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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Poland

Polish western Magnesia enters post-production

by 

- The film, set in the interwar period in Poland, is the sophomore effort by Maciek Bochniak and is slated for an October 2020 release

Polish western Magnesia enters post-production
Dawid Ogrodnik and Mateusz Kościukiewicz in Magnesia

Magnesia is being directed by Maciek Bochniak and produced by Leszek Bodzak and Aneta Hickinbotham, of Aurum Film, whose credits include the Polish Oscar entry Corpus Christi [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bartosz Bielenia
interview: Jan Komasa
film profile
]
by Jan Komasa and The Last Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dawid Ogrodnik
film profile
]
by Jan P Matuszyński. In recent years, Bodzak and Hickinbotham have become the go-to producers for so-called “smarthouse” films, and they have many cinema and TV projects in the pipeline. Magnesia is Bochniak’s second feature, after he previously directed Disco Polo [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, a bold and colourful story about Polish disco music popular in the 1990s, and the HBO documentary Ethiopiques: Revolt of the Soul. He co-wrote the scripts for both of his fiction films with actor Mateusz Kościukiewicz (Mug [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Małgorzata Szumowska
film profile
]
, In the Name of
 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
interview: Mateusz Kosciukiewicz
film profile
]
), who plays one of the leading roles in this movie.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Magnesia is set on the Polish-Soviet border during the interwar period. The Mafia-like Lewenfisz family gets a new leader, Róża (Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
film profile
]
’s Maja Ostaszewska), who, together with her sisters, brings a new order to their small town. The women also confront Soviet gangsters and their boss, Lew (Andrzej Chyra). As the conflict escalates, the two brothers Albin (Mateusz Kościukiewicz) and Albert (Dawid Ogrodnik) plot a bank robbery.

The film is billed as a western full of black humour and plot twists. Bochniak said in a press release that Magnesia is “based on historical records about the Polish-Soviet border during the interwar period, combined with an auteur approach to a western – or, rather, an ‘eastern’. That town in a remote part of Poland is ruled by women, and the main currency there is the bullet.”

The crew includes DoP Paweł Chorzępa (Zud [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), composer Jan AP Kaczmarek (an Oscar winner for Finding Neverland; Paul, Apostle of Christ), costume designer Dorota Roqueplo (Warsaw 44 [+see also:
trailer
interview: Zofia Wichlacz
film profile
]
, The Mill and the Cross
 [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Lech Majewski
film profile
]
), production designer Marek Warszewski (Warsaw 44, Aftermath [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), make-up artists Waldemar Pokromski (Cold War [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile
]
, The White Ribbon
 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Haneke
film profile
]
) and Agnieszka Hodowana (Demon [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), and editor Jacek Drosio (an EFA winner for Face [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
). The supporting cast includes Agata Kulesza (Ida [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile
]
, Cold War), Magdalena Boczarska (The Art of Loving [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Borys Szyc (Cold War) and Bartosz Bielenia (Corpus Christi). The film is being co-produced by TVN (a Polish private broadcaster), Artpark, Orka and the Mazovia Warsaw Film Fund. The Polish distributor is Kino Świat, and the domestic release is set for 2 October 2020. The world sales rights are still available.

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