New Europe Film Sales has sold US rights to Ulaa Salim’s sci-fi romance Eternal to Dark Star Pictures and has boarded Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s next feature Hot Spot.
Eternal recently world premiered in the Big Screen Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Dark Star is planning a theatrical release in the US.
The film centres on an obsessive, young climate change scientist who leaves behind his girlfriend to participate in a multi-year research mission exploring a fissure on the ocean floor that threatens the world. Years later, during his mission, he experiences a vision of what his life...
Eternal recently world premiered in the Big Screen Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Dark Star is planning a theatrical release in the US.
The film centres on an obsessive, young climate change scientist who leaves behind his girlfriend to participate in a multi-year research mission exploring a fissure on the ocean floor that threatens the world. Years later, during his mission, he experiences a vision of what his life...
- 2/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczyńska‘s feature debut, the horror mermaid musical The Lure, dazzled upon release in 2017. While her English-language debut Silent Twins starring Letitia Wright is set to debut this Fall, the filmmaker’s current project, Hot Spot, has our attention.
The filmmaker spoke with Variety today about her work, teasing Hot Spot‘s premise “about a disillusioned private eye Djonny, investigating a murder at a refugee camp and confronting a cyber witch who takes control of his life.”
Smoczyńska had us at “cyber witch.”
“In Europe, it’s good to have co-productions. It’s better for arthouse films, especially nowadays. On this sci-fi film, based somewhere in the future, we will have Greece, France and Poland on board,” the filmmaker said of Hot Spot‘s production. In other words, don’t expect a fully English-language feature in Hot Spot.
Hot Spot will also reunite Smoczyńska with screenwriter Robert Bolesto,...
The filmmaker spoke with Variety today about her work, teasing Hot Spot‘s premise “about a disillusioned private eye Djonny, investigating a murder at a refugee camp and confronting a cyber witch who takes control of his life.”
Smoczyńska had us at “cyber witch.”
“In Europe, it’s good to have co-productions. It’s better for arthouse films, especially nowadays. On this sci-fi film, based somewhere in the future, we will have Greece, France and Poland on board,” the filmmaker said of Hot Spot‘s production. In other words, don’t expect a fully English-language feature in Hot Spot.
Hot Spot will also reunite Smoczyńska with screenwriter Robert Bolesto,...
- 7/7/2023
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Paris-based Petit Film has boarded “Hot Spot” by Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska.
The story, set in the near future, follows a disillusioned private eye Djonny, called to investigate a murder at a refugee camp. But he becomes increasingly unstable as he confronts a cyber witch who gradually takes control of his life.
Smoczyńska’s previous film, Cannes premiere “The Silent Twins” – based on the lives of June and Jennifer Gibbons – earned Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance a BIFA [British Independent Film Award] for Best Joint Lead Performance.
“Agnieszka’s work does not derive from, or resemble, any existing films. That’s the first and foremost reason why I would not miss the chance to participate in one of them,” says producer Jean des Forêts, also behind Julia Ducournau’s “Raw” and Lucile Hadžihalilović’s English-language debut “Earwig.”
“Last year the opportunity arose and I seized it immediately. The project brings together a nice band...
The story, set in the near future, follows a disillusioned private eye Djonny, called to investigate a murder at a refugee camp. But he becomes increasingly unstable as he confronts a cyber witch who gradually takes control of his life.
Smoczyńska’s previous film, Cannes premiere “The Silent Twins” – based on the lives of June and Jennifer Gibbons – earned Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance a BIFA [British Independent Film Award] for Best Joint Lead Performance.
“Agnieszka’s work does not derive from, or resemble, any existing films. That’s the first and foremost reason why I would not miss the chance to participate in one of them,” says producer Jean des Forêts, also behind Julia Ducournau’s “Raw” and Lucile Hadžihalilović’s English-language debut “Earwig.”
“Last year the opportunity arose and I seized it immediately. The project brings together a nice band...
- 2/19/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Here’s a cool-sounding Euro package. Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczyńska, who will helm her English-language debut Silent Twins starring Letitia Wright this fall, has been set to direct dystopian crime drama Hot Spot.
Producers are Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska at Poland’s Madants, who produced Claire Denis’ High Life and Agnieszka Holland’s Mr Jones, alongside Before Midnight producer Christos V. Konstantakopoulos at Greek production outfit Faliro House.
Jan Naszewski’s New Europe Film Sales, which is repping rights on buzzy 2020 Cannes label title Sweat and has also been inking deals this week on Noomi Rapace starrer Lamb, has boarded world rights to the pic.
Poland has been on a roll in recent years, delivering acclaimed features including the Oscar-nominated trio Cold War, Corpus Christi and Loving Vincent. Smoczyńska herself helmed 2016 Sundance World Cinema Dramatic jury prize winner The Lure and 2018 Cannes premiere Fugue.
For Hot Spot, she is re-teaming with The Lure scribe Robert Bolesto.
Producers are Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska at Poland’s Madants, who produced Claire Denis’ High Life and Agnieszka Holland’s Mr Jones, alongside Before Midnight producer Christos V. Konstantakopoulos at Greek production outfit Faliro House.
Jan Naszewski’s New Europe Film Sales, which is repping rights on buzzy 2020 Cannes label title Sweat and has also been inking deals this week on Noomi Rapace starrer Lamb, has boarded world rights to the pic.
Poland has been on a roll in recent years, delivering acclaimed features including the Oscar-nominated trio Cold War, Corpus Christi and Loving Vincent. Smoczyńska herself helmed 2016 Sundance World Cinema Dramatic jury prize winner The Lure and 2018 Cannes premiere Fugue.
For Hot Spot, she is re-teaming with The Lure scribe Robert Bolesto.
- 6/26/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Oh, man. The home entertainment releases for October 10th are bonkers, as we have a ton of brilliant offerings making their way to Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday. Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver hits multiple formats this week, and we also have the unrated cut of Wish Upon to look forward to as well. Scream Factory is digging up The Poughkeepsie Tapes (finally) for their Blu/DVD Combo release, and Criterion Collection has put together a stunning presentation for The Lure.
Cult cinema fans will want to pick up the new Blu-rays for Kill, Baby… Kill and The Green Slime, and for those looking for some new horror experiences, Temple, Open Water 3, and Demonic come home on October 10th.
Baby Driver (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu/Digital, Blu/Digital & DVD)
Baby (Ansel Elgort) – a talented, young getaway driver – relies on the beat of his personal...
Cult cinema fans will want to pick up the new Blu-rays for Kill, Baby… Kill and The Green Slime, and for those looking for some new horror experiences, Temple, Open Water 3, and Demonic come home on October 10th.
Baby Driver (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu/Digital, Blu/Digital & DVD)
Baby (Ansel Elgort) – a talented, young getaway driver – relies on the beat of his personal...
- 10/10/2017
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
No jokes about fish and visitors please — Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s horror fantasy musical is indeed about delectable creatures from the deep, but these particular mythical misses have their own agenda, and woe to the man who trifles with their affections. What’s today’s catch? A Polish phantasmagoria seemingly teleported from the glitzy 1980s.
The Lure
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 896
2015 / Color / 2:39 widescreen / 92 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 10, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Kinga Preis, Michalina Olszańska, Marta Mazurek, Jakub Gierszał, Andrzej Konopka, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Marcin Kowalczyk.
Cinematography: Kuba Kijowski
Film Editor: Jarosław Kamiński
Production Design: Joanna Macha
Costume: Katarzyna Lewińska
Special Effects makeup: Tomasz Matraszek
Choreography: Kaya Kołodziejczyk and Jarosław Staniek
Original Music and Lyrics: Barbara Wrońska and Zuzanna Wrońska
Written by Robert Bolesto
Produced by Włodzimierz Niderhaus
Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska
I’m normally an easy mark for bizarre genre-bending horror fare. I also like musicals of all sorts,...
The Lure
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 896
2015 / Color / 2:39 widescreen / 92 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 10, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Kinga Preis, Michalina Olszańska, Marta Mazurek, Jakub Gierszał, Andrzej Konopka, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Marcin Kowalczyk.
Cinematography: Kuba Kijowski
Film Editor: Jarosław Kamiński
Production Design: Joanna Macha
Costume: Katarzyna Lewińska
Special Effects makeup: Tomasz Matraszek
Choreography: Kaya Kołodziejczyk and Jarosław Staniek
Original Music and Lyrics: Barbara Wrońska and Zuzanna Wrońska
Written by Robert Bolesto
Produced by Włodzimierz Niderhaus
Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska
I’m normally an easy mark for bizarre genre-bending horror fare. I also like musicals of all sorts,...
- 10/7/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Hatred (Wołyń) by Wojciech Smarzowski was tapped as the year's best film at the Polish Eagles, the country's main film awards and local equivalent of the Oscars, at a ceremony Monday in Warsaw.
Smarzowski also took home the best director award for Hatred, a love story set against the backdrop of World War II.
The film earned the highest number of nominations, 14, and ended up receiving eight awards, including for best photography, editing and music.
Robert Bolesto, writer of Jan P. Matuszyński's The Last Family (Ostatnia rodzina), collected best screenplay honors, while the movie's stars, Aleksandra...
Smarzowski also took home the best director award for Hatred, a love story set against the backdrop of World War II.
The film earned the highest number of nominations, 14, and ended up receiving eight awards, including for best photography, editing and music.
Robert Bolesto, writer of Jan P. Matuszyński's The Last Family (Ostatnia rodzina), collected best screenplay honors, while the movie's stars, Aleksandra...
- 3/21/2017
- by Vladimir Kozlov
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Agnieszka Smoczynska’s The Lure demands praise as one of the year’s most unique, unexpected treats; a fanciful feast of cannibalistic Eurotrash ultra-sweetness. Believe in this female-directed debut about playful sirens who pack disco-drenched nightclubs. Dive headfirst into musical mayhem spawned from pixie-punks with gigantic eel tails. Have your minds blown by a foreign-romantic-musical-thriller about murderous sea seductresses who’d dominate the next Eurovision competition. You are not ready for The Lure, and nor should you be – Smoczynska’s unconventional creation is pure sonic seduction.
Marta Mazurek and Michalina Olszanska star as the film’s young muses, Srebrna (Silver) and Zlota (Golden). The two mermaid sisters emerge from blackened waters, captivated by a Polish nightlife band known as Figs ‘N Dates. Before long, they become part of a Warsaw cabaret act that incorporates their mermaid forms (hey, kink sells). Silver and Golden unleash their voices, splash a little water...
Marta Mazurek and Michalina Olszanska star as the film’s young muses, Srebrna (Silver) and Zlota (Golden). The two mermaid sisters emerge from blackened waters, captivated by a Polish nightlife band known as Figs ‘N Dates. Before long, they become part of a Warsaw cabaret act that incorporates their mermaid forms (hey, kink sells). Silver and Golden unleash their voices, splash a little water...
- 2/2/2017
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
This is the most amazing, mouth dropping film I saw at Sundance this year.
Firstly, hats off to the programmers and the organization for finding and presenting this one. Sundance's docs and international features are usually superb but this one takes the cake.
We describe it - hold onto your hats now - as a lesbian vampire mermaid horror musical comedy. No kidding.
And it has a female director and 2 amazing female mermaid leads. More powerful woman filmmaking.
What's it about?? I dunno. Maybe don't ever mess with (or fall in love with) a mermaid even if she's a cute, nude and impossibly young. Your life is no longer yours then.
Takes place in a (very) shabby music hall type bar where the (um) 'girls' are put on display. Pour water on them and they grow 12 foot fish tails. Dry them off and they become 'normal' girls except for no normal female genitals, just smooth skin down there.
The musical numbers work very well.
I couldn't stop watching or laughing, amazed at how this rollicking weird story just keeps going.
In Polish made in Poland.
Wow!!
"The Lure" won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Unique Vision and Design
From the catalog -
One dark night, at water’s edge, a family of musicians encounter aquatic sirens Silver and Golden. After assuring the family that they won’t eat them up, the winsome mermaids are recruited to join the Figs and Dates band at a neon-lit Warsaw dance club. When Silver becomes romantically entangled with beautiful blonde bassist Mietek, the more cunning Golden, who cannot escape her bloodthirsty nature and assimilate, worries that her sister’s relationship will doom their shared dream of swimming to a new life in America.
This weird, wild, 1980s-set musical horror film wittily plays with the lust and repulsion the bewitching sisters create with their combination of Barbie doll–smooth bodies and impressively long glittering mermaid tails. With a knack for both burlesque and the grotesque, first-time feature director Agnieszka Smoczyńska creates a world saturated in color and Europop slickness that twists with absurdity and drips with blood.
"The Lure" Director: Agnieszka Smoczyńska Screenwriter: Robert Bolesto Cast: Zygmunt Malanowicz, Andrzej Konopka, Kinga Preis, Jakub Gierszal, Michalina Olszanska, Marta Mazurek Poland / 92 Min
Director bio -
Agnieszka Smoczyńska is a graduate of the University of Silesia’s Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television (in directing), the Wajda School, and the University of Wroclaw (in culture studies). She received the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship and won the My Talent for Poland program and Golden Pen award, granted by the president of Poland. Her short films Kapelusz, 3 Love, and Aria Diva have won awards at film festivals around the world.
Firstly, hats off to the programmers and the organization for finding and presenting this one. Sundance's docs and international features are usually superb but this one takes the cake.
We describe it - hold onto your hats now - as a lesbian vampire mermaid horror musical comedy. No kidding.
And it has a female director and 2 amazing female mermaid leads. More powerful woman filmmaking.
What's it about?? I dunno. Maybe don't ever mess with (or fall in love with) a mermaid even if she's a cute, nude and impossibly young. Your life is no longer yours then.
Takes place in a (very) shabby music hall type bar where the (um) 'girls' are put on display. Pour water on them and they grow 12 foot fish tails. Dry them off and they become 'normal' girls except for no normal female genitals, just smooth skin down there.
The musical numbers work very well.
I couldn't stop watching or laughing, amazed at how this rollicking weird story just keeps going.
In Polish made in Poland.
Wow!!
"The Lure" won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Unique Vision and Design
From the catalog -
One dark night, at water’s edge, a family of musicians encounter aquatic sirens Silver and Golden. After assuring the family that they won’t eat them up, the winsome mermaids are recruited to join the Figs and Dates band at a neon-lit Warsaw dance club. When Silver becomes romantically entangled with beautiful blonde bassist Mietek, the more cunning Golden, who cannot escape her bloodthirsty nature and assimilate, worries that her sister’s relationship will doom their shared dream of swimming to a new life in America.
This weird, wild, 1980s-set musical horror film wittily plays with the lust and repulsion the bewitching sisters create with their combination of Barbie doll–smooth bodies and impressively long glittering mermaid tails. With a knack for both burlesque and the grotesque, first-time feature director Agnieszka Smoczyńska creates a world saturated in color and Europop slickness that twists with absurdity and drips with blood.
"The Lure" Director: Agnieszka Smoczyńska Screenwriter: Robert Bolesto Cast: Zygmunt Malanowicz, Andrzej Konopka, Kinga Preis, Jakub Gierszal, Michalina Olszanska, Marta Mazurek Poland / 92 Min
Director bio -
Agnieszka Smoczyńska is a graduate of the University of Silesia’s Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television (in directing), the Wajda School, and the University of Wroclaw (in culture studies). She received the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship and won the My Talent for Poland program and Golden Pen award, granted by the president of Poland. Her short films Kapelusz, 3 Love, and Aria Diva have won awards at film festivals around the world.
- 2/5/2016
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
The Sundance Film institute has released the line-up of film for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Going to Sundance is one of my favorite events of the year. I love going because you never know what kind of movies you're going to see. Sometimes they are great films that amaze and entertain, other times they completely suck ass, but that's all part of the fun of going to the festival. It's an awesome experience for any hardcore movie geek, and if you ever get a chance to go, you need to.
The event takes place in Park City, Utah next year from January 21st to the 31st. It looks like there's a great line-up of movies at next year's event. My favorite portion of the event is the Midnight section because it deals more with geeky genre type movies, but I also enjoy the various sections of other line-ups.
Some of...
The event takes place in Park City, Utah next year from January 21st to the 31st. It looks like there's a great line-up of movies at next year's event. My favorite portion of the event is the Midnight section because it deals more with geeky genre type movies, but I also enjoy the various sections of other line-ups.
Some of...
- 12/6/2015
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
In last year’s section which included Ariel Kleiman’s Partisan and Anne Sewitsky’s Homesick, it was John Maclean’s debut Slow West claimed the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Alanté Kavaïté’s The Summer of Sangailé landed the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic, Umrika was the audience’s won the Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic. In this year’s dozen offerings we have names we normally associate with Cannes in The Misfortunates‘ Felix van Groeningen (Belgica), The Other Side of Sleep‘s Rebecca Daly (Mammal – see pic above) and A Stray Girlfriend‘s Ana Katz (Mi Amiga del Parque). Here are the selections.
Belgica / Belgium, France, Netherlands (Director: Felix van Groeningen, Screenwriters: Felix van Groeningen, Arne Sierens) — In the midst of Belgium’s nightlife scene, two brothers start a bar and get swept up in its success.Cast: Stef Aerts, Tom Vermeir, Charlotte Vandermeersch, Hélène De Vos. World Premiere.
Belgica / Belgium, France, Netherlands (Director: Felix van Groeningen, Screenwriters: Felix van Groeningen, Arne Sierens) — In the midst of Belgium’s nightlife scene, two brothers start a bar and get swept up in its success.Cast: Stef Aerts, Tom Vermeir, Charlotte Vandermeersch, Hélène De Vos. World Premiere.
- 12/2/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Hardkor Disko
Written by Krzysztof Skonieczny and Robert Bolesto
Directed by Krzysztof Skonieczny
Poland, 2013
‘Be intense or be nothing’. This statement, made by a middle-aged architect during a civilised breakfast, is put forward as a motto for his daughter’s disaffected generation. Lacking in attention and purpose, they need ‘stimulus after stimulus’ to stay interested, to keep them feeling alive. The phrase also becomes something like a raison d’être for Hardkor Disko, a film that hinges on its discomforting atmosphere and ability to aggravate the senses.
It opens with Marcin (Marcin Kowalczyk), a sullen, misanthropic figure, playing with a large knife in an abandoned theme park. At one point he leaves it hovering right between his eyes; you get the impression he could just let it drop there and then. Instead, he makes for Warsaw and goes directly to an expensive apartment, in search of the couple who live there.
Written by Krzysztof Skonieczny and Robert Bolesto
Directed by Krzysztof Skonieczny
Poland, 2013
‘Be intense or be nothing’. This statement, made by a middle-aged architect during a civilised breakfast, is put forward as a motto for his daughter’s disaffected generation. Lacking in attention and purpose, they need ‘stimulus after stimulus’ to stay interested, to keep them feeling alive. The phrase also becomes something like a raison d’être for Hardkor Disko, a film that hinges on its discomforting atmosphere and ability to aggravate the senses.
It opens with Marcin (Marcin Kowalczyk), a sullen, misanthropic figure, playing with a large knife in an abandoned theme park. At one point he leaves it hovering right between his eyes; you get the impression he could just let it drop there and then. Instead, he makes for Warsaw and goes directly to an expensive apartment, in search of the couple who live there.
- 6/28/2014
- by Rob Dickie
- SoundOnSight
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