“THE HAMLET SYNDROME” IN THE KFF SALES&PROMOTION CATALOGUE
The premiere and victory at the Kraków Film Festival as well as the Grand Prix in Locarno and this is only the beginning of the festival journey of the new documentary by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski. The film has just been aquired by KFF Sales&Promotion and will be represented by the agency at international festivals, which will certainly contribute to its further success.
The documentary by the outstanding duo of filmmakers opened this year's edition of the Kraków Film Festival. The official premiere brought many tears of emotion and extremely strong feelings. Among the invited guests there were also the protagonists of this extremely important, moving, and topical film. Not only did the production appeal to audiences as well as festival organisers and selectors, but it also delighted the jury, resulting in awards and prizes.
After its premiere in Kraków, the documentary was selected for one of the sections of the Locarno festival. The international premiere at La Semaine de la Critique turned out to be as lucky as the world premiere at the Kraków Film Festival. The Hamlet Syndrome won its Grand Prix, the SRG SSR award, and the Boccalino d’Oro award awarded by the Swiss Independent Critics
“To be or not to be” – during a war these words take on a variety of new shades. Several months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a group of young people are working on a performance where Shakespeare speaks the language of their own doubts, fears, and dreams. Behind this are various experiences of the “Maidan generation”. Some are working through their traumas after returning from the war in Donbas, others face questions about what the Ukrainian fight is really about and how their country should change. For a moment, life, theatre, and cinema become one and we are witnessing an emotional psychodrama.
Elwira Niewiera is a Polish/German director and screenwriter of the well-known documentary films "Domino Effect", "The Prince and the Dybbuk" and "The Hamlet Syndrome". Winner of many international awards, among others Grand Prix-Semian de la Critiqe for the Best Film at 75th Locarno Film Festival, Best Documentary on Cinema at the 74th Venice Film Festival, Polish Film Academy Award for Best Documentary, Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig Film Festival, Young German Cinema Award 2019 and the American Chicken & Egg Award 2021. In her artistic work, she focuses primarily on political, social and cultural transformations in Eastern Europe. Elwira is a member of the European Film Academy.
Piotr Rosolowski is a Polish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer based in Berlin. He graduated from the Katowice Film School and was awarded an Academy of Media Arts scholarship in Cologne. Piotr co-directed together with Elwira Niewiera already three successful feature documentaries: "Domino Effect" prized at the Krakow Film Festival and DOK Leipzig, "The Prince and the Dybbuk" awarded with the Lion for Best Documentary on Cinema at the 74th Venice Film Festival, and "The Hamlet Syndrome" honored with Grand Prix Semaine de la critique at the 75th Locarno Film Festival. Piotr also works as a director of photography, he shot many awarded feature and short films, among them: On the line dir. Reto Caffi - Academy Award-nominated short fiction, "Rabbit a la Berlin" dir. Bartek Konopka - Academy Award-nominated short documentary, and "The Wall of Shadows" dir. Eliza Kubarska - nominated for the German Camera Award and honored with the annual prize of the Polish Society of Cinematographers.
The film will be represented at international festivals by the KFF Sales&Promotion agency. In 2021, Polish documentaries represented by KFF Sales&Promotion agency were shown at 250 screenings at 150 international festivals, out of which 230 were competition screenings. Thanks to our activities, documentary films represented by KFF won 30 awards at foreign festivals in 2021.