EURIMAGES SUPPORT FOR "GAME COUNT" AND "THE MUTE"

Pokot (Game Count), a film by Agnieszka Holland and Niemy (The Mute), a film by Bartosz Konopka, both co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, received financing from the Eurimages European support fund for international co-productions.

Polish Films Receive Eurimages Funding

During its October meeting in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi, the authorities of the Council of Europe’s Eurimages Fund agreed to support a total of 17 co-productions: 14 feature films, two animated films and one documentary, for a total amount of 5,116,469 euros.

The list of supported titles includes two Polish feature films: Pokot (Game Count), directed by Agnieszka Holland, and Niemy (The Mute), directed by Bartosz Konopka. Both films are also co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

Pokot (Game Count)

Pokot (Game Count) is the latest film by director Agnieszka Holland, based on a screenplay adaptation of Olga Tokarczuk’s bestselling novel “Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych”, published in 2009 by Wydawnictwo Literackie. According to the filmmakers, it will be a crime story with a Coen brothers sense of irony, set in a surreal world that some might find reminiscent of the recent films of Wes Anderson.

The film is produced as a co-production between Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Sweden. The script was written by Agnieszka Holland and Olga Tokarczuk. The film is lensed by Jolanta Dylewska and scored by Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz. Production on the Polish side is handled by Studio Filmowe TOR, which received funding for developing the feature project from the EU MEDIA Programme and the Polish-German Co-Development Fund.

The film’s German producer is Heimatfilm, the Czech producer is Nutprodukce, while Chimney is producing the film on the Swedish side. Pokot (Game Count) features performances by Agnieszka Mandat, Wiktor Zborowski, Jakub Gierszał, Borys Szyc, Andrzej Grabowski, Tomasz Kot, and Katarzyna Herman, and has received production support from the Polish Film Institute.

Niemy (The Mute)

Niemy (The Mute) is the latest project by Bartosz Konopka, director of Lęk wysokości (Fear of Falling), Sztuka znikania (The Art of Disappearing) and Królik po berlińsku (Rabbit a la Berlin). The script was written by Bartosz Konopka and Przemysław Nowakowski, while Paweł Edelman is the film’s attached DP. Niemy (The Mute) is a Polish-Irish co-production, produced by Otter Films and Samson Films. The film has received support from the Polish Film Institute, and has received financing for project development from the European Union’s MEDIA Programme and from Fundacja Polskie Centrum Audiowizualne.

Eurimages

Eurimages is the Council of Europe’s support fund for co-production, distribution and exhibition of European audiovisual works, currently with 36 member states. Poland has been a member of Eurimages since 1991. The fund itself was established in 1988 and has supported 1702 European co-productions to date, for a total of approximately 513 million euros.

Further details are available at www.coe.int/t/dg4/eurimages.

Paulina Bez

Translated by Karolina Kołtun