When a deeply moral and well-respected art historian steals an invaluable painting from a church, righteous and fanatic Francis records the crime on video to blackmail the perpetrator. Much to the thief’s bafflement, the young man is not interested in money but demands that the piece of art be returned to its original place. The borders between idealism and madness blur when it is revealed that Francis’ brother is in jail and his girlfriend has to tolerate Francis’ bizarre self-afflicted tests of courage …When a deeply moral and well-respected art historian steals an invaluable painting from a church, righteous and fanatic Francis records the crime on video to blackmail the perpetrator. Much to the thief’s bafflement, the young man is not interested in money but demands that the piece of art be returned to its original place. The borders between idealism and madness blur when it is revealed that Francis’ brother is in jail and his girlfriend has to tolerate Francis’ bizarre self-afflicted tests of courage …
Born in 1970 in Nowy Targ, Poland, Stanislaw Mucha studied acting at the Federal
Theater Academy “Ludwik Solski” in Krakow. After initial successes as an actor, Mucha
left Poland to study directing at the The Film & Television Academy (HFF) “Konrad
Wolf” in Potsdam-Babelsberg. He became well-known for his quirky documentary
ABSOLUT WARHOLA (2001) tracing the origins of the US pop artist Andy Warhol to
Poland, Slovakia and the Ukraine. HOPE is Mucha’s first feature film.
Krzysztof Piesiewicz, born 1945 in Warsaw, is a lawyer, screenwriter, and politician.
In 1985 Piesiewicz became Kieslowski’s co-writer for all of his films to come. Their
screenplay for the THREE COLOURS trilogy was nominated for an Academy Award in
1995. During the last months of Kieslowski’s life, they worked on a screenplay for
another trilogy consisting of RAJ (Paradise), CZYSCIEC (Purgatory) and PIEKLO (Hell).
Two of these films have been realised after Kieslowski’s death in 1996: HEAVEN (2002)
with Cate Blanchett by Tom Tykwer and L’ENFER (2005) with Emmanuelle Béart by Danis
Tanovic. Piesiewicz’s screenplays have been translated into 10 languages and published
in print. He was also a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996.
The screenplay for HOPE is part of the latest trilogy written by Piesiewicz: Faith, Hope,
and Love.
RAFAL FUDALEJ /// KAMILLA BAAR /// WOJCIECH PSZONIAK /// ZBIGNIEW ZAPASIEWICZ /// ZBIGNIEW ZAMACHOWSKI /// GRZEGORZ ARTMAN /// JAN FRYCZ /// JERZY TRELA /// DOMINIKA OSTALOWSKA
DIRECTOR / STANISLAW MUCHA /// SCRIPTWRITER / KRZYSZTOF PIESIEWICZ /// PRODUCERS / REINHARD BRUNDIG, RAIMOND GOEBEL, ZBIGNIEW DOMAGALSKI /// CINEMATOGRAPHER / KRZYSZTOF PTAK (PSC) /// EDITOR / JACEK TARASIUK /// SUPERVISING EDITOR / PETER PRZYGODDA /// MUSIC / MAX RICHTER /// ART DIRECTOR / ANNA WUNDERLICH /// A PRODUCTION OF PANDORA FILM, STUDIO FILMOWE KALEJDOSKOP IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH TELEWIZJA POLSKA, CANAL+, WDR, HR, ZDF / 3SAT
FORMAT 35 mm / 1:1,85 / Colour / Dolby Digital LENGTH 101 mins / ORIGINAL LANGUAGE Polish SUBTITLES English
