SUMMER SOLSTICE
directed by Michał Rogalski
Beginning of summer, end of innocence
Poland, 1943. When love, friendship, and fate connect a simple Polish country boy, the daughter of a local farmer, a young German soldier, and a Jewish girl from Warsaw. Guido, Romek, Franka and Bunia, all come across something that both threatens and provides an escape from their harsh reality: love. The ill-fated and unlikely connection of these four, in the context of a horrific war, leads to a series of tragedies. Will they be able to hold on to their dreams while facing the horrors of their time and the uncertainty of their future?
DRAMA/HISTORICAL DCP/HD - 2015 - Poland/Germany - 95min
ORIGINAL TITLE LETNIE PRZESILENIE
CAST Filip Piotrowicz, Jonas Nay, Urszula Bogucka, Maria Semotiuk, Steffen Scheuman, Gerdy Zint, Bartłomiej Topa, Agnieszka Krukówna
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE Polish, German
PRODUCED BY Prasa & Film Ltd., Sunday Filmproduktion and Mafilm Gmbh
DIRECTOR
Michał Rogalski is a graduate of the School of Journalism and Political Science at the Warsaw University, Film and Television Direction Department at the Lodz Film School, and the film workshop, EKRAN, organized by the Wajda Studio. He won the second place in the international finals of the Hartley-Merrill Screenwriting Contest 2008 and the Main Prize of the Polish edition of Hartley-Merrill for “Summer Solstice”. He debuted in 2009 with the feature film, “The Last Action,” starring Jan Machulski, Barbara Krafftówna, Marian Kociniak, Alina Janowska, and Antoni Pawlicki. He directed numerous episodes of “Time of Honor” (Seasons 3 and 4, TVP2) and 5 seasons of “Recipe for Life” (TVN) - one of the most popular TV series in recent years.
Festivals / Awards
MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL 2015 - OFFICIAL WORLD COMPETITION
Best Screenplay award
40TH GDYNIA FILM FESTIVAL - MAIN COMPETITION
Best cinematography (Jerzy Zielinski)
Best Actress in a Supportive Role (Maria Semotiuk)
Golden Kittens award (the City of Gdynia's Youth Council)
PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2016
World Cinema Now Section