14-12-2020

FNE at Gdynia Polish FF 2020: How I Became a Gangster. True Story

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    How I Became a Gangster. True Story by Maciej Kawulski How I Became a Gangster. True Story by Maciej Kawulski

    GDYNIA: How I Became a Gangster. True Story, the feature debut from Maciej Kawulski, starring Marcin Kowalczyk, screens in the main competition of the Gdynia Polish Film Festival, that took place online 8 – 12 December 2020.

    The film follows an untypical gangster: intelligent and excellent at playing his cards right with his narrow-minded buddies from the business. The beginning of his career is not easy: more often than not he has to stand up to the bosses of old Pruszków and operate on the border of territories influenced by the largest crime groups in Poland. Spectacular raids, daring assaults and an original strategy all make him successful. However, he fails to predict one thing: that his best friend, Walden, will go mad and challenge the whole Polish mafia. The protagonist will have to make a choice: it’s either his career, and peace and quiet or the life of his best friend… Based on a true story.

    "I got the script and understood that for the first time in Polish cinema, the life of a gangster was told, not interpreted. And it's not because of people who say they knew, were, and saw, but because of him. I realised that I was not reading another script from the trial, but a beautiful story about the love and friendship of a cruel man who, however, survived mainly because he was capable of feelings. It's 40 years of life in a two-hour picture, in such a way that you don't feel unsatisfied or too full for a moment," Kawulski told FNE.

    The film was directed by Maciej Kawulski and written by Krzysztof Gureczny. The DoP for this project was Bartosz Cierlica. The cast includes Natalia Szroeder, Marcin Kowalczyk, Natalia Siwiec and Tomasz Włosok. 

    The film was shot in Warsaw in the summer of 2019, produced commercially by Next Film and Polsat. The final budget has not been announced. The distributor is Next Film and the film opened in Poland, the UK and Iceland on 3 January 2020 taking in USD 5,975,729 worldwide. 

    Production information:

    Next Film

    Credits:
    Director: Maciej Kawulski
    Screenwriter: Krzysztof Gureczny
    DoP: Bartosz Cierlica
    Cast: Natalia Szroeder, Marcin Kowalczyk, Natalia Siwiec and Tomasz Włosok.