UK-based HanWay Films has boarded world sales on Kasia Adamik’s thriller Winter Of The Crow starring Lesley Manville, ahead of the European Film Market.
Principal photography has begun in Warsaw, Poland on the Cold War thriller which stars Manville as a UK professor who arrives in the country just as martial law is imposed. Also among the cast are Tom Burke, Zofia Wichłacz, and Andrzej Konopka.
Winter Of The Crow is produced by Poland’s Wild Mouse Production and Film Produkcja as well as the UK’s Iris Productions and Film and Music Entertainment. Douglas Cummins is co-producing while...
Principal photography has begun in Warsaw, Poland on the Cold War thriller which stars Manville as a UK professor who arrives in the country just as martial law is imposed. Also among the cast are Tom Burke, Zofia Wichłacz, and Andrzej Konopka.
Winter Of The Crow is produced by Poland’s Wild Mouse Production and Film Produkcja as well as the UK’s Iris Productions and Film and Music Entertainment. Douglas Cummins is co-producing while...
- 1/30/2024
- ScreenDaily
UK-based HanWay Films has boarded world sales on Kasia Adamik’s thriller Winter Of The Crow starring Lesley Manville, ahead of the European Film Market.
Principal photography has begun in Warsaw, Poland on the Cold War thriller which stars Manville as a UK professor who arrives in the country just as martial law is imposed. Also among the cast are Tom Burke, Zofia Wichłacz, and Andrzej Konopka.
Winter Of The Crow is produced by Poland’s Wild Mouse Production and Film Produkcja as well as Ireland’s Iris Productions and the UK’s Film and Music Entertainment. Douglas Cummins is...
Principal photography has begun in Warsaw, Poland on the Cold War thriller which stars Manville as a UK professor who arrives in the country just as martial law is imposed. Also among the cast are Tom Burke, Zofia Wichłacz, and Andrzej Konopka.
Winter Of The Crow is produced by Poland’s Wild Mouse Production and Film Produkcja as well as Ireland’s Iris Productions and the UK’s Film and Music Entertainment. Douglas Cummins is...
- 1/30/2024
- ScreenDaily
Hanway Films will represent worldwide sales at next month’s EFM on Winter Of The Crow, a Cold War thriller starring Oscar-nominated actress Lesley Manville. The film is currently shooting in Warsaw.
Based on a short story by Nobel Prize and International Booker-winning Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, the feature is set in what is described as “the surreal and cinematic world of 1981 Warsaw.” The full synopsis reads: Warsaw, Poland – December 13th, 1981 – martial law is imposed and overnight shuts down the country just as British psychiatry professor Dr. Joan Andrews (Manville) arrives in Warsaw as a guest lecturer at the University. Taxis have been replaced by tanks; citizens are treated like criminals. But as chaos engulfs the city, armed with her camera she witnesses a brutal murder by the secret police.
In mortal danger and trapped as Poland is closed down, Joan becomes a hunted fugitive running for her life. Using...
Based on a short story by Nobel Prize and International Booker-winning Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, the feature is set in what is described as “the surreal and cinematic world of 1981 Warsaw.” The full synopsis reads: Warsaw, Poland – December 13th, 1981 – martial law is imposed and overnight shuts down the country just as British psychiatry professor Dr. Joan Andrews (Manville) arrives in Warsaw as a guest lecturer at the University. Taxis have been replaced by tanks; citizens are treated like criminals. But as chaos engulfs the city, armed with her camera she witnesses a brutal murder by the secret police.
In mortal danger and trapped as Poland is closed down, Joan becomes a hunted fugitive running for her life. Using...
- 1/30/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Lesley Manville, most recently seen as Princess Margaret in the final seasons of “The Crown,” is to lead “Winter of the Crow,” now shooting in Warsaw, Poland.
Ahead of the European Film Market in Berlin, HanWay is launching worldwide sales on the feature, based on the short story by Olga Tokarczuk, a Nobel Literature Prize and International Booker Prize winner and one of the most critically acclaimed and successful authors of her generation in Poland.
Alongside Manville, soon to be seen in “Back to Black,” the sporting cast includes Tom Burke, Zofia Wichłacz (“World on Fire” and a European Shooting Star winner at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017) and Andrzej Konopka.
From award-winning director and storyboard artist Kasia Adamik (winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017 for “Spoor”), “Winter of the Crow” is a Cold War thriller set in the surreal and cinematic world of 1981 Warsaw.
Ahead of the European Film Market in Berlin, HanWay is launching worldwide sales on the feature, based on the short story by Olga Tokarczuk, a Nobel Literature Prize and International Booker Prize winner and one of the most critically acclaimed and successful authors of her generation in Poland.
Alongside Manville, soon to be seen in “Back to Black,” the sporting cast includes Tom Burke, Zofia Wichłacz (“World on Fire” and a European Shooting Star winner at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017) and Andrzej Konopka.
From award-winning director and storyboard artist Kasia Adamik (winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017 for “Spoor”), “Winter of the Crow” is a Cold War thriller set in the surreal and cinematic world of 1981 Warsaw.
- 1/30/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Poland will submit animated feature drama The Peasants for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
The picture is the latest work from Dk Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the creative duo behind the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated, hand-painted biopic Loving Vincent.
The pair co-wrote The Peasants screenplay adaptation from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic 1905 novel of the same name about a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village.
Poland’s Oscar entry choice was made Monday by a selection committee overseen by the Polish Film Institute. There was a strong offering of Polish films this year, with other potential contenders including Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of.
Related: Agnieszka Holland’s Migrant Crisis Drama ‘Green Border’ Posts Record Opening Weekend...
The picture is the latest work from Dk Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the creative duo behind the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated, hand-painted biopic Loving Vincent.
The pair co-wrote The Peasants screenplay adaptation from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic 1905 novel of the same name about a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village.
Poland’s Oscar entry choice was made Monday by a selection committee overseen by the Polish Film Institute. There was a strong offering of Polish films this year, with other potential contenders including Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of.
Related: Agnieszka Holland’s Migrant Crisis Drama ‘Green Border’ Posts Record Opening Weekend...
- 9/25/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Danger Zone
Director: Vita Maria Drygas
Producer: Vita Żelakeviciute
Production companies: Drygas Film Production
Sales: Dogwoof
Documentary is a journey to places devastated by military conflicts, seen through the eyes of thrill-seeking tourists.
Delegation
(Generation 14plus)
Director: Asaf Saban
Cast: Yoav Bavly, Neomi Harari, Leib Lev Levin, Ezra Dagan, Alma Dishy
Producers: Agnieszka Dziedzic, Yoav Roeh, Aurit Zamir, Roshanak Behesht Nedjad
Production companies: Koi Studio, Gum Films, In Good Co.
Sales: New Europe Film Sales
Three Israeli friends visit Holocaust sites in Poland before their stints in the army, and deal with love, friendship and politics.
Disco Boy
(Competition)
Director: Giacomo Abbruzzese
Cast: Franz Rogowski, Morr Ndiaye, Laëtitia Ky, Leon Lučev
Producers: Lionel Massol, Pauline Seigland
Production companies: Films Grand Huit, Dugong Films, Panache Productions, La Compagnie Cinématographique, Donten & Lacroix, Division
Sales: Charades
Aleksei reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, which allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport.
Director: Vita Maria Drygas
Producer: Vita Żelakeviciute
Production companies: Drygas Film Production
Sales: Dogwoof
Documentary is a journey to places devastated by military conflicts, seen through the eyes of thrill-seeking tourists.
Delegation
(Generation 14plus)
Director: Asaf Saban
Cast: Yoav Bavly, Neomi Harari, Leib Lev Levin, Ezra Dagan, Alma Dishy
Producers: Agnieszka Dziedzic, Yoav Roeh, Aurit Zamir, Roshanak Behesht Nedjad
Production companies: Koi Studio, Gum Films, In Good Co.
Sales: New Europe Film Sales
Three Israeli friends visit Holocaust sites in Poland before their stints in the army, and deal with love, friendship and politics.
Disco Boy
(Competition)
Director: Giacomo Abbruzzese
Cast: Franz Rogowski, Morr Ndiaye, Laëtitia Ky, Leon Lučev
Producers: Lionel Massol, Pauline Seigland
Production companies: Films Grand Huit, Dugong Films, Panache Productions, La Compagnie Cinématographique, Donten & Lacroix, Division
Sales: Charades
Aleksei reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, which allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport.
- 2/19/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Olga Chajdas’s story of a couple seducing a surrogate is a preposterous exercise in erotic intensity
First-time Polish film-maker Olga Chajdas gives us a movie acted and shot with confidence. But no amount of confidence can disguise how deeply silly this adventure in softcore lesbian sexiness is in terms of credible drama and human motivation – a silliness that escalates into something a little crass.
Nina (Julia Kijowska) and Wojtek (Andrzej Konopka) are a thirtysomething couple, a schoolteacher and a garage owner, who are supposedly desperate for a baby. They’ve tried fertility treatment and surrogacy, and nothing works. Then they come across Magda (Eliza Rycembel), a young gay woman who works in airport security, and who is initially shown having a frisson while frisking a female passenger – because, of course, that obviously happens with gay security officials at airports.
First-time Polish film-maker Olga Chajdas gives us a movie acted and shot with confidence. But no amount of confidence can disguise how deeply silly this adventure in softcore lesbian sexiness is in terms of credible drama and human motivation – a silliness that escalates into something a little crass.
Nina (Julia Kijowska) and Wojtek (Andrzej Konopka) are a thirtysomething couple, a schoolteacher and a garage owner, who are supposedly desperate for a baby. They’ve tried fertility treatment and surrogacy, and nothing works. Then they come across Magda (Eliza Rycembel), a young gay woman who works in airport security, and who is initially shown having a frisson while frisking a female passenger – because, of course, that obviously happens with gay security officials at airports.
- 1/24/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
No jokes about fish and visitors please — Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s horror fantasy musical is indeed about delectable creatures from the deep, but these particular mythical misses have their own agenda, and woe to the man who trifles with their affections. What’s today’s catch? A Polish phantasmagoria seemingly teleported from the glitzy 1980s.
The Lure
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 896
2015 / Color / 2:39 widescreen / 92 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 10, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Kinga Preis, Michalina Olszańska, Marta Mazurek, Jakub Gierszał, Andrzej Konopka, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Marcin Kowalczyk.
Cinematography: Kuba Kijowski
Film Editor: Jarosław Kamiński
Production Design: Joanna Macha
Costume: Katarzyna Lewińska
Special Effects makeup: Tomasz Matraszek
Choreography: Kaya Kołodziejczyk and Jarosław Staniek
Original Music and Lyrics: Barbara Wrońska and Zuzanna Wrońska
Written by Robert Bolesto
Produced by Włodzimierz Niderhaus
Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska
I’m normally an easy mark for bizarre genre-bending horror fare. I also like musicals of all sorts,...
The Lure
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 896
2015 / Color / 2:39 widescreen / 92 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 10, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Kinga Preis, Michalina Olszańska, Marta Mazurek, Jakub Gierszał, Andrzej Konopka, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Marcin Kowalczyk.
Cinematography: Kuba Kijowski
Film Editor: Jarosław Kamiński
Production Design: Joanna Macha
Costume: Katarzyna Lewińska
Special Effects makeup: Tomasz Matraszek
Choreography: Kaya Kołodziejczyk and Jarosław Staniek
Original Music and Lyrics: Barbara Wrońska and Zuzanna Wrońska
Written by Robert Bolesto
Produced by Włodzimierz Niderhaus
Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska
I’m normally an easy mark for bizarre genre-bending horror fare. I also like musicals of all sorts,...
- 10/7/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Cannibalistic mermaid movie. If that doesn't make your heart flutter, we can't be friends.
The very concept of director Agnieszka Smoczynska's feature film debut The Lure is this perfect mesh of material specifically designed for someone who, like me, loves a good fairy tale, a dash of horror and cheesy 80s dance music.
Silver (Marta Mazurek) and Golden (Michalina Olszanska) are mermaid sisters who are adopted into a cabaret in Warsaw by the house band led by a singer (Kinga Preis) and her husband and drummer (Andrzej Konopka). The girls are an instant hit, performing a nightly show for a packed house.
Silver quickly falls in love with the band's base player but Golden is more interested in eating the locals. Eventually Silver makes the ultimate sacrifice and trades [Continued ...]...
The very concept of director Agnieszka Smoczynska's feature film debut The Lure is this perfect mesh of material specifically designed for someone who, like me, loves a good fairy tale, a dash of horror and cheesy 80s dance music.
Silver (Marta Mazurek) and Golden (Michalina Olszanska) are mermaid sisters who are adopted into a cabaret in Warsaw by the house band led by a singer (Kinga Preis) and her husband and drummer (Andrzej Konopka). The girls are an instant hit, performing a nightly show for a packed house.
Silver quickly falls in love with the band's base player but Golden is more interested in eating the locals. Eventually Silver makes the ultimate sacrifice and trades [Continued ...]...
- 3/22/2017
- QuietEarth.us
"All you need to do is have fun. The rest is easy." Janus Films has debuted an official Us trailer (red band for mermaid nudity) for a film titled The Lure, a wacky Polish indie about two mermaid girls who join a human band in Warsaw. Part comedy, part cabaret, part horror, part romance, you won't find anything else like this film out there, though it may be a little too wacky for some. The cast includes Marta Mazurek, Michalina Olszanska, Kinga Preis, Andrzej Konopka, Jakub Gierszal, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Katarzyna Herman and Marcin Kowalczyk. I've been hearing about this film for a while, ever since it premiered at Sundance last year, and it's destined to become a cult classic - catch it in theaters this winter. Here's the first red band trailer (+ poster) for Agnieszka Smoczynska's The Lure, originally from EW.com: One dark night, at water's edge, a...
- 1/6/2017
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Spending a good part of last year hitting nearly every corner of the festival circuit, those who delight in the off-beat and weird have been singing the praises of “The Lure.” Agnieszka Smoczynska‘s film is a cannibal mermaid musical, and if that three-word description doesn’t at least make you curious, I’m not sure what to tell you.
Read More: The 20 Best Movies Of 2017 That We’ve Already Seen
Marta Mazurek, Michalina Olszanska, Jakub Gierszal, Kinga Preis, Andrzej Konopka, and Zygmunt Malanowicz are the ensemble that bring this ’80s-set story to life, one that sees the bond between mermaid sisters tested when a man enters the mix.
Continue reading New Trailer For Cannibal Mermaid Musical ‘The Lure’ Brings The Weirdness at The Playlist.
Read More: The 20 Best Movies Of 2017 That We’ve Already Seen
Marta Mazurek, Michalina Olszanska, Jakub Gierszal, Kinga Preis, Andrzej Konopka, and Zygmunt Malanowicz are the ensemble that bring this ’80s-set story to life, one that sees the bond between mermaid sisters tested when a man enters the mix.
Continue reading New Trailer For Cannibal Mermaid Musical ‘The Lure’ Brings The Weirdness at The Playlist.
- 1/5/2017
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Be forewarned, this article contains spoilers.
100% original Polish mermaid musical, "The Lure" directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska in the Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Section is Agnieszka’s first film and is an accomplished, multi layered send-up of a pair of mermaid sisters.
More siren-like than the little mermaid we know and love, the film is reminiscent of Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid and Le Motte Fouque’s Ondine. Two mermaid sisters play out the dark and light side of the archetypical mythological creatures. Marta Mazurek plays Silver, the Ondine character who gives up her life for love of a mortal while Golden, played by the alluring Michalina Olszańska plays the dark side of the siren who devours men. Both play off each other in a beautiful and, at the same time, horrific way.
It will be interesting to see how they play together - again - in the upcoming Berlinale Panorama Opening Night Film, “I, Olga Hepnarova”. This Czech, Polish, French, Slovakian coproduction shows a young woman from what was then Czechoslovakia who has drifted into the restricted circumstances from which she tries to escape with a disastrous act of liberation. She is ultimately subjected to the death penalty which was in place there until 1989. (Btw, two other films make the death penalty their main topic at the Panorama: “Shepherds and Butchers” from South Africa and the Brazilian documentary “Curumim”.)
Kinga Prajs, Andrzej Konopka, and Jakub Gierszal also star and bring their own special qualities to the screen. Jakub Gierszal, the young hearthrob, was also in the Sundance Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic winner “Morris from America”, Wolfe Releasing’s “The Suicide Room” and the Polish pick for Oscar nomination in 2010 “All That I Love”.
All the characters have changeable personalities which shift through the various events of the story and which keep the audience just enough off-balance to perplex and beguile them.
In all, this is a very sexy, seductive quasi-comedy which does not hesitate to add a little Brian de Palma “Sisters” or David Cronenberg-esque “Crash” and “Dead Ringers” elements to make the horror more shocking-bizarre than shocking-scary.
Director Agnieszka Smoczynska said that the film was finished in September and they sent it to Sundance who responded immediately and asked that they not send it to any other festivals.
“It was life-changing.”
What was your inspiration?
Agnieszka Smoczynska: My mom ran such a restaurant as in the movie. I found a writer who said, ‘let’s make a film with musicians because his parents used to play music in such a restaurant where they danced during the Communist times. Growing up in such a place: is is too close, there’s too much drama, too much alcohol. Rather than make the stories so personal the writer said ‘let’s put on masks’, and so we made the mermaids. I loved mermaids. I knew of Homer’s mermaids, the sirens. It is a type of genre.
How did you make the film?
Agnieszka Smoczynska: The process of making the movie was interesting. We started with a treatment and worked with music, musicians and a choreographer to create the first draft.
Then we gave it to the sound designer and he wrote a sound script, like a score, and he put in music, some songs. Some went into the movie and some went out. Each character has their own song which creates a diverse array.
Dancing was also very specific in Poland and behind the Iron Curtain. There were very special shows, with a magician, music, acts, dancing. People came to the place every weekend. It was all very 80s.
The set design was also very 80s but there were modern elements and lots of my own memories of colors. Outside of the restaurants, there was no color. Everything was all very gray…until the 90s.
It was also important for us not to put too much politics. As a child I did not know about such things and so the mermaids do not know such things.
How did you fund the film?
Agnieszka Smoczynska: A good thing for Poland is that the Polish Film Institute gives almost 100% of the budget. 85 to 90% of the budget is given to first time filmmakers. Polish TV also shows the movies and there is guaranteed Polish distribution.
The story was so crazy that every producer said no one outside of Poland would understand it. Only National Company, a 60-year-old traditional studio believed in it because the head of the company likes dancing so much.
Agnieszka Smoczyńska is a graduate of the University of Silesia’s Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television in directing, the Wajda School, and the University of Wroclaw in culture studies. She received the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship and won the My Talent for Poland program and Golden Pen award, granted by the President of Poland. Her short films “Kapelusz”, “3 Love”, and “Aria Diva” have won awards at film festivals around the world.
100% original Polish mermaid musical, "The Lure" directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska in the Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Section is Agnieszka’s first film and is an accomplished, multi layered send-up of a pair of mermaid sisters.
More siren-like than the little mermaid we know and love, the film is reminiscent of Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid and Le Motte Fouque’s Ondine. Two mermaid sisters play out the dark and light side of the archetypical mythological creatures. Marta Mazurek plays Silver, the Ondine character who gives up her life for love of a mortal while Golden, played by the alluring Michalina Olszańska plays the dark side of the siren who devours men. Both play off each other in a beautiful and, at the same time, horrific way.
It will be interesting to see how they play together - again - in the upcoming Berlinale Panorama Opening Night Film, “I, Olga Hepnarova”. This Czech, Polish, French, Slovakian coproduction shows a young woman from what was then Czechoslovakia who has drifted into the restricted circumstances from which she tries to escape with a disastrous act of liberation. She is ultimately subjected to the death penalty which was in place there until 1989. (Btw, two other films make the death penalty their main topic at the Panorama: “Shepherds and Butchers” from South Africa and the Brazilian documentary “Curumim”.)
Kinga Prajs, Andrzej Konopka, and Jakub Gierszal also star and bring their own special qualities to the screen. Jakub Gierszal, the young hearthrob, was also in the Sundance Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic winner “Morris from America”, Wolfe Releasing’s “The Suicide Room” and the Polish pick for Oscar nomination in 2010 “All That I Love”.
All the characters have changeable personalities which shift through the various events of the story and which keep the audience just enough off-balance to perplex and beguile them.
In all, this is a very sexy, seductive quasi-comedy which does not hesitate to add a little Brian de Palma “Sisters” or David Cronenberg-esque “Crash” and “Dead Ringers” elements to make the horror more shocking-bizarre than shocking-scary.
Director Agnieszka Smoczynska said that the film was finished in September and they sent it to Sundance who responded immediately and asked that they not send it to any other festivals.
“It was life-changing.”
What was your inspiration?
Agnieszka Smoczynska: My mom ran such a restaurant as in the movie. I found a writer who said, ‘let’s make a film with musicians because his parents used to play music in such a restaurant where they danced during the Communist times. Growing up in such a place: is is too close, there’s too much drama, too much alcohol. Rather than make the stories so personal the writer said ‘let’s put on masks’, and so we made the mermaids. I loved mermaids. I knew of Homer’s mermaids, the sirens. It is a type of genre.
How did you make the film?
Agnieszka Smoczynska: The process of making the movie was interesting. We started with a treatment and worked with music, musicians and a choreographer to create the first draft.
Then we gave it to the sound designer and he wrote a sound script, like a score, and he put in music, some songs. Some went into the movie and some went out. Each character has their own song which creates a diverse array.
Dancing was also very specific in Poland and behind the Iron Curtain. There were very special shows, with a magician, music, acts, dancing. People came to the place every weekend. It was all very 80s.
The set design was also very 80s but there were modern elements and lots of my own memories of colors. Outside of the restaurants, there was no color. Everything was all very gray…until the 90s.
It was also important for us not to put too much politics. As a child I did not know about such things and so the mermaids do not know such things.
How did you fund the film?
Agnieszka Smoczynska: A good thing for Poland is that the Polish Film Institute gives almost 100% of the budget. 85 to 90% of the budget is given to first time filmmakers. Polish TV also shows the movies and there is guaranteed Polish distribution.
The story was so crazy that every producer said no one outside of Poland would understand it. Only National Company, a 60-year-old traditional studio believed in it because the head of the company likes dancing so much.
Agnieszka Smoczyńska is a graduate of the University of Silesia’s Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television in directing, the Wajda School, and the University of Wroclaw in culture studies. She received the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship and won the My Talent for Poland program and Golden Pen award, granted by the President of Poland. Her short films “Kapelusz”, “3 Love”, and “Aria Diva” have won awards at film festivals around the world.
- 2/5/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
This is the most amazing, mouth dropping film I saw at Sundance this year.
Firstly, hats off to the programmers and the organization for finding and presenting this one. Sundance's docs and international features are usually superb but this one takes the cake.
We describe it - hold onto your hats now - as a lesbian vampire mermaid horror musical comedy. No kidding.
And it has a female director and 2 amazing female mermaid leads. More powerful woman filmmaking.
What's it about?? I dunno. Maybe don't ever mess with (or fall in love with) a mermaid even if she's a cute, nude and impossibly young. Your life is no longer yours then.
Takes place in a (very) shabby music hall type bar where the (um) 'girls' are put on display. Pour water on them and they grow 12 foot fish tails. Dry them off and they become 'normal' girls except for no normal female genitals, just smooth skin down there.
The musical numbers work very well.
I couldn't stop watching or laughing, amazed at how this rollicking weird story just keeps going.
In Polish made in Poland.
Wow!!
"The Lure" won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Unique Vision and Design
From the catalog -
One dark night, at water’s edge, a family of musicians encounter aquatic sirens Silver and Golden. After assuring the family that they won’t eat them up, the winsome mermaids are recruited to join the Figs and Dates band at a neon-lit Warsaw dance club. When Silver becomes romantically entangled with beautiful blonde bassist Mietek, the more cunning Golden, who cannot escape her bloodthirsty nature and assimilate, worries that her sister’s relationship will doom their shared dream of swimming to a new life in America.
This weird, wild, 1980s-set musical horror film wittily plays with the lust and repulsion the bewitching sisters create with their combination of Barbie doll–smooth bodies and impressively long glittering mermaid tails. With a knack for both burlesque and the grotesque, first-time feature director Agnieszka Smoczyńska creates a world saturated in color and Europop slickness that twists with absurdity and drips with blood.
"The Lure" Director: Agnieszka Smoczyńska Screenwriter: Robert Bolesto Cast: Zygmunt Malanowicz, Andrzej Konopka, Kinga Preis, Jakub Gierszal, Michalina Olszanska, Marta Mazurek Poland / 92 Min
Director bio -
Agnieszka Smoczyńska is a graduate of the University of Silesia’s Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television (in directing), the Wajda School, and the University of Wroclaw (in culture studies). She received the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship and won the My Talent for Poland program and Golden Pen award, granted by the president of Poland. Her short films Kapelusz, 3 Love, and Aria Diva have won awards at film festivals around the world.
Firstly, hats off to the programmers and the organization for finding and presenting this one. Sundance's docs and international features are usually superb but this one takes the cake.
We describe it - hold onto your hats now - as a lesbian vampire mermaid horror musical comedy. No kidding.
And it has a female director and 2 amazing female mermaid leads. More powerful woman filmmaking.
What's it about?? I dunno. Maybe don't ever mess with (or fall in love with) a mermaid even if she's a cute, nude and impossibly young. Your life is no longer yours then.
Takes place in a (very) shabby music hall type bar where the (um) 'girls' are put on display. Pour water on them and they grow 12 foot fish tails. Dry them off and they become 'normal' girls except for no normal female genitals, just smooth skin down there.
The musical numbers work very well.
I couldn't stop watching or laughing, amazed at how this rollicking weird story just keeps going.
In Polish made in Poland.
Wow!!
"The Lure" won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Unique Vision and Design
From the catalog -
One dark night, at water’s edge, a family of musicians encounter aquatic sirens Silver and Golden. After assuring the family that they won’t eat them up, the winsome mermaids are recruited to join the Figs and Dates band at a neon-lit Warsaw dance club. When Silver becomes romantically entangled with beautiful blonde bassist Mietek, the more cunning Golden, who cannot escape her bloodthirsty nature and assimilate, worries that her sister’s relationship will doom their shared dream of swimming to a new life in America.
This weird, wild, 1980s-set musical horror film wittily plays with the lust and repulsion the bewitching sisters create with their combination of Barbie doll–smooth bodies and impressively long glittering mermaid tails. With a knack for both burlesque and the grotesque, first-time feature director Agnieszka Smoczyńska creates a world saturated in color and Europop slickness that twists with absurdity and drips with blood.
"The Lure" Director: Agnieszka Smoczyńska Screenwriter: Robert Bolesto Cast: Zygmunt Malanowicz, Andrzej Konopka, Kinga Preis, Jakub Gierszal, Michalina Olszanska, Marta Mazurek Poland / 92 Min
Director bio -
Agnieszka Smoczyńska is a graduate of the University of Silesia’s Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television (in directing), the Wajda School, and the University of Wroclaw (in culture studies). She received the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship and won the My Talent for Poland program and Golden Pen award, granted by the president of Poland. Her short films Kapelusz, 3 Love, and Aria Diva have won awards at film festivals around the world.
- 2/5/2016
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
The Lure (2016) Film Review from the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, a movie directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska, starring Marta Mazurek, Michalina Olszanska, Jakub Gierszal, Kinga Preis, Andrzej Konopka, and Zygmunt Malanowicz. A Polish, vampire mermaid, horror-musical set in the 1980’s – how’s that for a concept? The film made a splash on Twitter prior to its Sundance premiere this past weekend, with […]...
- 1/25/2016
- by Drew Stelter
- Film-Book
Kate Plays ChristineThe lineup for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, taking place between January 21 -31, has been announced.U.S. Dramatic COMPETITIONAs You Are (Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, USA): As You Are is the telling and retelling of a relationship between three teenagers as it traces the course of their friendship through a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation. Cast: Owen Campbell, Charlie Heaton, Amandla Stenberg, John Scurti, Scott Cohen, Mary Stuart Masterson. World Premiere The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker, USA): Set against the antebellum South, this story follows Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner, accepts an offer to use Nat’s preaching to subdue unruly slaves. After witnessing countless atrocities against fellow slaves, Nat devises a plan to lead his people to freedom. Cast: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley, Gabrielle Union, Mark Boone Jr. World PremiereChristine (Antonio Campos,...
- 12/7/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
The Sundance Film institute has released the line-up of film for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Going to Sundance is one of my favorite events of the year. I love going because you never know what kind of movies you're going to see. Sometimes they are great films that amaze and entertain, other times they completely suck ass, but that's all part of the fun of going to the festival. It's an awesome experience for any hardcore movie geek, and if you ever get a chance to go, you need to.
The event takes place in Park City, Utah next year from January 21st to the 31st. It looks like there's a great line-up of movies at next year's event. My favorite portion of the event is the Midnight section because it deals more with geeky genre type movies, but I also enjoy the various sections of other line-ups.
Some of...
The event takes place in Park City, Utah next year from January 21st to the 31st. It looks like there's a great line-up of movies at next year's event. My favorite portion of the event is the Midnight section because it deals more with geeky genre type movies, but I also enjoy the various sections of other line-ups.
Some of...
- 12/6/2015
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
In last year’s section which included Ariel Kleiman’s Partisan and Anne Sewitsky’s Homesick, it was John Maclean’s debut Slow West claimed the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Alanté Kavaïté’s The Summer of Sangailé landed the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic, Umrika was the audience’s won the Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic. In this year’s dozen offerings we have names we normally associate with Cannes in The Misfortunates‘ Felix van Groeningen (Belgica), The Other Side of Sleep‘s Rebecca Daly (Mammal – see pic above) and A Stray Girlfriend‘s Ana Katz (Mi Amiga del Parque). Here are the selections.
Belgica / Belgium, France, Netherlands (Director: Felix van Groeningen, Screenwriters: Felix van Groeningen, Arne Sierens) — In the midst of Belgium’s nightlife scene, two brothers start a bar and get swept up in its success.Cast: Stef Aerts, Tom Vermeir, Charlotte Vandermeersch, Hélène De Vos. World Premiere.
Belgica / Belgium, France, Netherlands (Director: Felix van Groeningen, Screenwriters: Felix van Groeningen, Arne Sierens) — In the midst of Belgium’s nightlife scene, two brothers start a bar and get swept up in its success.Cast: Stef Aerts, Tom Vermeir, Charlotte Vandermeersch, Hélène De Vos. World Premiere.
- 12/2/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Titles include Tallulah starring Ellen Page and Allison Janney, and Chad Hartigan’s Morris From America (pictured); Next strand also announced.Scroll down for full list
Sundance Institute has announced the 65 films selected for the Us Competition, World Competition and out-of-competition Next categories set to screen at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival (Jan 21-31) in Park City.
Us Dramatic Competition selections include Sian Heder’s Tallulah with Ellen Page and Allison Janney; Antonio Campos’ Christine; Clea DuVall’s feature directorial debut The Intervention; and Richard Tanne’s Southside With You, about Barack Obama’s first date with the First Lady.
Among the Us Documentary Competition selections are: Holy Hell by undisclosed; Jeff Feuerzeig’s Author: The Jt LeRoy Story; and Sara Jordenö’s Kiki.
The World Cinema Dramatic Competition entries include: Belgica (Belgium-France-Netherlands), Felix van Groeningen’s follow-up to The Broken Circle Breakdown; Manolo Cruz and Carlos del Castillo’s Between Sea And Land (Colombia); and Nicolette Krebitz’s Wild...
Sundance Institute has announced the 65 films selected for the Us Competition, World Competition and out-of-competition Next categories set to screen at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival (Jan 21-31) in Park City.
Us Dramatic Competition selections include Sian Heder’s Tallulah with Ellen Page and Allison Janney; Antonio Campos’ Christine; Clea DuVall’s feature directorial debut The Intervention; and Richard Tanne’s Southside With You, about Barack Obama’s first date with the First Lady.
Among the Us Documentary Competition selections are: Holy Hell by undisclosed; Jeff Feuerzeig’s Author: The Jt LeRoy Story; and Sara Jordenö’s Kiki.
The World Cinema Dramatic Competition entries include: Belgica (Belgium-France-Netherlands), Felix van Groeningen’s follow-up to The Broken Circle Breakdown; Manolo Cruz and Carlos del Castillo’s Between Sea And Land (Colombia); and Nicolette Krebitz’s Wild...
- 12/2/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
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