A still from "Crulic - Road to the Other Side", dir. Anca Damian
Crulic - The Path to Beyond directed by Anca Damian (Romania) and produced by Arkadiusz Wojnarowski (Poland), premiered at Locarno on the 7th of August as part of the main competition. The film received a special mention from the International Federation of Film Societies
Upon receiving the award, Crulic producer Arkadiusz Wojnarowski stated, "'Crulic is a film about love lacking. About a man who no one listened to and who felt he was left to his own devices. This is a story of an individual's solitude in the face of the system".
The movie Puertas y Ventanas Abrir received the Golden Leopard Award, while Crulic - Drumul SPRE dincolo/ Crulic - The Path to Beyond - a Polish-Romanian coproduction based on real events that took place in Kraków between 2007-2008 was awarded a distinction.
In September 2007 33-year-old Romanian Claudiu Crulic was accused of stealing and was arrested. In January 2008 Crulic died as a result of a four-month hunger strike in protest of the wrongful accusation. The film combines techniques of animation, fiction and documentary in a form that to a certain extent resembles that of Ari Folman's 2009 film Waltz with Bashir (winner of the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Picture and nominated for the Academy Award). The picture was directed by acclaimed Romanian director Damian Ance, director of the 2007 documentary To be or not to be which trails a prison-bound theatre troupe.
Crulic Trailer 2 from Crulic Movie on Vimeo.
Poland's Arkadiusz Wojnarowski produced the film and various Polish institutions cofinanced the film, including the Polish Film Institute Foundation. Ferdinand Magellan and the Regional Film Fund in Kraków. The film features a film score by Polish composer Peter Dziubek.
The 64th International Film Festival in Locarno in Switzerland is one of the world's most important events dedicated to cinema. It is held this year between the 3-13th of August 2011, opening with J.J. Abrams' "Super 8".
For more information, see: www.pardo.ch
Source: press release