Agnieszka Holland will receive the Sofia award of Sofia Municipality for her contribution to the art of cinema
The famous director will personally present her latest film "Spoor" at the 21st Sofia Film Fest right after its premiere in the main competition at the Berlinale (9-19 February 2017). The film is based on the bestseller "Drive your plough over the bones of the dead" by the most read, translated and award-winning contemporary Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk. The main character in the story is a retired engineer, astrologer and vegetarian living in a picturesque village in the Sudetenland. In a snowy winter night, she stumbles upon the body of her poaching neighbor - his death is shrouded in mystery because the only visible traces around his home are the hoofs of a deer. Is it possible that wildlife takes revenge? ...
"The film could easily have another title: "No Place for the Old women", says Agnieszka Holland. - The world in which we live, and Poland, where the film was shot, have turned into such a place ... I'm telling a story about the reality of modern Poland, 25 years after the fall of communism. The film is a mix of genres: psychological drama about humiliated people and animals; gripping criminal story; feminist study of the situation of an elderly woman who is fighting for her values in the contemporary Polish society. The main character is honest, generous, perceptive, but also crazy. She is stubborn and filled with resentment. It takes us on a journey to a land whose nature can take your breath away with its beauty, but also full of mud, corruption, cruelty and human stupidity. "
Agnieszka Holland was born on November 28, 1948, in Warsaw. She graduated from the famous film academy FAMU in Prague. Her career began as assistant to the director Krzysztof Zanussi; Andrzej Wajda subsequently became her mentor. Holland wrote several screenplays together with Wajda - "Without anesthesia" (1978), "Danton" (1983), "Korczak" (1990). Her works as a director are accepted with applause from the audience and professionals of the most prestigious international film forums. She received the FIPRESCI award for "Provincial Actors" in 1978 in Cannes, the "Golden Bear" award for "Fever" in 1981, Berlin, nominated for "Golden Lion" for "Julie Walking Home" in 2002, Venice. "Angry Harvest" was nominated for "Oscar" for best foreign language film in 1986, and "Copying Beethoven" with Ed Harris was named best film at San Sebastian in 2006. Agnieszka Holland was nominated with "Oscar" for best screenplay of "Europe, Europe" (1990), as well as with "Golden Globe" for best foreign language film "In Darkness" (2012) - "serious, epic film, far from the usual entertainment ", according to "The Wall Street Journal".
Since 2014 Agnieszka Holland has been a chairman of the board of the European Film Academy, and will be a guest of the 21st eddittion of Sofia Film Fest.
The presence of the renowned director is accomplished in partnership with EFA and the Polish Cultural Institute in Sofia.
Expect more hot news from 21st Sofia Film Fest program!