In the 1930s, the Polish port city of Gdynia became a brief landing pad for immigrants from neighboring countries, including Jews who sought safety and prosperity before the rise of Nazi Germany. Though the Museum of Gdynia quietly explains this messy history, obvious markers of that past aren’t visible across the city. Its marina boasts a massive monument to 18th-century Polish military hero Tadeusz Kościuszko, whose actions became the stuff of legend both for the Poles and the Americans, but otherwise Gdynia stands anew, with sparkling metallic structures surrounding its stretch of the Puck Bay and the Polanka Redłowska forest.
By contrast, in the nearby town of Gdańsk, with its brightly colored and narrow buildings that hug a labyrinthine waterway, the markers of history are more immediately apparent to the naked eye. Much of the buildings have been reconstructed such that nearly every street teems with homages to the past.
By contrast, in the nearby town of Gdańsk, with its brightly colored and narrow buildings that hug a labyrinthine waterway, the markers of history are more immediately apparent to the naked eye. Much of the buildings have been reconstructed such that nearly every street teems with homages to the past.
- 9/28/2023
- by Greg Nussen
- Slant Magazine
There will come a time, perhaps not even too far from now, when films like “Woman Of…” may feel, if not old hat, at least familiar, part of a genre unto itself: not a coming-of-age story but a coming-of-self one, tracing the particular life stages of identifying oneself as transgender, accepting oneself as such, and finally living that truth out loud. Spanning decades in its closeup portrait of a Polish trans woman traveling that trajectory in a social climate hostile to her very existence, Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s heart-on-sleeve film isn’t aiming to be revolutionary — there’s an old-fashioned melodramatic heft to its episodic construction, setting its heroine’s tale in a pointedly mainstream context. But it still represents a bold gesture of cinematic allyship, drawing attention as it does to Poland’s dire record on LGBT rights.
Those merits will serve this Venice competition premiere well on the festival circuit,...
Those merits will serve this Venice competition premiere well on the festival circuit,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Jason Mitchell (Mudbound) and Bartosz Bielenia (Corpus Christi) have joined Jacek Braciak (Leave No Traces) for historical action title Scarborn, based on the story of Polish general and revolutionary war hero Tadeusz Kościuszko who is best known for fighting at George Washington’s side in the American War of Independence.
The project, which is the directed by Pawel Maślona and has just wrapped its shoot, also stars Robert Wieckiewicz (In Darkness) and Agnieszka Grochowska (Leave No Traces). Daniel Baur’s K5 International has boarded worldwide sales on the project.
Scarborn, which is written by Michał A. Zieliński, sees Kościuszko (Braciak) and his African American friend and former slave Domingo (Mitchell) return to Poland to organize an uprising and fight against the Russian invasion by mobilizing the Polish nobility and peasants. They are followed by a ruthless Russian captain, Dunin (Wieckiewicz) who wants to capture the general at any cost...
The project, which is the directed by Pawel Maślona and has just wrapped its shoot, also stars Robert Wieckiewicz (In Darkness) and Agnieszka Grochowska (Leave No Traces). Daniel Baur’s K5 International has boarded worldwide sales on the project.
Scarborn, which is written by Michał A. Zieliński, sees Kościuszko (Braciak) and his African American friend and former slave Domingo (Mitchell) return to Poland to organize an uprising and fight against the Russian invasion by mobilizing the Polish nobility and peasants. They are followed by a ruthless Russian captain, Dunin (Wieckiewicz) who wants to capture the general at any cost...
- 8/1/2022
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Buffalo 8 Distribution has acquired the North American rights to Jan P. Matuszyński’s Leave No Traces starring Tomasz Ziętek (Corpus Christi), Sandra Korzeniak (Influence) and Jacek Braciak (Edi).
The film, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival, is Poland’s official selection for Best International Feature at the upcoming Academy Awards. Buffalo 8 will release the film theatrically in February of 2022.
Based on true events in 1983 Poland, Leave No Traces follows the story of Jurek – a young man who becomes an enemy of the state after he’s the sole witness to the violent murder of a high school student at the hands of militia. The oppressive regime leverages the full weight of its infrastructure to pressure and intimidate Jurek and people close to the case, using the militia, secret service, courts and the media in an attempt to cover up the killing.
“The entire Buffalo 8 team is thrilled to release Poland’s 2022 Academy Award candidate,...
The film, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival, is Poland’s official selection for Best International Feature at the upcoming Academy Awards. Buffalo 8 will release the film theatrically in February of 2022.
Based on true events in 1983 Poland, Leave No Traces follows the story of Jurek – a young man who becomes an enemy of the state after he’s the sole witness to the violent murder of a high school student at the hands of militia. The oppressive regime leverages the full weight of its infrastructure to pressure and intimidate Jurek and people close to the case, using the militia, secret service, courts and the media in an attempt to cover up the killing.
“The entire Buffalo 8 team is thrilled to release Poland’s 2022 Academy Award candidate,...
- 12/13/2021
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Leave No Traces Venice, day nine. There’s something almost ineffably melancholic about watching a festival empty out. As I type these words, twenty-four hours or so before the awards will be announced, the press room I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time in, is now home to a smattering of survivors. The end is nigh, people are flocking home, and the jury led by Bong Joon-ho is busy picking this year’s winners somewhere on the island. It’s been a strange, uneven ride, with a lineup so front-loaded it was perhaps only natural that the fest’s second week wouldn’t live up to the sheen of the first few days. But the last stretch was still home to some belated surprises, among them, Jan P. Matuszyński’s Leave No Traces. A follow-up to his 2016 Locarno prizewinning The Last Family, Matuszyński’s second feature is based on...
- 9/16/2021
- MUBI
“Leave No Marks” would be a more apt translation from the Polish title of “Leave No Traces,” referring as it does to a horrifying command from one police officer to another, heard early on in this marathon fact-based drama: “Hit the stomach so you leave no marks, not on the back.” They’re in the middle of administering a merciless, unprovoked beating — a hard rain of combat boots and handheld batons — to a very soft target in 18-year-old student Grzegorz Przemyk, holding nothing back but acute physical evidence of their ire, even as the victim’s stunned best friend looks on. Those missing marks, or traces, are only the first deception in the state’s protracted, punishing efforts to disprove what they know really happened, and Jan P. Matuszyński’s film unravels the conspiracy with earnest, exhaustive fury.
It’s a true-crime story that could be dramatized with equal power as a tight,...
It’s a true-crime story that could be dramatized with equal power as a tight,...
- 9/10/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Dedicated to the story that shook up Poland in 1983, when high-schooler Grzegorz Przemyk was beaten to death by militia, Venice’s main competition entry “Leave No Traces” is not your usual historical movie, argued helmer Jan P. Matuszyński during the press conference.
“I see parallels between the case of Grzegorz Przemyk and the case of George Floyd,” he said. Floyd’s murder at the hands of a police officer was filmed by teenage Darnella Frazier, Przemyk’s ordeal was witnessed by a close friend. As recounted in Cezary Łazarewicz’s non-fiction book “Leave No Traces. The Case of Grzegorz Przemyk,” the tragedy – and the trial that followed – sparked widespread protests yet the culprits were never sentenced.
Matuszyński, who debuted with “The Last Family” and was born a year after the events took place, admitted it took a lot of effort to recreate the world of 1983. He didn’t want to “make a postcard,...
“I see parallels between the case of Grzegorz Przemyk and the case of George Floyd,” he said. Floyd’s murder at the hands of a police officer was filmed by teenage Darnella Frazier, Przemyk’s ordeal was witnessed by a close friend. As recounted in Cezary Łazarewicz’s non-fiction book “Leave No Traces. The Case of Grzegorz Przemyk,” the tragedy – and the trial that followed – sparked widespread protests yet the culprits were never sentenced.
Matuszyński, who debuted with “The Last Family” and was born a year after the events took place, admitted it took a lot of effort to recreate the world of 1983. He didn’t want to “make a postcard,...
- 9/9/2021
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
New Europe Film Sales has closed several deals for “Leave No Traces,” from Polish director Jan P. Matuszyński (“The Last Family”), which has its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Variety has been given exclusive access to the film’s trailer.
Produced by Aurum Film, the production house behind Jan Komasa’s Oscar-nominated “Corpus Christi,” pic has sold to Imagine Film Distribution for Benelux and Scanorama for Lithuania. As previously announced, the film was also picked up by Memento Films Distribution for France.
Set in Warsaw in the 1980s, “Leave No Traces” is based on the real-life story of a young man (Tomasz Ziętek) who witnesses the fatal beating of his friend (Mateusz Górski) by the police. Determined to testify about the killing in court, he must stand up to the full force of a communist regime that employs the secret service, the police force, the media...
Produced by Aurum Film, the production house behind Jan Komasa’s Oscar-nominated “Corpus Christi,” pic has sold to Imagine Film Distribution for Benelux and Scanorama for Lithuania. As previously announced, the film was also picked up by Memento Films Distribution for France.
Set in Warsaw in the 1980s, “Leave No Traces” is based on the real-life story of a young man (Tomasz Ziętek) who witnesses the fatal beating of his friend (Mateusz Górski) by the police. Determined to testify about the killing in court, he must stand up to the full force of a communist regime that employs the secret service, the police force, the media...
- 9/1/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The intense relationship between a middle-aged tennis coach and his teenage daughter hits trouble when a bright young male player tags along
Lukasz Grzegorzek’s A Coach’s Daughter is an interestingly downbeat movie, veering away from the big scenes and obvious crises that other films with the same idea might have given you, and yet somehow serving them up in different forms. It’s about the intense and borderline inappropriate relationship between a middle-aged tennis coach, Maciej (Jacek Braciak) and his teenage daughter Wiktoria (Karolina Bruchnicka), who is a budding tennis star. He is driving her all over Poland, where they are competing in summer regional tournaments, and hoping for glory; they share hotel rooms and lounge around together in intimate states of undress like a couple, but appear utterly focused on Wiktoria’s training and fitness.
On the road they meet Igor (Bartlomiej Kowalski), a bright young teen...
Lukasz Grzegorzek’s A Coach’s Daughter is an interestingly downbeat movie, veering away from the big scenes and obvious crises that other films with the same idea might have given you, and yet somehow serving them up in different forms. It’s about the intense and borderline inappropriate relationship between a middle-aged tennis coach, Maciej (Jacek Braciak) and his teenage daughter Wiktoria (Karolina Bruchnicka), who is a budding tennis star. He is driving her all over Poland, where they are competing in summer regional tournaments, and hoping for glory; they share hotel rooms and lounge around together in intimate states of undress like a couple, but appear utterly focused on Wiktoria’s training and fitness.
On the road they meet Igor (Bartlomiej Kowalski), a bright young teen...
- 3/15/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.