"The Prince and the Dybbuk" Awarded at 74th Venice IFF!
Książę i dybuk (The Prince and the Dybbuk) by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski co-financed by the Polish Film Institute received Venice Classics Award for the best documentary on cinema at the 74th Venice International Film Festival.
The Prince and the Dybbuk Best Documentary on Cinema
Książę i dybuk (The Prince and the Dybbuk). Photo courtesy of Film Art Production
The documentary Książę i dybuk (The Prince and the Dybbuk) by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski received Venice Classics Award for the best documentary on cinema. The film’s Venice screening in Venice Classics Documenatry on Cinema section marked its world premiere. Awards in this section were awarded by a jury led by director and screenwriter Giuseppe Piccioni.
Książę i dybuk (The Prince and the Dybbuk) is a cinematic journey on the trail of Michał Waszyński, author of many pre-war movies featuring Eugeniusz Bodo, director of the mystical, Jewish film Dybuk (Dybbuk), and producer of Hollywood hits featuring Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale. This film by Niewiera and Rosołowski tries to shed light on the mystery that was Waszyński; a man who often changed his identity and re-wrote his own biography from scratch. People who crossed paths with him remember him as a distinguished aristocrat, notorious liar, Jewish vagabond, homosexual, and husband to an Italian countess, all in one.
The film was written and directed by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski, authors of the award-winning documentary Efekt domina (The Domino Effect). The film was lensed by Piotr Rosołowski.
The crew of Książę i dybuk (The Prince and the Dybbuk) at the 74th Venice IFF: Andrzej Dąbrowski, Magda Janowska, Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski. Photo by Film Art Production.
The film was made as a Polish-German co-production, produced by Krakow-based company Film Art Production (Małgorzata Zacharko) and two Berlin-based partners: Kundschafter Filmproduktion (Matthias Miegel) and zero one film (Ann Carolin Renninger). Other parties on board include TVP Kultura, Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg, Filmoteka Narodowa – Instytut Audiowizualny, Chimney Poland, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. The film was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, the Polish-German Film Fund, and Eurimages.
The project has also been supported by the Nipkow Programm, the 18th Bremer Dokumentarfilm Förderpreis, DEFA Stiftung, participated in the ArchiDoc workshops, and was presented at the Pitching du Réel – Visions du Réel, IDFA Forum 2015, MIA Market Rome 2016, and at Docs to go! within the framework of DOC LAB POLAND 2017 in Krakow.
World sales are handled by Wide House. Distribution in Polan is handled by Against Gravity.
Further details about the winners of the 74th Venice IFF are available at: www.labiennale.org/en/news/official-awards-74th-venice-film-festival
Paulina Bez