Just days before the 75^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, shooting for Maciej Barczewski’s The Champion [+lire aussi :
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interview : Maciej Barczewski
fiche film] has ended on a film set in the former Nazi death camp. Tadeusz “Teddy” Pietrzykowski arrived there as part of the first mass transportation of prisoners, on 14 June 1941. He was a soldier and a gym teacher, but first and foremost, he was a brilliant boxer who fought over 40 times during his imprisonment. Teddy defeated both German and Dutch champions and was deported from Auschwitz in 1943. He survived World War II and died in 1991.

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In 1962, Slovak director Peter Solan also made a film based on Teddy’s biography (The Boxer and Death). The 2020 film is the feature debut by Polish helmer Barczewski, who, in a press release, called Teddy “a symbol of the hope to triumph over Nazi terror”. Piotr Głowacki, one of the most popular Polish actors (best known from the Planet Single [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] trilogy), who lost about one-third of his body weight and underwent gruelling physical training for two years, plays the lead. “Boxing was a tool he used in order to survive,” stated Głowacki in the same press release. “We are telling a story of a passion that can save lives.”

Rafał Zawierucha (Once upon a Time… in Hollywood), Marcin Bosak (In Darkness [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], Spoor [+lire aussi :
critique
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interview : Agnieszka Holland
interview : Zofia Wichlacz
fiche film]), Marian Dziędziel (Rose [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], These Daughters of Mine [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film]) and Marcin Czarnik (Son of Saul [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
Q&A : László Nemes
interview : László Rajk
fiche film], Sunset [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : László Nemes
fiche film]) also star. The Champion is being lensed by Witold Płóciennik, who won an award at the recent Polish Film Festival in Gdynia for Icarus. The Legend of Mietek Kosz [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]. Emmy winner Ewa Skoczkowska is serving as the production designer, while Bartosz Chajdecki (Animals [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Greg Zglinski
fiche film], Gods [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film]) scored the film.

The Champion is being produced by Krzysztof Szpetmański and Leszek Strarzyński (of Iron Films), and co-produced by TVP (the Polish public broadcaster), Cavatina GW, Hardkop and Aeroplan Studios. The Polish distributor is Galapagos Films, and the theatrical release is scheduled for 16 October 2020.