Archive of films Owning Mahowny / Owning Mahowny

Canada / United Kingdom
2002, 105 min

Section: Horizons
Year: 2003

An irreproachable bank clerk name Mahowny has an uncontrollable urge to gamble. His position at the bank is high enough to allow him relatively easy access to the bank’s money: embezzlement allows him to fully devote himself to his passion. At first everything goes well.... A true story with virtuoso performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Minnie Driver.

Synopsis

Dan Mahowny, a modest and irreproachable bank clerk, has an uncontrollable and devastating urge to gamble. His position at the bank is high enough to allow him relatively easy access to the bank’s money: embezzlement allows him to fully devote himself to his passion. He invents fictitious clients, falsifies bank transfers and collects money in their names. But Mahowny’s interest isn’t gain, he doesn’t play for money – even when he wins he doesn’t put any aside. All he wants is the excitement he has while playing. At first everything goes well, no one suspects him. And at the casino he becomes a respected guest thanks to the amount of cash he drops while playing. Mahowny’s never changing face and behaviour fools everyone around him, everyone, that is, except his girlfriend Belinda. Eventually she starts fighting to save their relationship. This fascinating story based on true events provides a vehicle for virtuoso performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Minnie Driver. Richard Kwietniowski’s bravura direction captured the advancing pathology of Mahowny’s gambling as well as the glitzy and exciting atmosphere of the casino.

About the director

Richard Kwietniowski (b. 1957, London) studied film and literature at Kent University and at the University of California, Berkeley. At the beginning of the eighties he began shooting short experimental films. At the Berlinale in 1987 he was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Short (Alfalfa). Kwietniowski has also cooperated with British Television. His feature debut Love and Death on Long Island, adapted from the Gilbert Adair novel and starring John Hurt, took many awards in Britain as well as at international film festivals. Shorts: Interference (1983), Startled Insects Filmwork (1983), Underworld (1985), What’s Cooking (1986), Next Week’s Rent (1986), Questions in the House (1987), Alfalfa (1987), Ballad of Reading Goal (1988), Flames of Passion (1989), Proust’s Favorite Fantasy (1991), Cost of Love (1991) and Actions Speak Louder than Words (1992). Features: Love and Death on Long Island (1997) and Owning Mahowny (2002).

Contacts

Alliance Atlantis Pictures International
121 Bloor Street East, Suite 1500, ON M4W 3M5, Toronto
Canada
Tel: +1 416 967 1174
Fax: +1 416 967 1226
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.allianceatlantisfilms.com

About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Horizons

Director:	Richard Kwietniowsky
Screenplay:	Maurice Chauvet
Dir. of Photography:	Oliver Curtis
Music:	Richard Grassby-Lewis, The Insects
Editor:	Mike Munn
Producer:	Andras Hamori, Seaton McLean, Alessandro Camon
Production:	Alliance Atlantis Pictures International
Cast:	Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver, Maury Chaykin, John Hurt, Sonja Smits, Ian Tracey, Roger Dunn, Jason Blicker, Chris Collins
Contact:	Alliance Atlantis Pictures International

www:	www.sonyclassics.com/owning

Guests

Richard Kwietniowsky