12-07-2011

PRODUCTION: Polish Sibiriad in Postproduction

By Katarzyna Grynienko

    WARSAW: Janusz Zaorski finished shooting his new drama Polish Sibiriad (Syberiada Polska), a major production devoted to a dark period in Polish history, on 1 July and has now entered the postproduction stage.



    Polish Sibiriad (Syberiada Polska) explores a theme seldom taken on by Polish cinema - the fate of Poles who have been deported by the Soviet NKWD to Sibir in 1940.The script, written by Michał Komar and Maciej Dutkiewicz, is based on a critically acclaimed novel by Zgibniew Domino under the same title. "The is a chance that Polish Sibiriad will enter the most important current of the Polish cinema - the movies about freedom! This script holds the highest level of difficulty for a director. Four seasons, three countries (Poland, Ukraine, Russia), two continents. It is absolutely worth it." Janusz Zaorski told FNE.

    Polish Sibiriad is one of the most complex Polish productions of recent years. The development stage and production took almost six years, with a crew of 100 and a cast of over 250 performers.

    "Syberiada Polska, with its exciting story, deeply dramatic psychological silhouettes and universal fates of the characters, gives us a chance to create a very important statement on the condition of Poles and people of pother nationalities in tis terrible time, one that especially cannot be forgotten," said Mirosław Słowiński, the executive producer from Satchwell Warszawa.

    The film is produced by Satchwell Warszawa (www.satchwellpw.pl) in co-production with ATM Grupa S.A (www.atmgrupa.pl), Ekoland (www.ekoland.orh.pl), Heliograf (www.heligraf.pl), Hero Collection (www.hero-collection.com.pl), and P.A.Y Studio (www.pay.com.pl). The budget of the production is 9.3 million PLN (EUR 2.3 million). Syberiada Polska received 5 million PLN from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl).

    The producer told FNE that the preparation for the shoot, including the first visit by a Polish feature film crew to Siberia, took several months. The crew started working in January 2010 and shot during each season on several locations including Krasnorajsk, Celestynów, Cedynia, Chabówka Sierpc and Sanok. The editing of the picture is managed by Milenia Fiedler from P.A.Y Studio and the special effects are created by ATM FX. The music will be composed by Krzesimir Dębski. The cast includes actors from Poland, Ukraine and Kazakhstan including Paweł Krucz, Adam Woroowicz, Urszula Grabowska and Marcin Walewski in the leads.

    The Polish premiere is planned for February 2012.



    Production information

    SATCHWELL Warszawa Sp. z o.o.
    ul. Chełmska 21
    00-724 Warsaw
    Tel.:+48 (22) 851 42 16
    (22) 851 44 49
    www.satchwellpw.pl