East of the West - Competition 2005 / Vinci / Poland 2004
A crime comedy about the precisely planned heist of the century - Leonardo da Vinci’s ultra famous painting Lady with an Ermine. But things get interrupted by conflicting interests whose intricacy sets off a grand game full of high tension and the protagonists’ incessantly changing chances.
Notorious art thief Cuma is released from prison for health reasons. Gruby the fence arranged things because he is planning the heist of the century. His goal is the jewel of Cracow’s Czartoryski Museum — Da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine — which is about to return from an exhibition in Japan. Cuma immediately gets down to business. He approaches Julian, an explosives expert who owes him one. But Julian is now a cop and only accepts the offer in order to prevent the crime. Gruby asks art forger Hagen to make a copy of the famed work, but Hagen recommends a young restorer named Magda. At about this time, Police Commissioner Wilk sits up and takes notice. He reckons that Cuma’s release wasn’t just accidental.... As in his famed debut, Machulski relies on an eccentric idea, a precisely unfolded storyline and witty dialogue.
110 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Juliusz Machulski
/ Screenplay Juliusz Machulski
/ Dir. of Photography Edward Kłosiński
/ Music Maciej Staniecki
/ Editor Jarosław Pietraszak
/ Producer Juliusz Machulski
/ Production Zebra Film Productions
/ Cast Robert Wieckiewicz, Borys Szyc, Jan Machulski, Kamila Baar, Marcin Dorociński
/ Contact Zebra Film Studio, Film Polski Promotion Agency, Bontonfilm, a.s., High Point Media Group
www: www.vinci.pl
Juliusz Machulski (b. 1955, Olsztyn), director, screenwriter, actor and producer, graduated from the Lodz Film School and is president of the Polish Film Academy. His debut crime comedy, Va Banque (Vabank, 1981), won several domestic and international awards, as did the sci-fi comedy Sexmission (Seksmisja, 1983). He went on to receive praise from both domestic juries and audiences for his comedies Va Banque II (Vabank II, czyli riposta, 1984), Kingsize (Kingsajz, 1987), Déjà Vu (1989) and V.I.P. (1991). Then he surprised his fans with a period drama, The Squadron (Szwadron, 1992), and Girl Guide (1995), which focuses of the hectic lives of city kids. In Kiler (Kiler, 1997), and the following Two Kilers (Kilerów 2-óch, 1999), he parodied underworld stereotypes. The comedies Money Isn’t Everything (Pieniądze to nie wszystko, 2001) and Superproduction (Superprodukcja, 2002) expose the decay of morals in the countryside and the showbiz world respectively. With Vinci (2004) he returns to the poetics of his renowned debut.
Zebra Film Studio
Pulawska 61, 02-595, Warsaw
Poland
Phone: +48 22 845 5484
Fax: +48 22 845 6588
E-mail: [email protected]
Film Polski Promotion Agency
Mazowiecka 6/8, 00-048, Warsaw
Poland
Phone: +48 22 826 8630, +48 22 826 0849
Fax: +48 22 826 4051
E-mail: [email protected]
Bontonfilm, a.s.
Na Poříčí 1047/26, 110 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 257 415 111
E-mail: [email protected]
High Point Media Group
Suite 16, Deane House Studios, Greenwood Place, NW5 1LB, London
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 742 468 70
Fax: +44 20 748 532 81
E-mail: [email protected]
Juliusz Machulski
Producer
Jolanta Galicka
Festival Consultant, Producer
Ewa Machulska
Wojciech Danowski
Producer
Urszula Strzelczyk-Piasecka
Sales Agent
Elisar Cabrera
Sales Agent
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