"Baby Blues" wins in Berlin!
Baby Blues
On 15 February, the Generation section awards were presented at the 63rd International Film Festival in Berlin. The Crystal Bear for best film in the Generation 14 plus section went to Bejbi Blues (Baby Blues) by Katarzyna Rosłaniec. The film was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.
Two awards
The members of the Youth Jury in Generation 14plus – Indira Geisel, Maxim Mersini, Jonas Mileta, Zoë Noack, Sarah Rheinfurth, Carla Romagna and Kalvin Schmidt-Rimpler Dinh gave the Crystal Bear award to the film by Katarzyna Rosłaniec.
Bejbi Blues (Baby Blues) received also Special Mention from the new International Jury Generation 14plus (Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, Lucy Mulloy and Xavier García Puerto).
A story of selfishness and loneliness
The discussion after the film’s première in Berlin, was led by the deputy director of the Generation section, Florian Weghorn. – “It’s a long story. I read somewhere a story about a girl who hid her child in the luggage locker at a train station, and I also wanted to make a film about a single mother. I read an article about a teenage girl who wanted to have a baby simply not to be alone any longer, and it is difficult to find a teenager who wants to be a mother. This is a movie about the selfishness and loneliness (…). If we just want to look at each other, we end up badly, because the egomaniacs focused on themselves will never meet one another” – Katarzyna Rosłaniec stressed after the first show.
The second story by Katarzyna Rosłaniec
Baby Blues is the second feature film from Katarzyna Rosłaniec (Mall Girls). The role of the main character is performed by Magdalena Berus. She is supported on the screen by such actors as Nikodem Rozbicki, Michał Trzeciakowski, Mateusz Kościukiewicz, Magdalena Boczarska and Katarzyna Figura. The Director of Photography is Jens Ramborg. The artistic supervisor for the film was Małgorzata Szumowska. The world première of the film took place at the 37thInternational Film Festival in Toronto.
Food for thought
Since the festival screenings, the film has received a warm reception from critics: “Baby Blues tells the story of a teenage mother, and just taking on this subject indicates that this is going to be a very serious film. However, in the film there are many moments of light-hearted fun. Natalia’s careless actions at the beginning of the film powerfully highlight her strengths and desperate behaviour at the end (…). The film ends in a very serious, dramatic and thought-provoking way”- writes Liv Thastum in a review in the Fluter magazine.
A film co-financed by the Polish Film Institute
The film Baby Blues is a Mental Disorder 4 (MD4) production, co-produced by Zentropa International Poland, and Telekomunikacja Polska and Warszawa Powiśle, part of Grupa Warszawa. The film was produced in co-operation with the Warsaw Film Foundation and was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. The Polish distributor of the film is Kino Świat.
More information: www.berlinale.de.