Polish Films at Sundance

Photo by Maciej Długaj

Młyn i krzyż (The Mill and the Cross), directed by Lech Majewski and featuring Rutger Hauer, Charlotte Rampling, and Michael York, had its world premiere in the New Frontier programme at this year’s Sundance International Film Festival. This Polish-Swedish co-production was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

The Sunday premiere of the film was met with great acclaim from the audience and from international press. Director Lech Majewski and lead actor Rutger Hauer showed up at the premiere screening at Park City’s Yarrow cinema to take part in a Q&A session. Also present at the screening were representatives of the film’s world sales agent Wide Management, and critics from acclaimed industry press titles, including Variety, Screen International, and the LA Times. A contract with a US distributor is to be signed in the next few days.

The Mill and the Cross was not the only Polish film screening at Sundance. The international short film competition lineup also featured Poza zasięgiem (Out of Reach) by Jakub Stożek.

The Polish Film Institute, together with Krakow’s Off Plus Camera festival, organized the first Polish promotional party at Sundance. Off Plus Camera also celebrated signing a partnership agreement with the Sundance Institute (making it one of only a handful of film events to have such a prestigious working relationship with Sundance). The event had great promotional appeal and was attended by a number of celebrated festival guests. We had the pleasure of welcoming Sundance programming director Trevor Groth and the selection committee, as well as representatives of the world’s top festivals (including Pusan) and several US film festivals (including Austin, Santa Barbara, and Dallas), and the acclaimed actor Rutger Hauer. Fall on Your Sword, a band that wrote the score for this year’s Sundance dark horse Another Earth by director Mike Cahill, performed at the event.

Further details about the Sundance International Film Festival available at www.sundance.org.

Translated by Karolina Kołtun