Hope

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.

Scriptwriter

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.