Savior’s Square

Colour, 35 mm
Poland, 2006, 105 min
IP – International premiere
Section: Official Selection - Competition

Synopsis

After selling his flat, and before his new home has been completed, Bartek, heavily in debt, asks his mother if he and his family can come and stay for a while. He has no idea that he is being conned and that he will be dependent on his mother’s income. The differing interests and needs of the central characters, forced into co-existence, give rise to unpleasant conflicts. Lack of privacy demoralises Bartek’s wife Beata, in particular, who has to look after her small children and put up with the selfishness of her family. Animosity grows between the two women and Bartek, fed up with the constant squabbling, takes off. In the heat of the moment, desperate Beata does something very foolhardy, and the legal outcome begs the question: “Who is guilty?” The filmmakers took the socio-ethical dimension of their drama from real life, hence the broadcasting style of their testimony about the ordinary ambitions of their contemporaries, their attitudes and destinies. The film is also about unscrupulous behaviour and lack of responsibility, today all too common phenomena – without the effort or will to show love and compassion.

About the director

Krzysztof Krauze (b. 1953, Warsaw) studied photography in Łodż (1978) and worked as a director in the Se-Ma-For Studio, then in the Irzykowski Studio and also with TOR (1985-1991). For his feature debut New York, 4am (1988) he won the Bronze Lion at the festival in Gdansk, where he later won the Special Jury Prize for his film Street Games  (1996). He won a series of awards for The Debt (1999) – Golden Lions and the Critics’ Award in Gdynia, the Eagle Award for Best Direction and Screenplay of the Year, Best Direction at the Philadelphia IFF. His film My Nikifor (2004) garnered several international prizes – the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary IFF, a Golden Hugo at the Chicago IFF, along with other prizes at dozens of IFFs. The film Savior’s Square won the Golden Lion in Gdynia.

Joanna Kos-Krauze, co-director and co-screenwriter on the film Savior’s Square, gained professional experience working for Polish Television.