"Zimna wojna" at the 71st Cannes Film Festival!

Co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, Zimna wojna (Cold War) – the latest film by Oscar-winner Paweł Pawlikowski – has been selected for the Main Competition of the prestigious Cannes festival! On 12 April, the directors of the Cannes International Film Festival, Pierre Lescure and Thierry Fremaux, announced the programme for the Main Competition and the sections making up the Official Selection of the 71st edition of the event.

This is the first Polish production in 28 years to feature in the Main Competition of one of the most important film events in the world. Zimna wojna (Cold War) tells the story of the great and difficult love of two people who cannot be together but also cannot be apart. The lead roles are played by Tomasz Kot and Joanna Kulig, with supporting performances from Agata Kulesza and Borys Szyc. The events depicted in Zimna wojna (Cold War) take place in Poland and the slowly re-awakening Europe of the 1950s and 1960s, and they are set against a unique soundtrack which combines Polish folk music with jazz and songs from the Parisian bars of the last century.

Paweł Pawlikowski’s film will compete for the Palme d’Or with 20 other productions. The films will be judged by a jury chaired by the actress Cate Blanchett with Chang Chen, Ava DuVernay, Robert Guédiguian, Khadja Nin, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, Denis Villeneuve and Andrey Zvyagintsev.

Paweł Pawlikowski is not only the director of the film but he also – along with Janusz Głowacki and Piotr Borkowski – co-wrote the screenplay. Katarzyna Sobańska and Marcel Sławiński were responsible for production design, and the director of photography was Łukasz Żal. Shooting began in January 2017 and was completed at the beginning of August 2017. The movie was shot in Poland, France and Croatia.

The picture is a Polish-French-British co-production. The Polish producer of the film is Ewa Puszczyńska, from Opus Film, while the British producer is Apocalypso Pictures, and the French producer is MK Productions. The film was co-financed by PISF – Polish Film Institute, Film4, British Film Institute, CNC, ARTE France, Canal+ Poland and the Eurimages fund. The co-producers of the picture include the Mazovia Warsaw Film Commission, Łódź Film Commission, Silesian Film Fund and Podkarpackie Film Commission. MK2 Films and Protagonist Pictures are responsible for international sales and Kino Świat is the Polish distributor.

This latest work by the Oscar-winning director of Ida could become the latest film by a Polish director to win the Palme d’Or in Cannes. This important award was previously won by Andrzej Wajda (in 1981 for Człowiek z żelaza (Man of Iron)) and in 2002 by Roman Polański (for the Polish-French production Pianista (The Pianist)). In 1990, Ryszard Bugajski presented his film Przesłuchanie (Interrogation) in the Main Competition at Cannes and the prize for best actress was awarded that year to Krystyna Janda.

More information about the Main Competition of the 71st IFF in Cannes: www.festival-cannes.com.

The 71st Cannes International Film Festival runs from May 8 through May 19, 2018.

Based on the press materials