31-08-2009

Spotlight on Gdynia Polish Film Festival: Case Unknown

    One of the most awaited titles this year in the Gdynia Polish Film Festival competition is Case Unknown, a new movie from the renowned Polish director Feliks Falk.

    {mosimage} Case Unknown (Enen) takes place in Wrocław in 1997, when a big flood is approaching the city and hospitals are evacuated. A young psychiatrist discovers that one of his patients is missing: a man with a medical history suffering from amnesia, a fact that seems to be neglected by the hospital staff. After the evacuation he decides to take the man to his home and starts a therapy on his own. The young doctor wants to discover the exact circumstances in which his patient was admitted to the hospital 20 years earlier. Fascinated by the mysterious case, the doctor becomes more and more detached form his family and threathens his medical career, while the answer to his questions turns out to be mroe grim then he expected.

    Feliks Falk is the celebrated Polish director of Top Dog (Wodzirej), a movie which defined Polish cinema in the 70's, and The Collector (Komornik), one of the best Polish dramas of the last decade. Case Unknown is his first thriller, inspired by the series of devastating floods in Poland in 1997.
    "This is not a movie about the flood itself, but this situation gave me an interesting idea. Someone told me that the Wrocław press reported a story about a man, who was missing all his documents after the evacuation from the hospital. I don't know what happened to that man, but I took this story and told another one using my canvas.(...) Agnieszka Holland had helped me with my work, I strongly value her experience and her ability to construct character profiles," Falks said in a statement.

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    The movie was produced by Włodzimierz Niderhaus, head of the the Documentary and Feature Films Studio (WFDiF, http://www.wfdif.com.pl) with the support of the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl). Case Unknown was shot in Wrocław, Warsaw, Pruszków and Otwock between in summer 2009.

    "The total budget of the film was over 4 million PLN (just under €1 million) with a 2.08 milllion PLN from the Polish Film Institute," Paweł Mantorski, the production manager, told FNE.

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    Case Unknown brings togheter a talented cast with popular Polish actors Borys Szyc and Grzegorz Wolf in the leading roles. The cinematographer is Arkadiusz Tomiak, awarded for his work on Palimpsest: A Hypnotic Mystery (Palimpsest), You Name is Justine and Symmetry.


    The movie will open in Polish cinemas on September 4, 2009, distributed by Monolith Films ( www.monolithfilms.pl).

    Production contact:

    Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych ul. Chełmska 21, 00-724 Warszawa
    tel.: 22 841 26 83, 22 841 12 11
    fax: 22 841 58 91
    email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    www: www.wfdif.com.pl

    Last modified on 21-07-2012