"United States of Love" in Main Competition at the 66th Berlin IFF

Tomasz Wasilewski’s latest feature Zjednoczone Stany Miłości (United States of Love) will have its world premiere screening in Main Competition at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. The film was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

Wasilewski’s film will screen in Main Competition alongside films by Thomas Vinterberg, Mia Hansen-Løve, André Téchiné or Lav Diaz.This year’s Berlinale Main Competition jury is chaired by actress Meryl Streep.

This marks the fourth time in five years that a Polish film is screening in Berlinale’s Main Competition. The two recent Polish films in the festival’s Main Competition were two films by Małgorzata Szumowska: W imię (In the Name Of…) in 2013 (Teddy Award) and Body/Ciało (Body) in 2015 (Silver Bear Award for Best Director). Last year in Main Competition was also presented Russian-Ukrainian-Polish co-production Pod elektrycznymi chmurami (Under Electric Clouds) directed by Alexey German Jr. Berlinale jury awarded with the Silver Bear directors of photography (Evgeniy Privin, Sergey Mikhalchuk). In 2011 the festival’s key awards also went to the creators of El Premio (The Prize) by Paula Markovich: Wojciech Staroń received the Silver Bear Award for Outstanding Achievement, while Barbara Enriquez was recognized with the Silver Bear Award for Production Design.

A Film Co-Financed by the Polish Film Institute Screening at Berlinale

The producers describe the film as follows: Early 1990. Although the country is now free, the spirit of the previous era is still present. Four seemingly happy women of different ages share an irresistible desire to change their lives.

Zjednoczone Stany Miłości (United States of Love) features performances by Julia Kijowska, Magdalena Cielecka, Dorota Kolak, Marta Nieradkiewicz, Tomasz Tyndyk, Andrzej Chyra, and Łukasz Simlat.

Tomasz Wasilewski’s latest film is a Polish-Swedish co-production lensed by Oleg Mutu (cinematographer on Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winning 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and Sergey Loznitza’s In the Fog). The film was produced by Mañana and co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. In 2013, the project had been presented at the CineMart co-production market at the 43rd Rotterdam International Film Festival. World sales are handled by New Europe Film Sales. 

New Project by the Director of Płynące wieżowce (Floating Skyscrapers) and W sypialni (In a Bedroom)

Tomasz Wasilewski’s previous films W sypialni (In a Bedroom; 2012) and Płynące wieżowce (Floating Skyscrapers; 2013) have screened and received acclaim at multiple film festivals. Płynące wieżowce (Floating Skyscrapers) received the Audience Award at the 13th T-Mobile New Horizons IFF in Wrocław, won the East of the West competition in Karlovy Vary, and screened at the Tribeca FF in New York City). In an interview, Tomasz Wasilewski said that his latest film Zjednoczone stany miłości (United States of Love) is “a portrait of women immediately after the fall of communism in Poland.”

The 66th Berlin International Film Festival runs from February 11 through February 21, 2016. Other Polish films in the festival lineup include Zud by Marta Minorowicz (Generation Kplus) and Ja, Olga Hepnarova (I, Olga Hepnarova), an international co-production directed by Tomáš Weinreb and Petr Kazda, starring Michalina Olszańska (Panorama).

Further details are available at: www.berlinale.de.