The documentary by the outstanding duo of filmmakers opened this year’s edition of the Kraków Film Festival. The official premiere brought many tears of emotion and extremely strong feelings. Among the invited guests there were also the protagonists of this extremely important, moving, and topical film. Not only did the production appeal to audiences as well as festival organisers and selectors, but it also delighted the jury, resulting in awards and prizes.
After its premiere in Kraków, the documentary was selected for one of the sections of the Locarno festival. The international premiere at La Semaine de la Critique turned out to be as lucky as the world premiere at the Kraków Film Festival. The Hamlet Syndrome won its Grand Prix, the SRG SSR award, and the Boccalino d’Oro award awarded by the Swiss Independent Critics
“To be or not to be” – during a war these words take on a variety of new shades. Several months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a group of young people are working on a performance where Shakespeare speaks the language of their own doubts, fears, and dreams. Behind this are various experiences of the “Maidan generation”. Some are working through their traumas after returning from the war in Donbas, others face questions about what the Ukrainian fight is really about and how their country should change. For a moment, life, theatre, and cinema become one and we are witnessing an emotional psychodrama.
Elwira Niewiera – director and researcher. Her feature documentary debut, Bulgarian Stories was presented at a number of international film festivals and had art-house cinema distribution in Germany. Elwira worked also as first assistant director and researcher on the Oscar nominated documentary film Rabbit a la Berlin. Since 2008 she has been an Executive Director of the Polish-German cultural foundation Nowa Ameryka.
Piotr Rosolowski – graduated from the Katowice Film School. Awarded with a scholarship of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Co-author of Rabbit a la Berlin – Academy Award nominated short film documentary – and co-director of Domino Effect together with Elwira Niewiera. Director of Photography of many awarded documentary and fiction films, among them: On the Line (dir. Reto Caffi) – an Academy Award nominated short fiction film.
The film will be represented at international festivals by the KFF Sales&Promotion agency. In 2020, Polish documentaries represented by our agency were shown at 250 screenings at 150 international festivals, out of which 230 were competition screenings. Thanks to our activities, documentary films represented by KFF won 30 awards at foreign festivals in 2020.