The film is a story about ‘forbidden love,' painful coming of age, rebellion against culture taboo and finally about the freedom to choose our own path in life. The characters and their complicated relationships are the most important thing here, and their emotions and desires are what I was especially sensitive to," Marczewski told FNE.

    The film is the feature debut for Marczewski, a graduate of Lodz Film School who worked as a second director for Wojciech Marczewski's Weiser (www.tor.com.pl) and Lech J. Majewski's Wojaczek (www.filmcontract.pl). The lead role of the angry young outsider is played by the lauded young Polish actor Mateusz Kościukiewicz, winner of the Polish Film Award and best debut Cybulski Prize for All That I Love (www.prasaifilm.pl) as well as the Best Actor Prize at the 2010 IFF in Karlovy Vary for Mother Teresa Of Cats (www.rozwojfilm.pl). His older sister is played by Agnieszka Grochowska, recently praised for her role in Agnieszka Holland's In Darkness ( www.wciemnosci.pl) and cast by Andrzej Wajda to play Danuta Wałęsa in his film about the life of Lech Wałęsa currently in production at Akson Studio.

    {mosimage}Shameless was shot between June and September of 2010 in Wałbrzych. The film is produced by Akson Studio (www.akson-studio.pl) in co-production TVP S.A. (www.tvp.pl), TP S.A. (www.orange.pl), and Odra Film (www.odra-film.wroc.pl). The film received financial support from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl). The film will premiere in Poland on 3 August 2012, distributed by Kino Świat (www.kinoświat.pl). World sales are handled by TVP S.A.



    Production credits:

    Director - Filip Marczewski
    Screenwriter - Grzegorz Łoszewski
    Director of photography - Szymon Lenkowski
    Music - Paweł Mykietyn
    Production designer - Anna Wunderlich
    Sound - Tomasz Wieczorek
    Editing - Rafał Listopad
    Costume designer - Agata Culak
    Production manager - Magdalena Badura
    Production company - Akson Studio
    Producer - Michał Kwieciński
    Co-production - TVP S.A., TP S.A., Odra Film
    Co-financed by - Polish Film Institute
    Distribution - Kino Świat
    World sales - VP S.A.

    Cast:
    Mateusz Kościukiewicz
    Agnieszka Grochowska
    Maciej Marczewski
    Paweł Królikowski
    Anna Próchniak

    Production contact:
    AKSON STUDIO
    Piękna 44A
    00-672 Warsaw
    tel: +48 22 840 68 30
    fax: +48 22 841 77 82
    email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    www.akson-studio.pl