23-09-2019

FNE at Gdynia Film Festival 2019: Bird Talk

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    Bird Talk by Xawery Żuławski Bird Talk by Xawery Żuławski

    GDYNIA: Xawery Żuławski’s drama Bird Talk screened in the main competition of the 44th Gdynia Film Festival, running from 16 to 21 September 2019. The film is based on a script by the director’s late father, the accomplished Polish director Andrzej Żuławski.

    Bird Talk follows the story of Marian, a 30-year-old high-school teacher of Polish, who has to start his life anew after he’s been fired from work, and of his friend Ludwik, a history teacher looking for a way to function in the brutal reality of the profession.

    “The key principle here is the creative freedom: the film is a celebration of Andrzej Żuławski’s approach to art, his reliance on impulse and intuition, and his ability to make use of things that seem to ‘come out of nowhere’. This creative freedom means that filming Bird Talk – a polyphonic text, dealing with the multifaceted reality of present-day Poland – was an adventure, not a fraught and doomed attempt to imitate Andrzej Żuławski. And there’s no point in ‘rationalising’ him by resorting to safe clichés, despite the fear and uncertainty that arise with each step into the unknown”, director Xawery Żuławski told FNE.

    The film was shot in 2019, produced by Metro Films in coproduction with Orka Studio and MX35. The budget was 750,000 EUR and the film received support from the Polish Film Institute.

    Bird Talk will open in Polish cinemas on 27 September 2019 distributed by Velvet Spoon.

    Production Information:

    Producer:
    Metro Films (Poland)

    Coproducer:
    Orka Studio (Poland)
    MX35 (Poland)

    Credits:
    Director: Xawery Żuławski
    Screenwriter: Andrzej Żuławski
    DoP: Andrzej J. Jaroszewicz
    Music: Andrzej Korzyński
    Production design: Elwira Pluta
    Costume design: Anna Englert
    Cast: Jaśmina Polak, Sebastian Fabijański, Marta Żmuda-Trzebiatowska, Daniel Olbrychski, Żaneta Palica, Katarzyna Chojnacka, Sebastian Pawlak, Eryk Kulm Jr., Andrzej Chyra