A scene from "The Mole", pictured: Borys Szyc
Antoni Krauze's Czarny Czwartek/ Black Thursday wins the FIPRESCI award in the World Competition at the 2011 World Film Festival in Montréal. The award for best actor at the festival goes to Borys Szyc for his role in Rafael Lewandowski's political-thriller Kret/ The Mole
Black Thursday is a docu-drama reenactment of a demonstration in the Gdańsk shipyard during the notorious 1970 worker's strikes in the northern Polish city. The communist militia open fire on a crowd, injuring dozens and killing 18 protesters. One unnamed victim is placed onto a discarded wooden door and carried around the streets as a symbol of the regime's violence. The film recounts the story of a number of families at the heart of the events. Black Thursday was nominated for the Golden Lion award at the 2011 International film festival in Gdańsk and won the Special Jury award at the same festival.
The Mole follows Paweł, played by Borys Szyc, who works with his father Zygmunt importing second-hand clothing from France to Poland. Returning to Poland one day, Paweł is shocked to discover his father's picture on the front page of a Polish tabloid. The headline reads "Traitor". Zygmunt is a hero of the struggle against the Communist regime, a recognised member of the Solidarity movement of the 1980s. But now he is accused of having acted as a secret Communist informer called "The mole". Twenty years after the transition to democracy, the past continues to haunt the present in Poland, and Paweł's father's story causes a stir.
The Mole was a jury selection at the 36th International film festival in Gdynia. It also stars Marian Dziędziel, who won an award at the 2011 International film festival in Gdańsk for his supporting role in the film.
The other recipients of awards in Montreal include: Come as you are/ Hasta la vista by Geoffrey Enthoven received the public award as the most popular film at the festival and Chronicle of my mother by Japanese director Masato Harada received the Special Grand Prix of the jury.
French actress Catherine Deneuve also received a special award for her exceptional contribution to the cinematographic art.
For more information about the festival, please visit: http://www.ffm-montreal.org
Source: press release