„The Champion” and „Lamb” among the candidates for the Golden Globe Awards
Co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, the films „The Champion” directed by Maciej Barczewski and „Lamb” by Icelandic director Valdimar Jóhannsson are on the list of productions submitted to the Golden Globes in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The nomination will be announced on December 13, and the awards will be held on January 9, 2022.
The Golden Globes are awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Unlike the Oscars, there is no limit to the number of films representing a given country, that is why this year there are two pictures representing Polish cinematography.
In total, over sixty productions are applying for the nomination. These include „Horsemen of Justice” by Anders Thomas Jensen, „Freaks Out” by Gabriele Mainetti, „The Big Hit” by Emmanuel Courcol and „Parallel Mothers” by Pedro Almodovar. The full list of candidates for the Golden Globe can be found here.
„The Champion”
Maciej Barczewski’s full-length debut is a historical drama based on real events. It presents the unknown story of the Polish athlete Tadeusz “Teddy” Pietrzykowski (played by Piotr Głowacki), who in the place of extermination became for his fellow prisoners a symbol of hope for survival and victory over Nazi terror.
The action of the film takes place at the beginning of the functioning of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The pre-war champion of Warsaw in bantamweight scales Tadeusz „Teddy” Pietrzykowski joined it in the first transport on June 14, 1940. Prisoner 77, because he was assigned this number, fought dozens of victorious duels in the ring during his three-year stay, in which his life was at stake. He got food for the fights, which he shared with other prisoners.
„Lamb”
Valdimar Jóhannsson’s film is an Icelandic-Swedish-Polish co-production. It was produced by Hrönn Kristinsdóttir and Sara Nassim from Go to Sheep, Piodor Gustafsson and Erik Rydell from Black Spark Production and Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska and Jan Naszewski from Madants / NEM Corp., in co-production with Film and Väst, Chimney Sweden and Chimney Poland and in cooperation with Rabbit Hole Productions and Helgi Jóhannsson. Agnieszka Glińska is responsible for editing the film.
The description of the film says: an Icelandic couple, María (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason), live with a herd of sheep on a beautiful, remote farm. When they find an unusual newborn on it, they decide to keep him and raise him as their own child. The unexpected prospect of enlarging their family brings them much happiness, but ultimately leads to a tragedy.