1970

synopsis

In December 1970, riots broke out in communist Poland in response to the sudden rise in the price of meat and basic foodstuffs. The response of the ruling establishment to the workers' strikes, demonstrations, and protests was harsh. The film reconstruction could have been a gripping feature drama, but the director depicts the events of the time using animated puppets and archival audiovisual footage. The film's central focus is recordings of telephone conversations of peculiar characters, whose conversations stand on the borderline between absurd drama and black grotesque. However, the questions of who recorded them and why the rioting crowd is mute are chilling.


"Outside, people are fighting for this proverbial bread, and these guys are sitting surrounded by oranges, bottles and grapes. There is this divide. And when it reaches truly extreme levels, people take to the streets."

 

The Polish Institute in Prague is the partner of the 25th Ji.hlava IDFF.   

biography

Tomasz Wolski (1977) is a Polish director, screenwriter, and editor. After completing his journalism studies, he studied documentary filmmaking in Warsaw and film and television directing in Łódź. He has participated in the Berlinale Talents, is a member of the European Film Academy, and has won festival awards from Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Krakow, and Ji.hlava.

more about film

director:	Tomasz Wolski, Tomasz Wolski
producer:	Anna Gawlita
script:	Tomasz Wolski