07/09/2012 - Waldemar Krzystek’s film is to represent Poland in the race for the Oscar for best film in a foreign language

After Andrzej Wajda’s Katyn [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrzej Wajda
interview: Michal Kwiecinski
film profile] in 2010 and Agnieszka Holland’s In Darkness last year, another historical drama has been selected as Poland’s candidate for the next Oscar for best film in a foreign language: Waldemar Krzystek’s 80 Million.

It was not easy to choose from so many auteur films taken into consideration, said Juliusz Machulski, a member of the commission who took the decision. "The decisive element in 80 Millions’s favour is the fact that this film recounts an important period of Poland’s history in a universal, original, and optimistic way."

80 Million is set in the autumn of 1981, ten days before the proclamation of martial law in Poland. Three members of the anti-communist movement Solidarity take out 80 million zlotys from the organisation’s bank account, just before it is blocked by the authorities. This money, that is thus almost miraculously saved, will then serve to support Solidarity in its opposition to the government.

These "three musketeers" are played by Wojciech Solarz (as Stanislaw Huskowski), Krzysztof Czeczot (as Józef Pinior), and Maciej Makowski (as Piotr Bednarz). The film’s cast also features Piotr Glowacki, Agnieszka Grochowska, AdamFerency, Mariusz Benoit, and Jan Frycz.

Produced by MediaBrigade, 80 Million was co-produced by Odra Film, Studio Produkcyjne Orka, Dreamsound, Editingbrigade, and Canal+ Polska, with the support of the Polish Film Institute. The film made its international premiere at the Moscow Film Festival last June, and Kino Swiat released it in Poland.

(Translated from French)