Archive of films Wałęsa. Man of Hope – Director's Cut / Wałęsa. Człowiek z nadziei – Director's Cut
Poland
2014, 133 min
Section:
Special Events
Year: 2014
An Italian journalist arrives in cheerless 1980s Poland in order to interview Lech Walesa, the leading personality of the movement against the communist regime. She then files a report about the life of the electrician who worked his way up to become a towering figure in the fight to bring down the Iron Curtain. Andrzej Wajda’s director’s cut includes ten added scenes that were, according to his own words, "too good to forget about.”
Synopsis
Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci arrives in cheerless 1980s Poland to interview Lech Wałęsa, the leading figure of the movement against the communist regime. She then files a report about the life of the electrician who worked his way up to become a towering figure in the fight to bring down the Iron Curtain. The answers to her often unpleasantly direct questions form the chapters of a narrative in which we witness the birth of the Solidarity movement, Wałęsa’s fight against the political establishment, and the triumph of the movement in parliamentary elections. Through Andrzej Wajda’s eyes, the history-sanctified icon becomes human – vain and stubborn yet charismatic – a man who goes after his goals even at the expense of those closest to him. The director’s cut was created exclusively for the Karlovy Vary IFF with support from Unipetrol, an ORLEN Group company, which is also a partner of this year’s edition of the event. Andrzej Wajda’s director’s cut includes ten added scenes that were, in his words, "too good to forget about.”
About the director
Andrzej Wajda (b. 1926, Suwałki, Poland) has devoted a substantial portion of his work to contemplating the fate of Poland. After debuting with A Generation (Pokolenie, 1954), he immortalized the Home Army resistance in Kanał (1956), Ashes and Diamonds (Popiół i diament, 1958), and The Ring with the Crowned Eagle (Pierścionek z orłem w koronie, 1992). He looked at the beginnings of the war in Speed (Lotna, 1959) and Chronicle of Love Affairs (Kronika wypadków miłosnych, 1985), and then at the postwar trauma of released Polish prisoners in Landscape after Battle (Krajobraz po bitwie, 1970). In 2007 he returned to the war in Katyń. His latest, Wałęsa. Man of Hope (2014), completes a trilogy begun in 1977 with a disillusioning portrait of a labor icon, Man of Marble (Człowiek z marmuru), followed four years later with the loose continuation Man of Iron (Człowiek z żelaza, 1981).
Contacts
Films Boutique
Köpenicker Str. 184, 10997, Berlin
Germany
Tel: +49 306 953 7850
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.filmsboutique.com
Artcam Films
Rašínovo nábřeží 6, 128 00, Praha 2
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 221 411 619
Fax: +420 221 411 699
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.artcam.cz
Akson Studio
ul. Piękna 44A, 00-672, Warsaw
Poland
Tel: +48 609856659
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.aksonstudio.pl
About the film
Color, DCP
World premiere
Section: | Special Events |
---|---|
Director: | Andrzej Wajda |
Screenplay: | Janusz Głowacki |
Dir. of Photography: | Paweł Edelman |
Music: | Paweł Mykietyn |
Editor: | Grażyna Gradoń, Milenia Fiedler |
Producer: | Michał Kwieciński |
Production: | Akson Studio |
Coproduction: | Telewizja Polska, Orange, Canal+, National Centre for Culture |
Cast: | Robert Więckiewicz, Agnieszka Grochowska, Maria Rosaria Omaggio |
Contact: | Films Boutique, Artcam Films, Akson Studio |
Distributor: | Artcam Films |
www: | www.walesamanofhope.com |
Guests
Robert Wieckiewicz
Actor
Agnieszka Grochowska
Actress
Lech Walesa
Politician
Artemio Benki
Distributor, Film Director, Producer
Přemysl Martinek
Film Institution Rep., Producer
Valeska Neu
Sales Agent
Frank L. Stavik
Distributor, Other, Producer