Six Degrees in Production

22-07-2011

By FNE Staff

WARSAW: The team behind the award-winning Rabbit a la Berlin has begun shooting the concept documentary Six Degrees, which takes a literal and exploratory look at the theory that everyone is connected via only six degrees of separation.

The "Six degrees of Separation" theory (S. Milgram) claims that you can reach any person in the world by a maximum of six steps.

The film crew including Polish director Bartosz Dombrowski, Wojtek Zielinski (cinematographer), Blazej Kafarski (sound director), and Kaja Domeracka (production manager) sets off on a journey to find the chain of connections between two complete strangers. They will spend three months trying to prove the theory while examining whether ideas about each others' lives are in line with reality and if, in this ever shrinking world, we really are closer to each other.

The shooting began in Warsaw on 4 June 2011, when two draws took place. One of them determined the first character, selected from 17 people put forward by the film crew. The name selected was Martyna Zaloga, a 26-year-old musician living in Warsaw, who sings, plays guitar and leads a crazy rock life.

The final person, who the film crew will try to reach through a chain of connections, was selected in a totally different and unusual way. Random people on the streets of Warsaw drew numbers that have contributed to geographic co-ordinates (N 22° 10' 22" - W 103° 53' 17"). These co-ordinates then gave the location on the map where the final character lives: in the mountains of rural Mexico. A 2nd unit was sent to the location (the Mexican crew is headed by cinematographer Daniel Blanco Villanueva). The first person they met became the final protagonist: a Mexican who has not left his hometown for 30 years.

SIX DEGREES is an unpredictable road movie, where every day of shooting brings surprises. There are no limits and no destination is impossible to reach. The first connection from Martyna brought the crew to London.

Viewers will be able to track the process of the film production and work of the crew on the website www.sixdegreesdoc.com. Moreover, it will be possible for viewers to look through footage shot on Nokia smartphones and tofollow the documentary on Facebook (Six Degrees Doc), where there are some photos, videos and the latest news.

A competition will be held during the shoot. The winner will be invited to join the crew on the last part of the film journey in Mexico.

Six Degrees is a film not only about scientific theory but above all about interpersonal relationships. The producers Otter Films and East Pictures partnered with the wireless communication company Nokia to support this project.

The two production companies East Pictures and Otter Films are well established in the film industry in Poland. The head of Otter Films, Anna Wydra, is Oscar® nominated producer of Rabbit a la Berlin, which has been screened at more than 150 film festivals around the world.

Six Degrees was presented during "Docu Talents from the East" at the 46^th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

A teaser is available on the website: http://www.sixdegreesdoc.com/en/movie.html

GENERAL INFO

Six Degrees

director: Bartosz Dombrowski

DoP: Wojtek Zielinski

sound: Blazej Kafarski

production coordinator: Kaja Domeracka

producer: East Pictures - Tomasz Tokarski

producer: OTTER FILMS - Anna Wydra

promotion and distribution strategy: OTTER FILMS

partner: NOKIA