The shooting of „The Big Leap”, a Polish-Swedish co-production by Kristoffer Rus, will start on the 15th of April in the newly-opened ATM Studio in Warsaw. The film starring Tilly Scott Pedersen („Dark Horse”, dir. Dagur Kári), Gustaf Skarsgård („The way back”, dir. Peter Weir) and Arkadiusz Jakubik („The wedding”, dir. Wojtek Smarzowski) is a black comedy about moral dilemmas in the time of global financial crisis. The short film, shot entirely using green box technology, is a milestone in Polish CGI production.

THE BIG LEAP tells the story of three people, who meet on the top of a skyscraper in order to commit suicide due to a major financial crisis. Quickly, they discover that they all have different ideas about afterlife: Sarah is the believer, John the atheist and Ben the uncertain agnostic. The only way to find out who`s right is to take The Big Leap…

THE BIG LEAP will be a breathtaking visual work. The whole movie will be shot in a green box and then animated using CGI* technology. As the whole film takes place on a roof, the animators will create and entire city around the actors. Such an ambitious project hasn`t been made in Poland so far. The company responsible for special effects is ATM FX (ATM S.A the Corporate Group). „It`s for sure the biggest enterprise that we ever decided to take part in” – says Filip Kaczorek, Visual Effects Supervisor, ATM FX.

The idea for the film came from the question about God`s existence. „It`s an impossible question to answer” – admits Kristoffer Rus, the director – „yet, I firmly believe that it is our existential task to do just that. This film is my exploration of that Quest told in an absurd way, with great actors and comic dialogues. It`s intense, not very sane and all that in a short movie!”

Kristoffer Rus is Swedish director with Polish roots. He is a graduate of the Film School in Stockholm and Wajda School in Warsaw and director of short movies recognized by international film festivals, including Cannes, Palm Springs (“Apple Tree”, 2003) and Krakow (“Street Feeling”, 2009). Alongside THE BIG LEAP, Kristoffer is working on his debut feature film „Masakra profana”.

Production company, Prasa & Film (“All That I Love”), is the producer of the project. The co-producers are: East of West Cinema AB, Sweden (“Nina’s Journey”), Telewizja Polska S.A., ATM FX and ATM Studio, WFDiF (“Rose”). The film is co-financed by Polish and Swedish Film Institute. Renata Czarnkowska – Listoś is the executive producer. New Europe Film Sales does world sales of the film and PR is handled by Wajda Studio.

*CGI – computer generated imagery