Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

July 2 - 10, 2010

Last Resort
( Last Resort )

Colour, 35mm
United Kingdom, 2000, 76 min
Section: East Meets West

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Screenplay: Pawel Pawlikowski, Rowan Joffe
Dir. of Photography: Ryszard Lenczewski
Music: Max de Wardener
Editor: David Charap
Producer: Ruth Caleb
Production: BBC
Sales: The Sales Company
Contact: The Sales Company

Cast

Dina Korzun, Artiom Strelnikov, Paddy Considine, Lindsey Honey

Synopsis

Tanya and her ten-year-old son Artiom fly from Moscow to England expecting to be picked up by Tanya’s English fiancé. But not surprisingly at Stansted airport they are detained by the British police who suspect that not everything is on the up and up. Unable to get hold of her fiancé and fearing that they will be deported back to Russia, Tanya finally decides to seek political asylum. She and her son are taken to a refugee camp on the coast at Stonehaven, and there they meet an Englishman named Alfie who takes a liking to Tanya. Alfie not only tries to make life in the camp as pleasant as possible but also tries to help get them out of it altogether. The film was shot by and large chronologically, and some of the dialogue was created on location while filming. In this, his latest work, director Pawlikowski has smoothly blended together poetic images with a documentary shooting style.

About the director

Pawel Pawlikowski (b. 1957, Warsaw) has lived and worked in Great Britain since 1997. He is best known for his documentaries in which fact and fiction mingle in a unique and poetic way. Selected filmography – documentaries: Lucifer Over Lancashire (1998), Václav Havel (1989), From Moscow To Pietushki (1990), Dostoevsky’s Travels (1991), Serbian Epics (1992) and Tripping with Zhirinovsky. Short films: Extraordinary Adventures (1988), Grave Case of Charlie Chaplin (1993) and Twockers (1998). His first feature film was The Stringer (1997). Last Resort (2000) was awarded Best British Film at the Edinburgh festival in addition to a Golden Alexander for Best Film and the Critics’ Prize at the Salonika IFF. It also took the Critics’ Prize at the London Film Festival.