Film Archive

Heritage

Official Selection - Competition 2011 / Księstwo / Poland 2011

Since he was young, Zbyszek’s father has been telling him that he can escape from the crippling conditions in the village and strive to attain some kind of harmony. But Zbyszek fails: he’s expelled from law school in the city, and there is no money to be had.... Director Andrzej Barański has brought to the screen one of the most original characters Polish film has created in recent years.

Synopsis

Since he was a kid, Zbyszek’s father, a self-taught philosopher, has been encouraging him to escape from the crippling conditions in the village and strive to attain some kind of harmony. Zbyszek, however, fails: he’s expelled from law school in the city, and there is no money to be had; his mother has trouble enough paying his father’s debts after the old man drowns his ideals in alcohol.... From a wider perspective, the film presents a picture of the poor eastern Polish countryside where high unemployment and rampant alcoholism reign, and bigoted Catholicism influences people’s lives. The ambiguous and yet fascinating Zbyszek, who longs to make something of himself but is unable to act, proves to be one of the most interesting characters to come out of recent Polish cinema. The measured black-and-white visuals created by experienced cameraman Jacek Petrycki are in perfect concord with the story and strengthen its philosophical tone.

About the film

124 min / Black & white, 35 mm
International premiere
Director Andrzej Barański / Screenplay Andrzej Barański na motivy povídek Zbigniewa Masternaka / based on the short stories by Zbigniew Masternak / Dir. of Photography Jacek Petrycki / Editor Wanda Zeman / Producer Małgorzata Jurczak, Krzysztof Grędziński / Production Skorpion Arte sp. z o.o. / Cast Rafał Zawierucha, Aldona Jankowska, Michał Anioł, Jan Wojtyński, Grzegorz Gromek / Contact TVP SA

About the director

Andrzej Barański (b. 1941, Pińczów, Poland) graduated in direction from PWSFTViT in Łódź (1973). Since then he has created 30 award-winning short films in which he concentrates on the lives of ordinary people who perceive moral laws and values as the only means of defending themselves against life’s adversities. Contemplation of one’s own prospects and failures while remaining faithful to these principles is the main theme of his dramatic work, as seen in At Home (W domu, 1975), Leisure Time (1979), Woman from the Provinces (1984), Taboo (1987), The Peddler (1990), Bachelor Life in a Foreign Country (1992), Two Moons (1993), The Day of a Big Fish (1996), and All the Saints (2002). Several People, Little Time, screened in competition at KVIFF 2006 and brought its lead, Andrzej Hudziak, the award for Best Actor.