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15-05-2019

Controversial Polish Documentary Pulls In 12 m Views on YouTube

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    Don't Tell Anyone by Tomasz Siekielski Don't Tell Anyone by Tomasz Siekielski

    WARSAW: Don't Tell Anyone, a documentary by Tomasz Siekielski exposing pedophilia in the Polish Catholic church has both shocked the Polish public and attracted over 12 m views on YouTube in the two days since its online premiere.

    The documentary got over 1 m views in less than six hours after its YouTube release on 11 May 2019. Its authors have announced that there will be a sequel that will show subsequent stories of harassment by the clergy. They also declared that they could make their production license available free of charge to national television stations.

    The film directed by Tomasz Sekielski in collaboration with his brother Marek Sekielski (as producer) focuses on several people who were sexually molested by the clergy when they were children. The Siekielskis collected funds for the production of the film on the Patronite website, raising 450,000 PLN / 104,456 EUR.

    The film's producer said that they want to show the documentary outside the country. They are negotiating with Netflix and they would like it to be made available for free. Plans also include screenings at independent international film festivals.

    "We will take some steps to show the film abroad. However, we will not commercialise it at any stage of the promotion. We are also thinking about cooperation with Netflix and free licensing for them so that they can be released exclusively for countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and the whole world. It's about preparing subtitles in a given language version. Our film on YouTube will also have subtitles in English,” Marek Sekielski told FNE. The plans also include developing a documentary series for Netflix based on the cases presented in the film.

    The topic has hit a nerve in Poland. Wojtek Smarzowski's The Clergy (Profil Film Jacek Rzehak), a drama touching on the same subject, was released on 18 September 2018 and distributed by NEXT FILM. It had 4.34 million admissions in its first four weeks and 5.1 m admissions to date.