New Europe Nabs World Rights to Jan P. Matuszynski’s ‘Leave No Traces’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By Christopher Vourlias

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has acquired world rights for the upcoming drama “Leave No Traces,” from acclaimed Polish director Jan P. Matuszyński (“The Last Family”), produced by Aurum Film, the production house behind Jan Komasa’s Oscar-nominated “Corpus Christi.”

“Leave No Traces” is based on the real-life story of a young man who witnesses the fatal beating of his friend by the police in ‘80s Warsaw. Determined to testify about the killing in court, he must stand up to the full force of Poland’s communist regime.

Pic is produced by Leszek Bodzak and Aneta Hickinbotham for Aurum Film, in coproduction with Canal+ Polksa and Mikuláš Novotný’s Background Films (Czech Republic), with the support of the Polish Film Institute and the Czech Film Fund. The film is slated to premiere in 2021. Kino Świat will release in Poland.

Matuszyński’s last feature, “The Last Family,” was a disturbing biopic of the late-20th-century painter Zdzisław Beksiński and his troubled family. Pic world premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and played over 100 festivals, with New Europe selling to key territories including the U.K., France, Sweden, and China. “” has sold to more than 60 territories after racking up more than 1.5 million admissions in Poland.

New Europe’s EFM line-up includes Valdimar Johannsson’s Icelandic supernatural drama “Lamb,” starring Noomi Rapace; Dutch director Malou Reymann’s “A Perfectly Normal Family,” which won Rotterdam’s VPRO Big Screen Award; Ezequiel Radusky’s Argentinian dramedy “Planta Permanente” (The Lunchroom), which scooped a best actress award at the Mar del Plata Film Festival; and “Disco,” the Toronto and San Sebastian player from Norwegian helmer Jorunn Myklebust Syversen.