Booming Polish Biz Brings Buzz Titles to Cannes

With Jonathan Glazers Auschwitz-set Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest competing for the Palme dOr and a host of Polish producers bringing buzzy upcoming projects to the March du Film, the Polish industry should again have Cannes talking. Heres a rundown of some of the highlights:

The Zone of Interest

(Competition)

Director: Jonathan Glazer

Producers: James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyska (JW Films, Extreme Emotions)

Sales: A24

The veteran British filmmakers first film in nearly a decade, which will compete for the Palme dOr, is a Holocaust drama loosely based on the novel by Martin Amis thats sure to be among the festivals most talked-about films.

In the Rearview

(ACID)

Director: Maciek Hamela

Producers: Piotr Grawender, Maciek Hamela, Jean-Marie Gigon (Affinity Cine, Impakt Film, SaNoSi Productions, 435 FILMS)

Sales: N/A

Filmed in the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hamelas documentary is a collective portrait of Ukrainians searching for a safe haven and finding temporary asylum in a van traversing their war-torn country.

The Green Border

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Producers: Marcin Wierzchosawski, Fred Bernstein, Agnieszka Holland (Metro Films, Astute Films)

Sales: Films Boutique

The latest from the Oscar nominee tells the story of a family of Syrian refugees, a solitary English teacher from Afghanistan and a young border guard, all of whom meet on the Polish-Belarusian border during the most recent humanitarian crisis.

Two Sisters

Director: ukasz Karwowski

Producers: Nadia Korotushka, Anastasiia Lodkina, Serg Demidov (Film.UA Group, Zoom Media)

Sales: N/A

Selected by the Tallinn Black Nights Goes to Cannes pix-in-post showcase presented at the March du Film, this road movie follows two sisters who set off from Poland to Ukraine to bring their wounded father home.

Two Sisters (Courtesy of Film.UA Group) Minghun

Director: Jan P. Matuszyski

Producer: Wonder Films

Sales: N/A

The follow-up to Matuszyskis Venice competition selection Leave No Traces tells the story of a Polish man who, after losing his daughter, joins his father-in-law to perform the Chinese ritual of minghun, a post-mortem wedding that sends the duo on an emotional personal journey.

Oy Gevalt!

Director: David Szurmiej

Producers: Katarzyna Kaczmarek, David Szurmiej (Studio AGART)

Sales: N/A

An offbeat musical comedy about a 19th-century theater troupe thatdied during the bubonic plague only to wake up 200 years later in the middle of the COVID pandemic. Billed as thefirstPolish film since 1939 to feature charactersspeaking in Yiddish.

Symmetry of the Island

Director: Anna Kazejak

Producers: Marta Lewandowska, Yorgos Tsourgiannis (Friends With Benefits Studio, Horsefly Productions)

Sales: N/A

From the director of the Karlovy Vary premiere Fucking Bornholm comes a film, based on a fragment of Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuks Flights, that follows a middle-aged man on whose wife and son suddenly disappear on a foreign vacation. As he begins his search, everyone around him turns into a possible suspect.

Obsession

Director: Tadeusz ysiak

Producer: Stanisaw Dziedzic (Film Produkcja)

Sales: N/A

Oscar-nominated in the short film category, ysiaks feature debut is a psychological thriller about a couple whose lives are turned upside-down after the disappearance of their 10-year-old daughter when the husband suspects that his wife might be to blame.

Black Madonna

Director: ukasz Ronduda

Producer: Mariusz Wodarski (Lava Films)

Sales: N/A

The story of a Black general of the Polish Legions sent by Napoleon to suppress the uprising of former slaves in Haiti, Rondudas latest follows the search for identity, faith and freedom, in which Polish romantic ghostbeliefsblend with Haitian voodoo tales.

You Were Not Supposed to Be Here

Director: Kuba Michalczuk

Producers: Kuba Kosma, Kasia Sarnowska (Serce)

Sales: N/A

When Ryfka unexpectedly reunites with her estranged father, he takes it upon himself to try to help the struggling 17-year-old. Despite their initial reluctance, they soon learn that theres more that unites them than divides them.