30-05-2011

FNE at Gdynia Polish Film Festival Competition: The Mole

By Katarzyna Grynienko

    The Mole, the feature debut drama from documentary director Rafael Lewandowski, explores the very current theme of an ongoing investigation of people actively involved in the political events of the 1989 Solidarity movement in Poland.

    {mosimage}The drama follows Paweł, the son of a Solidarity union member, whose father is being accused of being an SB agent with the code name The Mole, working to destroy the freedom movement from within and denounce his fellow workers. The situation is even more complicated by the fact that Paweł's wife Ewa is a daughter of the miner killed during the Solidarity strike.

    "Young Poles are especially interested in studying this, due to the paradoxical situation that they are currently in. At their disposal they have a freedom that their parents and grand parents could only dream of, but at the same time they are painfully clashing with problems originating from the system's transformation. I decided to use their perspective to tell a story about the controversial and exceptionally complex issue of opening the communist archives. My goal was to show the potential consequences of the ‘wild' inspection and ‘file madness' in today's Poland, especially in the private sphere, and how they could affect a relationship between a son and his father," Lewandowski told FNE.

    {mosimage}Lewandowski was born in 1969 to a Polish-French family. After graduation from the French film school Le Femis in 1996 he made documentary films focused on the themes of WWII prisoner camps and their survivors. In 2005 he shot Piosenka i życie (Song and life), a Polish-French documentary about the children of active members of Solidarity. The Mole is a feature film continuation of the theme and interest that he developed during his documentary work.

    The film was shot in January 2010 in Poland in the Silesia region and in France at Dunkerque and Dourges. The film is produced by a Polish company Metro Films (www.metrofilms.com.pl) in co-production with NON STOP Film Service (www.nsfs.pl) and Silesia-Film Film Institution (www.silesiafilm.pl) from Poland, and KUIV(www.kuiv.com) and Le Fresnoy (www.lefresenoy.net) from France. The budget of the production was 3.9 million PLN (EUR 860 000). The film received funding from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl) and the Silesia Film Fund (www.silesiafilm.com.pl).

    {mosimage}The role of Paweł is played by Borys Szyc, one of the most popular and critically acclaimed Polish actors of the new generation. His father is played by Marian Dziędziel, an experienced Polish actor who recently made a screen comeback with his award winning performances in The Wedding and House Evil, two films by Wojciech Smarzowski. The cast also includes experienced Polish actors Magdalena Czerwińska, Wojciech Pszoniak, and Bartłomiej Topa.

    The script was co-written by Lewandowski and Iwo Kardel. The cinematographer is Piotr Rosołowski, praised for his work on My Flesh, My Blood, the debut from Marcin Wrona. The film will have its pre-premiere screening during the 36th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia (www.fpff.pl). The producer told FNE that the film is invited to several local and international festivals and that it will be distributed abroad. The Polish premiere of the picture is planned for fall of 2011.

    Official website of the film : www.kret-film.com


    Credits:

    Director - Rafael Lewandowski
    Screenwriter - Iwo Kardel, Rafael Lewandowski
    Cinematographer - Piotr Rosołowski
    Editing - Agnieszka Glińska P.S.M
    Music - Jerome Rebortier
    Producer - Marcin Wierzchosławski, Jacek Kucharski
    Production company - Metro Films
    Co-production - NON STOP Film Service, Silesia-Film Film Institution, Vertigo, KUIV , Le Fresnoy
    Co-financing - Polish Film Institute, Silesia Film Fund

    Cast:

    Borys Szyc
    Marian Dziędziel
    Magdalena Czerwińska
    Wojciech Pszoniak
    Bartłomiej Topa

    Production contact:

    Metro Films

    Domikańska 9

    02-738 Warsaw

    tel. (+48) 22 843 21 72

    fax.(+48) 22 843 66 26

    emal. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

    www.metrofilms.com