Piggies

Colour, 35 mm
Poland, Germany, 2009, 94 min
WP – World premiere
Section: Official Selection - Competition

Synopsis

Only a river separates a small Polish border town from Germany. The local teenagers, are wide-eyed at their neighbours’ standard of living. Tomek is a good student, he’s interested in astronomy and plays football to please his father. Except that he lives in a little border town plagued by unemployment and poverty, whereas, on the other side of the river, lies Germany with all its relative affluence. When Tomek meets Marta at his first disco and falls in love with her, he starts to think up ways of earning money in order to keep her interested. After attempts to make some cash smuggling dogs, he approaches the pimp Borys who finds local boys for his German clients. Tomek has no idea of the brutal fate which awaits him.  The filmmaker regards the emotional cynicism and cruelty of teenagers as a phenomenon fuelled by the destructive force of desperate poverty. Not only does it destroy family relationships and Christian values, but criminal behaviour is also no longer perceived as a sin.

About the director

Robert Gliński (b. 1952, Warsaw) studied architecture at Warsaw University (1975) and direction at PWSFTViT in Łodź (1979), where he is currently professor and rector. He has made a number of documentaries and several stage productions. His debut Sunday Pranks (Niedzielni igraszki, 1981–1988) brought him a Gold Ducat and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Mannheim IFF. This was followed by the award-winning films Swan Song (Labędzi śpiew, 1988), Supervision (Superwizja, 1990), All That Really Matters (Wszystko, co najwaźniesze, 1992), and Mother of Her Own Mother (Matka swojej matki, 1996). For his film Hi, Tereska (Cześć Tereska, 2001) he received the Special Jury Prize and FIPRESCI Award at the Karlovy Vary IFF, and other domestic and international awards. After the films Call of the Toad (Wróżby kumaka, 2005) and Benek (2007), he takes another look at dismal domestic situations in Piggies.