Polish Projects in the Pipeline
By Christopher Vourlias
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Charlatan”
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Producers: Marlene Film Production, Film & Music Entertainment, Madants
Logline: Inspired by the real-life figure of Jan Mikolášek, Holland’s latest follows an herbalist who devotes his life to care for the sick, despite the challenges.
Sales: Films Boutique
“The Coldest Game”
Director: Lukasz Kosmicki
Producer: Watchout Studio, K5 Intl.
Logline: Bill Pullman stars in this spy thriller, set against the backdrop of the Cuban missile crisis, as an American chess master whisked off to Warsaw to square off against a Russian champion.
Sales: Hyde Park Entertainment
“Corpus Christi”
Director: Jan Komasa
Producers: Aurum Film, Les Contes Modernes
Logline: Inspired by real events, the third feature from Komasa (Berlin player “Suicide Room”) follows a teenage delinquent who dreams of becoming a priest, only to find himself mistakenly taking over a village parish and transforming the local community.
Sales: New Europe Film Sales
“Fools”
Director: Tomasz Wasilewski
Producers: Extreme Emotions, Micro Film
Logline: A story of difficult love, hard choices and their dramatic consequences for a mother and son is at the heart of the fourth feature from Wasilewski, whose “United States of Love” won the script prize in Berlin in 2016.
Sales: New Europe Film Sales
“Lamb”
Director: Valdimar Johannsson
Producers: Go to Sheep, Black Spark, Madants
Logline: Noomi Rapace stars in this Icelandic supernatural drama about a childless couple who discover a half-human, half-sheep newborn on their farm and decide to raise it as their own.
Sales: New Europe Film Sales
“The Masseur”
Director: Malgorzata Szumowska
Producer: Lava Films, Match Factory Productions
Logline: Two-time Berlin Silver Bear winner Szumowska (“Body,” “Mug”) returns with a film that turns on a 46-year-old masseur who acts as modern-day confessor to the clients he visits.
Sales: Match Factory
“Stillborn”
Director: Olga Chajdas
Producer: Apple Film Production, Topkapi Films
Logline: A “post-punk psychological drama” following a young woman from the dying days of Communism through Poland’s free elections in 1989. Recipient of the prestigious Eurimages Co-Production Development Award in Rotterdam.
Sales: TBA
“Sole”
Director: Carlos Sironi
Producers: Kino Produzioni, Lava Films, RAI
Logline: A pregnant Polish woman in Italy, who wants to sell her baby to a couple struggling to conceive, stumbles into an unconventional relationship with the man pretending to be the baby’s father.
Sales: Luxbox
“Taste of Pho”
Director: Mariko Saga
Producers: Lava Films, Rohfilm Prods.
Logline: A Vietnamese cook in Warsaw struggles to fit in with the local culture, which his 10-year-old daughter has already embraced as her own. A story about love, misunderstanding and food.
Sales: New Europe Film Sales
“Warning”
Director: Agata Alexander
Producers: Anova Pictures, Film Produkcja
Logline: Patrick Schwarzenegger (“Midnight Sun”) and Polish star Tomasz Kot (“Cold War”) topline this sci-fi thriller set in a near future where vastly disparate lives collide.
Sales: The Exchange (international), ICM Partners (North America)
