Film Archive

Yuma

East of the West - Competition 2012 / Yuma / Poland, Czech Republic 2012

It’s the beginning of the 1990s but the situation along the Polish-German border hasn’t much changed since the fall of the Iron Curtain. So 20-year-old Zyga and his friends decide to brighten up life in their sleepy, gray town by bettering themselves and their fellow citizens. Debut director Piotr Mularuk’s compelling drama is deftly interwoven with Western motifs.

Synopsis

It’s the beginning of the 1990s but the situation along the Polish-German border hasn’t much changed since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Twenty-year-old Zyga (the talented Jakub Gierszał) is tired of looking at the latest fashions and Western conveniences in glossy magazines. He and his friends decide to brighten up life in their sleepy, gray town by bettering themselves and their fellow citizens. Overflowing with goods, West German stores are just a tad too tempting for the young men. Piotr Mularuk’s impressive, action-packed drama drew inspiration from the situation (and the Polish news headlines that accompanied it) that unfolded on the Polish-German border following the breakup of the Soviet bloc. The debuting director adroitly weaves Western motifs into the film, referencing, among others, Delmer Daves’ renowned 1957 movie 3:10 to Yuma, which Zyga dreamily watches in the half-empty local theater.

About the film

105 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Piotr Mularuk / Screenplay Piotr Mularuk, Wojciech Gajewicz / Dir. of Photography Tomasz Dobrowolski P.S.C. / Music Jan P. Muchow / Editor Agnieszka Glińska P.S.M. / Producer Piotr Mularuk, Magdalena Napieracz, Pavel Berčík / Production Yeti Films / Cast Jakub Gierszał, Katarzyna Figura, Tomasz Kot, Krzysztof Skonieczny, Jakub Kamieński / Contact Yeti Films
www: www.yumafilm.com

About the director

Piotr Mularuk (b. 1966, Warsaw) is a director, screenwriter, and producer. He did coursework in English studies at Warsaw University. In 1993 he graduated in direction from City University of New York. In 1996 he moved back to Poland where he has been directing documentaries, music videos, commercials, and a variety of TV productions, often based on the works of well-known Polish writers (e.g. Stół, 2000; Skarb, 2000; and Pan Dwadrzewko, 2004). In 2002 he founded Yeti Films, his own independent Polish production company. As a coproducer his work includes Peter Greenaway’s Nightwatching (2007) and Pavel Štingl’s documentary A Ghetto Called Baluty (2008). Yuma is his feature film debut.