Beyond Words Presski

PRESSBOOK BEYOND WORDS

DIRECTED AND WRITTEN BY URSZULA ANTONIAK

WITH JAKUB GIERSZAL, ANDRZEJ CHYRA, CHRISTIAN LÖBER, JUSTYNA WASILEWSA

PRODUCED BY OPUS FILM - PIOTR DZIĘCIOŁ, LUKASZ DZIĘCIOŁ FAMILY AFFAIR FILMS – FLOOR ONRUST, NOORTJE WILSCHUT

THIS PRODUCTION WAS SUPPORTED BY THE POLISH FILM INSTITUTE, EC1 LÓDŹ – CITY OF CULTURE, THE NETHERLANDS FILM FUND, THE NETHERLANDS PRODUCTION INCENTIVE, EURIMAGES

DURATION: 85 MINS

POLAND / THE NETHERLANDS 2017

CAST

MICHAEL JAKUB GIERSZAŁ

STANISLAW ANDRZEJ CHYRA

FRANZ CHRISTIAN LÖBER

ALIN JUSTYNA WASILEWSKA

CREW

DIRECTOR URSZULA ANTONIAK

WRITER URSZULA ANTONIAK

PRODUCER PIOTR DZIĘCIOŁ

LUKASZ DZIĘCIOŁ

FLOOR ONRUST

NOORTJE WILSCHUT

LINE PRODUCER ALEKSANDRA SKRABA

CHRIS STENGER

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY LENNERT HILLEGE, NSC

EDITOR MILENIA FIDLER, PSM

SOUND DESIGN JAN SCHERMER

PRODUCTION DESIGNER MIREN OLLER

KATARZYNA JĘDRZEJCZYK

COSTUME DESIGNER PAULINA SIENIARSKA

HELEEN HEIJNTJES

MAKE UP DEPARTMENT ANNA KIESZCZYŃSKA

SYNOPSIS

Nothing in Michael, a young and successful Berlin lawyer, gives away his Polish roots. The sudden appearance of his father, who was long presumed dead, plunges Michael into an existential crisis. After his father leaves, Michael can’t return to his life as a German.

Michael and his boss and best friend Franz feel at home in Berlin’s hip restaurants, bars and clubs. There is seemingly no difference between them, but Michael, who emigrated from Poland after the death of his mother several years ago, still pays extra attention to his accent. Michael is thrown into turmoil when a run-down Polish bohemian shows up on his doorstep and claims to be his father. Father and son, two complete strangers spend a weekend together, torn between empathy, rejection and mistrust. As Michael’s roots catch up with him, a painful crisis seems inevitable...

BEYOND WORDS is the fourth feature film by the multiple award-winning writer-director Urszula Antoniak (“Nothing Personal”, “Code Blue”, “Nude Area”). Shot on black and white, the highly atmospheric and multi-layered drama touches on the difficult subject of assimilation and identity. From the producers of Oscar® winning “Ida” (Best Foreign Language Film in 2015), it stars European Shooting Star Jakub Gierszał (“Spoor”, “The Lure”) and one of the most highly acclaimed Polish actors Andrzej Chyra (“Katyn”, “In The Name Of”, “Land of Oblivion”).

LONG SYNOPSIS

“Die and become!” - Goethe’s words must have been MICHAEL’s motto. He is 28 years old, a dynamic, successful, German lawyer working in a large corporate firm. Nothing in the way he behaves or talks, reveals traces of his other existence - Michael is a Polish immigrant. Every morning, before going to work, Michael becomes a German version of himself. Is it only an image he projects on the outside? He doesn’t want to be seen for what he left in Poland, but for what he achieved in Germany - being seen as German is regarded as confirmation and felt as a reward. Michael’s German boss FRANZ (34) is also his best friend. It looks like both components of Michael’s identity - inner and outer - are in balance. And he wants to keep it this way. He doesn’t disclose to ALINA (28), a Polish waitress who is clearly in love with him, that he is Polish like her. Michael leaves the stage of his German life to spend a weekend with a stranger - his Polish father STANISLAW (55) who Michael believed was dead. Speaking Polish, the language of childhood, opens an emotional territory for which Michael is not prepared. He tries to balance between being a child and a friend to Stanislaw, a stranger with a tumultuous past written into his face and the melancholy aura of an ageing punk rocker for whom there is really ‘no future’. Stanislaw is both able to move and confront Michael. After his departure on Monday morning, Michael returns to his well-balanced life carrying an emotional bomb inside. He learns that he will always belong to - and be seen as one of the immigrants. He can no longer be who he wanted to be and believed he was. He has to die and be reborn again.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

IMMIGRATION I left Poland looking for a chance to discover myself outside of the culture that had defined me. I wanted to belong to the West – both in terms of place and cultural tradition. The day I became a Dutch citizen was a moving and emotional experience for me. But I soon discovered that my Dutch passport has a symbolic value and no influence on how I’m being seen by others: as an immigrant. It doesn’t bother me since I discovered that being an immigrant is an existential state. I couldn’t find films that dealt with this aspect of immigration, as they tend to reflect more on hardship, rejection, poverty and represent the immigrant as a victim asking for empathy. The main character featured in BEYOND WORDS is a perfectly integrated immigrant. He sees the difference between himself and his German friend, but doesn’t want this difference to be seen; only if he finds it important. To me, it is a dream of integration realized.

IDENTITY A Dutch citizen for more than 20 years, I’m described by the press in Holland as ‘Polish-Dutch’, ‘Dutch with Polish origins’, allochtone (as opposed to autochtone), bi-cultural. Recently, I read that I’m a Polish filmmaker based in Amsterdam. The moment when both inner and outer components of my identity came together was in 2009 when I was named one of ‘10 Amsterdammers of The Year’, thanks to the success of my first feature film, NOTHING PERSONAL. I wrote my speech in English, the language I use to write screenplays, and rehearsed in Dutch. When asked if I’m more Dutch than Polish, I never know if the question concerns both components of my identity. It seems that there is confusion about the outer one. The inner one is deeply personal: both countries reside in me to the extent of how both cultures formed me as a person.

POLAND / GERMANY Michael’s father, who lived in Poland during Communism, must have been exposed to propaganda via countless TV series and films about WWII which, in addition to praising Polish heroism, were also reinforcing the image of the Germans as an enemy. Growing up in the 1980s, I associated Berlin with freedom. It was a tiny fragment of the West that was accessible without a visa. I could fancy myself for a moment to be a Western European, living a life free of politics and being able to buy any music or book I wanted. After the fall of Communism, Poland started to be seen in another context, as a post-colonial country and a periphery of the West. No wonder then that the highly ambitious Michael chose the centre, the culture stronger than his own. But during the last 25 years, Poland has changed from a pro-European country to one with exploding nationalist sentiments. The old Polish/German feud is brought back again. Nowadays, someone like Michael might even be considered unpatriotic.

RACISM Living in Charlottenburg (Berlin’s posh neighbourhood, populated by the upper-middle class), Michael may have never visited Neukolln (a multicultural enclave populated largely by immigrants). The dual aspect of his identity becomes schizophrenic when Michael realizes he is seen as belonging to a group he doesn’t feel – or want to – belong to. Like the African poet in the first scene of the film, Michael also wants to be a free man with a right to choose a culture other than his own. But the poet also evokes Michael’s dark side, confronting him rather than evoking empathy. Michael feels that he has been working for the same rights that the poet simply demands for. Instead of feeling empathetic to another human being like him, Michael only feels envy and refuses to help the poet. It’s a tragic flaw of his character that makes the first scene the beginning of his downfall.

MASCULINITY Men don’t hide emotions but control them. As a woman, I’m allowed to express my emotions; it’s even expected of me to be empathetic. Michael was raised by a mother and found his male role model in his boss, not much older than himself, but higher in rank, someone to look up to, but also to compete against. Michael’s father arrives as an empty symbol of masculinity based on age and tradition. But Michael is bound to ask him the most important question of his life: how much of me come from you? The answer Michael hears satisfies both the narcissist and the child in him. When his father refuses to play the role of a father and becomes painfully human, he is expected to show empathy and love. But Michael is not that much different from his father who shows empathy, but doesn’t take responsibility for it. His father’s departure leaves Michael in an emotional turmoil between an unloved child and angry young man.

WOMAN The only woman featured in the film – the Polish waitress Alina – changes during the course of the weekend from an object of Michael’s dreams to an immigrant like him, the only difference between them being their social status. After his father leaves him behind, Michael cannot return to his life as a German, now that his Polish identity has been exposed to the girl. Only then does she become a real chance for him. The life ahead of Michael might look like the rear end of the subway train in the last image of the film: a chaotic, unpredictable and constant swirl. The girl is the only stable and unmovable point. She seems to wait for him.

BLACK / WHITE The film starts with a confrontation between two men (almost like in a Western), but the contrast between White Man and Black Man, the privileged and the underprivileged, the native and the stranger is flipped upside down when Black Man refuses to be seen as underprivileged and demands his rights. And White Man, who happens to be ‘white, but not quite’, is also an immigrant. The choice of black/white wasn’t purely aesthetic, but helped to build the world of the film based on binary oppositions.

CAST

Jakub Gierszał as Michael

Since his role of a troubled teenager in the 2011 hit SUICIDE ROOM by J. Komasa, Jakub has become one of the most adored young actors with a strong fan club stretching beyond Poland. He was the European Shooting Star of 2012. Jakub played in several films, including the Polish PERFORMER and INFLUENZA and the German film FINSTERWORLD (2013, Frauke Finsterwalder). Jakub appeared in the Hollywood production DRACULA UNTOLD (2014, Gare Shore) and the American indie MORRIS FROM AMERICA (2016, Chad Hartigan).

Andrzej Chyra as Stanislaw

One of the most popular Polish actors, the legendary ‘Chyra’: his first big role in THE DEBT (1999, Krzysztof Krauze, Best Actor Award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia), the seminal Polish movie of the 90’s, catapulted him to stardom. He is also one of the prominent actors of K. Warlikowski’s theatre. Chyra's great transformational talents were on full display in such Warlikowski productions as BACCHANTES, ANGELS IN AMERICA and APPOLONIA. Chyra played audacious roles in Szumowska’s films SPONSORING and IN THE NAME OF and shared the stage with Isabelle Huppert in UN TRAMWAY and the upcoming FEDRA

Christian Löber as Franz

From 2008 to 2012, Christian Löber studied at the Academy of Dramatic Arts "Ernst Busch" in Berlin. During his studies, he appeared on the stage at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and Berliner Ensemble, as Jack in "Lulu" (dir: Robert Wilson). In 2011, he and the acting ensemble received the Vontobel Prize at the Drama School Meeting for "Heroes" (dir: Roscha Säidow). He received the Outstanding Acting Award at GATS in Beijing for "Leonce" (dir: Alexander Lang). He has been a permanent member of the company at Munich's Kammerspiele since 2012.

CREW Urszula Antoniak – Writer and Director

Urszula Antoniak studied Film Production at the Polish Film Academy and Film Directing at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy. Her feature film NOTHING PERSONAL (2009) won six awards in Locarno, including the Silver Leopard for Best Debut Film and the FIPRESCI Prize. Antoniak’s second feature, CODE BLUE (2011), was selected for Cannes’ Quinzaine des Realisateurs. CODE BLUE won two Golden Calves, and the lead actress, Bien de Moor, won several international prizes for her role. NUDE AREA (2014), Antoniak’s third feature, was nominated for the Golden Frog at Camerimage. The children's film LIFE ACCORDING TO NINO (2014), which was written by Antoniak, won the prize for Best Children's Film at the Cinekid Film Festival in 2014 and at BUFF in Sweden in 2015. BEYOND WORDS is Antoniak’s fourth feature film. Antoniak has recently been supported by the Netherlands Film Fund with a special grant for the development of international talent for the project STRANGER. . FILMOGRAPHY – Selection

2017 BEYOND WORDS, direction and screenplay 2014 NUDE AREA, direction and screenplay Nominated Golden Frog, Camerimage, 2014 Nominated Grand Prize Chéries-Chéris, 2015 2014 LIFE ACCORDING TO NINO, screenplay, directed by Simone van Dusseldorp Selected for over 20 international film festivals Winner Best Feature Film, Ariano International Film Festival, 2016 Winner Sh Jagdish Gandhi Special Jury Award, 2016 Winner ECFA Award Int. Young Audience, Film Festival Ale Kino, Poland, 2015 Winner BUFF-BORAS , BUFF-KARLSTAD, Sweden, 2015 Winner Best Children's Film, BUFF Sweden, 2015 Winner Best Children's Film, Cinekid, 2014 2011 CODE BLUE, direction and screenplay Sold to 18 European territories Selected for Cannes’ Quinzaine des Realisateurs, 2011 Selected for Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 2011 Winner Best Camera and Best Sound Award, Netherlands Film Festival, 2011 Winner Best Actress Award, European Film Festival Sevilla, 2011 Winner Best Actress Award, BIAFF, 2011 2009 NOTHING PERSONAL, direction and screenplay Sold to 26 territories, including USA Winner of 6 awards International Film Festival Locarno, 2009 (e.g. Silver Leopard Best Actress, Silver Leopard Debut Film, FIPRESCI Prize) Winner of 4 Golden Calves, Netherlands Film Festival, 2009 (Best Film, Best Director, Best Camera, Best Sound Design)

Winner Silver Giraldillo Official Section, European Film Festival Sevilla, 2009 Winner Best Actress, Marrakech International Film Festival, 2009 Winner Public Award, 31st Nordic Film Festival, 2009

PIOTR DZIĘCIOŁ, LUKASZ DZIĘCIOŁ (Opus Film – Poland) - Producer

Opus Film is one of Poland’s leading companies that produces feature films, commercials and TV productions on a world scale. It was established in 1991. Its headquarters are based in Lodz, on the premises of the former Lodz Film Studio where Opus owns the sound stages. Opus also has an office in Warsaw. Opus Film is also actively promoting Polish film industry beyond Polish borders, co-producing films with foreign partners and providing shooting services for foreign productions. In 2015, the studio won the Oscar® for the Best Foreign Language Film with IDA.

Floor Onrust, Noortje Wilschut (Family Affair Films – The Netherlands) - Producer

The Amsterdam-based film production company Family Affair Films was established by Floor Onrust, specializing in urgent and contemporary fiction of high artistic quality with strong author-driven visions. Their credits include such co-productions as NOTHING PERSONAL by Urszula Antoniak (winner of six awards at Locarno in 2009), THE BLUE WAVE (Berlinale 2013) and THE LABYRINTH (Toronto 2014). They produced the feature film CODE BLUE (2011) by Urszula Antoniak, which premiered at Cannes’ Quinzaine des Realisateurs, and the children's film LIFE ACCORDING TO NINO (2014), written by Urszula Antoniak and directed by Simone van Dusseldorp, which won Best Film awards at festivals in The Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Italy and India. HISTORY’S FUTURE (2016), a feature debut by the artist Fiona Tan, starring Mark O’Halloran, Denis Lavant, Anne Consigny and Brian Gleeson, was nominated for a Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2016.

Lennert Hillege, NSC - D.O.P.

Lennert Hillege graduated from the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in 2001. In 2010, he won a Golden Calf for Best Camera for the feature film R U THERE by David Verbeek (nominated for the Un Certain Regard Award in Cannes in 2010). Hillege’s credits include CAN GO THROUGH SKIN by Esther Rots (3 Golden Calves in 2010), THE RESURRECTION OF A BASTARD by Guido van Driel (Opening film IFFR 2013, Next Wave award – Best Actor 2013, Nomination Grand Jury Prize Nashville Film Festival 2014, Nomination Jury Prize Best Film – Austin Fantastic Fest 2013, Nomination Best Feature Film Award – Austin Film Festival 2013), TAPED by Diederik van Rooijen (Best Feature Award, Stony Brook Film Festival 2012) and LIFE ACCORDING TO NINO by Simone van Dusseldorp (Best Children's Film at the Cinekid Film Festival in 2014 and at BUFF Sweden in 2015). Hillege recently shot the Hollywood film CADAVER, directed by Diederik van Rooijen.

FILMOGRAPHY – Selection

2017 BEYOND WORDS Urszula Antoniak 2016 PREY Dick Maas 2014 LIFE ACCORDING TO NINO S. van Dusseldorp 2013 DAYLIGHT D. van Rooijen 2013 THE RESURRECTION OF A BASTARD Guido van Driel 2012 TAPED D. van Rooijen 2011 NOVA ZEMBLA Reinout Oerlemans 2010 SECRET LETTER S. van Dusseldorp 2010 R U THERE David Verbeek 2009 STRICKEN Reinout Oerlemans 2009 CAN GO THROUGH SKIN Esther Rots 2009 BOLLYWOOD HERO D. van Rooijen 2006 NORTHERN LIGHT David Lammers 2006 DON Arend Steenbergen 2005 WINKY'S HORSE Mischa Kamp

Jan Schermer - Sound Designer

Jan Schermer graduated from the Netherlands Film and Television Academy. Schermer has been a sound designer and mixed such features as DUSK by Hanro Smitsman (Golden Poznan Goat at the Ale Kino Young Audience Film Festival in 2011, Dutch Film Critics Award 2010, Special Mention at the Venice Film Festival in 2011), HEMEL by Sasha Polak (FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2012, Subtitle European Award Film Festival in 2013), AUF EINMAL by Asli Özge (FIPRESCI Prize at the International Film Festival in Istanbul in 2016, Special Mention at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2016). Schermer has won two Golden Calves (Dutch national film award) for Best Sound for NOTHING PERSONAL and CODE BLUE, both by Urszula Antoniak.

FILMOGRAPHY - Selection

2017 BEYOND WORDS Urszula Antoniak 2016 THE DAY WITH MY FATHER Nicole van Kilsdonk MONK Ties Schenk WALDSTILLE Martijn M Smits SATAN SAID DANCE Kasja Roslaniec 2015 CAFARD Jan Bultheel UNDER THE PYRAMID Axel Petersen 2014 THOSE WHO FEEL THE FIRE Morgan Knibbe HET LEVEN VOLGENS NINO Simone v Dusseldorp

2013 HOW TO DESCRIBE A CLOUD David Verbeek 2012 TAPED Diederik van Rooijen HEMEL Sacha Polak 2011 DE BENDE VAN OSS André van Duren CODE BLUE Urszula Antoniak 2010 SCHEMER Hanro Smitsman R U THERE David Verbeek 2009 NOTHING PERSONAL Urszula Antoniak

Milenia Fidler, PSM - editor

Milenia Fidler is a Polish film editor. She graduated in Film Editing from Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and obtained her Ph.D. in 2005. Among others, she has worked with Andrzej Wajda, Janusz Majewski, Wojciech Marczewski, Jerzy Stuhr and Janusz Zaorski. She is the chairman of the Polish Film Editors Society (Polskie Stowarzyszenie Montażystów). Fiedler was nominated for the Polish Academy Award for Best Editing three times (2002, 2008, 2014). In 2002, she won the award for WEISER, for which she also received the Award for Best Editing during the Gdynia Film Festival.

FILMOGRAPHY - Selection

2017 BEYOND WORDS Urszula Antoniak 2014 NUDE AREA Urszula Antoniak 2013 WALESA, MAN OF HOPE Andrzeh Wajda 2009 TATARAK Andrzej Wajda 2007 KATYN Andrzej Wajda JUSTRO IZDIEMY DO KINA MichaŁ KwieciŃski 2001 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS Gavin Hood

About Family Affair Films

The Amsterdam-based film production company Family Affair Films was established in 2002 by Floor Onrust, specializing in urgent and contemporary fiction of high artistic quality with strong author-driven visions.

Their credits include such co-productions as NOTHING PERSONAL by Urszula Antoniak (winner of six awards at Locarno in 2009), THE BLUE WAVE (Berlinale 2013) and THE LABYRINTH (Toronto 2014). They produced such features as CODE BLUE (2011) by Urszula Antoniak, which premiered at Cannes’ Quinzaine des Realisateurs, and the children's film LIFE ACCORDING TO NINO (2014), written by Urszula Antoniak and directed by Simone van Dusseldorp, which won Best Film Awards at festivals in

The Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Italy and India. HISTORY’S FUTURE (2016), a feature debut by the artist Fiona Tan, starring Mark O’Halloran, Denis Lavant, Anne Consigny and Brian Gleeson, was nominated for a Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2016.

In 2017, Urszula Antoniak’s fourth feature BEYOND WORDS will premiere. Next year will see Rosanne Pel’s promising feature debut LIGHT AS FEATHERS being released. Guido van Driel’s second feature BLOODY MARIE has been selected for the “Dutch Crossover”, receiving the maximum amount of production support from the Netherlands Film Fund. The shoot is scheduled for the winter of 2017-2018.

FILMOGRAPHY - Selection

2017 BEYOND WORDS Urszula Antoniak 2016 HISTORY’S FUTURE Fiona Tan Nominated Best leading actor, Irish Film and TV Awards, 2017 Nominated for Grant Prize, Jeonju International Film Festival, South Korea, 2016 Nominated for Hivos Tiger Award, International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2016 Selected for International Film Festival Sao Paolo, 2016 Selected for Vancouver International Film Festival, 2016 Selected for Moscow International Film Festival, Russia, 2016 Selected for Edinburgh International Film Festival, UK, 2016 UNDER THE PYRAMID Axel Petersen Selected for Göteborg Film Festival 2016 2014 LIFE ACCORDING TO NINO Simone van Dusseldorp selected for over 20 international film festivals Winner Best Feature film, Ariano International Film Festival, 2016 Winner Sh Jagdish Gandhi Special Jury Award, 2016 Winner ECFA Award, International Young Audience Film Festival Ale Kino, Poland 2015 Winner BUFF-BORAS en BUFF-KARLSTAD, Sweden, 2015 Winner Best Children's Film, BUFF Sweden, 2015 Winner Best Children's Film, Cinekid, 2014 Nominated Best Art Direction and Best Supporting Actress, NFF, 2015 Nominated ECFA award, BUFF Sweden, 2015 LABYRINTHUS Douglas Boswell Selected for over 20 international film festivals Winner Youth Award, Mostra de Sao Paulo, 2014 Winner Griphon Award, Giffoni IFF, 2015 Winner Best Film under 13, Chemnitz Schlingel, 2015 Winner 1st Prize Children's Jury and 2nd Prize Adult Jury, Chicago Children, 2015 Winner Young Audience Best Film, Golden Elephant Hyderabad, India, 2015 - Winner Best Children's Film, Cologne Children, 2015 - Winner Best Film Award, KINOdiseea ICFF Winner Children's Jury Best feature, Olympia Greece, 2015

2013 THE BLUE WAVE Zeynep Dadak and Merve Kayan Selected for over 20 international film festivals, including: Berlinale Generation 2014, JeonJu South Korea 2014, San Francisco 2014, Sarajevo 2014 Winner of 3 Golden Oranges (Best Debut, Script & Edit) National FF Antalya 2013 2011 CODE BLUE Urszula Antoniak Sold to 18 European territories Selected for Cannes’ Quinzaine des Realisateurs, 2011 Selected for Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 2011 Winner Best Camera and Best Sound Award, Netherlands Film Festival, 2011 Winner Best Actress Award, European Film Festival Sevilla, 2011 Winner Best Actress Award, BIAFF, 2011 2009 NOTHING PERSONAL Urszula Antoniak Sold to 26 territories, including USA Winner of 6 awards International Film Festival Locarno, 2009 (e.g. Silver Leopard Best Actress, Silver Leopard Debut Film, FIPRESCI Prize) Winner of 4 Golden Calves, Netherlands Film Festival, 2009 (Best Film, Best Director, Best Camera, Best Sound Design) Winner Silver Giraldillo Official Section, European Film Festival Sevilla, 2009 Winner Best Actress Marrakech International Film Festival, 2009 Winner Public Award, 31st Nordic Film Festival, 2009