EXCLUSIVE: Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border will open the 22nd Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, running from March 6 to 28 in various locations across London.
The opening gala screening at the BFI Southbank will tie in with the film’s UK release by Modern Films, which kicks off on March 8. The picture previously made its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.
The timely drama explores the migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border from a variety of points of view, from the people stuck in the treacherous natural environment, to activists trying to help them and border guards charged with keeping them out.
The work hit the headlines earlier this year when Holland was attacked by Poland’s far-right government as the film world premiered to acclaim at the Venice Film Festival in September, where it won the Special Jury Prize.
Polish distributor Kino Świat pushed on with the Polish release in spite of the nasty political backlash, with Holland doing the promotional tour accompanied by private security guards.
The long-running Kinoteka festival is organized by the Polish Cultural Institute with the support of the Polish Film Institute.
The festival will close at the BFI IMAX on 28 March with a screening of Polish box office animated feature hit The Peasants, accompanied by live music from composer Łukasz Rostkowski aka L.U.C.
It is the latest ambitious production film from the husband-and-wife team DK and Hugh Welchman, who broke out internationally with the 2019 feature animation Oscar nominee Loving Vincent.
The works is adapted from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic turn-of-the-century novel of the same name and uses the same hand-painted technique as its predecessor but on a grander scale.
The drama revolves a free-spirited young woman, Jagna, determined to forge her own path in a late 19th century Polish village. She is knocked off course when she is married off to a wealthy widower, while being in love with his son.
The picture, which has enjoyed a successful cinema run at home with over 1.7 million admissions, is Poland’s entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards and is also in the running for best animated feature film.
Further highlights of the program include Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s Woman Of which will play in New Polish Cinema strand.
Set against the landscape of the Polish transformation from communism to capitalism,the film follows the 45-year journey of Aniela Wesoły (Małgorzata Hajewska) to find personal liberty as a trans woman.
The film originally world premiered in Competition in Venice.
The full line-up of the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival will be announced on February 7.
