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Synopsis: The Polish President died in an air crash in Russia (2010). The reason stated: pilot error. However testimonies at the prosecutor’s office and technical findings deliver some surprising information and tell another story. Archival footage documenting the first few minutes after the crash, obtained from secret services, will see the light of day for the first time. If you want to live in a safe world, you have to face the truth…

Language

Polish, English

Run Time

57 minutes

Starring

Paweł Suchta (editor)

Directed by

Ewa Stankiewicz

Director's Statement

10 years ago a plane with the Polish President and 95 VIPs on board crashed just outside a Russian airport. The dramatic events of the first few minutes right after the tragedy are retold by special services officers, diplomats and pilots of another Polish plane, which landed at the Russian airport 1.5 hours earlier.
Due to contradictory information regarding the course of events and causes of the disaster, the film relies solely on reliable sources, revealing materials from the Prosecutor’s Office and Ministry of National Defense, never previously shown to the public. In the course of a journalistic investigation the filmmaker was able to uncover documents and footage which are sensational in nature and reveal a surprising course of events.
For many of them on board it was a journey of a lifetime, towards the mass graves of their relatives sought for generations, secretly murdered by Stalin during World War II. Will the silence regarding a crime from 70 years ago now consume them?

Director's Bio

Ewa Stankiewicz graduated from the University of Wroclaw and Film and Television Directing Department at the National Film School in Łódź (PWSFTviT). She is the author of two full-length feature films (including a co-production with ARTE and ZDF) and many documentaries, for which she received numerous awards. The most recognized was a documentary titled “Trzech kumpli” (Three buddies), which won the main prize in the best-documentary film category at the RomaFictionFest festival in Rome. Ewa Stankiewicz is currently in pre-production stages on a feature film titled „Droga do domu” (“Way back Home”).
Filmography:
• If you go away (Nie opuszczaj mnie) ( 2009 ) 110 min – narrative feature (ZDF, Arte, TVP, PISF) – Prize in Festival Mlodzi I Film for the best pictures
• Three buddies (Trzech Kumpli) ( 2008 ) 90 min – cinema version and 2×45 min TV version – documentary
• Touch me (Dotknij mnie) ( 2003 ) 100 min – narrative feature
• Marketing Division (Dywizja marketing) – documentary ( 1997 ) 24 min
• The Price of Freedom – a series of social advertising (2009)
• Exercises for Imagination – a series of short films Freedom and Solidarity 30 years later (2010)
• Cross ( 2011 ) 90 min – documentary
• Passenger’s List ( 2011 ) – short documentary stories (series)
• As long as I live ( 2012 ) 24 min – documentary
• Students short films: Stupid Riddles ( 2000 ) 11 min, Tramway People ( 2000 ) 14 min, Friends by Sight ( 2001 ) 8 min, Miss from the Window ( 2001 ) 25 min, For Non-Random People ( 2004 ) 14 min

Awards
• Main prize at the international festival “RomaFictionFest” (International Festival of Television Productions in Rome) for the documentary Trzech kumpli , 2009
• Prize of Dariusz Fikus in the category of “Artist in the media” for Trzech kumpli , 2009
• Prize of Andrzej Woyciechowski for Trzech kumpli , 2008 [15]
• Main Award of the Freedom of Word of the Association of Polish Journalists for Three buddies, 2008
• Special Jury Prize of the Polish Film Festival in Chicago for Trzech Kumpli , 2008 [16]
• Audience award at the Polish Film Festival in Ann Arbor for Trzech kumpli , 2008 [17]
• Winner (together with Anna Ferens) of the MediaTory 2008 Student Journalism Awards, in the DetonaTOR category – for the author of the loudest and most spectacular material for Trzech kumpli
• GRAND PRIX – Journalists’ Award – for Trzech kumpli , Kraków 2008
• Award in the TV Journalism category for Trzech kumpli , Kraków 2008
• For non-random people , an award at the Munich International Festival of Film Schools 2006
• Touch me : Bronze Castle at Off Cinema Poznań 2003, Złota Kaczka 2004, Lower Silesian Diamond of the Year 2004
• Grand Prix in the Independent Films Competition for the feature film Touch Me at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia 2003
• Main Prize for the feature film Touch Me at Slamdance Film Festival (Polish Edition) 2003
• Marketing Division , distinction at the Short Film Festival in Krakow 1997
• Award of the Association of Polish Journalists for the radio report Rondo alla polacca
• First Prize in the competition organized by the Public Radio Association for 2 radio reportages A Parable of Life and Death and a Banquet
• 2nd Prize at the International Festival of Radio Arts “Macrophon” for the report , so far, thank you
• Honorable Mention in the Poland and the World competition for the report A Walk Through the World
• Prize of Jacek Maziarski 2012

Berlinale: Ewa’s feature debut TOUCH ME co-directed by Anna Jadowska was screened during the Young Cinema International Forum at Berlinale in 2004.

Production Year

2020

Official Website

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