Still from Ryszard Bugajski's "Closed Circuit", photo: Krzysztof Kowalski/ Kino Świat.
Three owners of a successful company are implicated in a plot controlled by corrupt government officials. A prosecutor and the head of the Polish Inland Revenue office accuse the businessmen of taking part in an organised criminal group and laundering money. They are arrested with the intention that their story will serve as an example. Closed Circuit is a retelling of the real life story in which the trails against the businessmen were remitted due to lack of evidence and the men received 10 thousand Polish zlotys (around 2400 Euros) of compensation each.
Director Ryszard Bugajski characterises the conspiracy thriller as, "a picture about a battle between good and bad... about the clash between officials and ordinary people, who through their hard work and ingenuity are trying to build a new Poland." The film proved popular with critics with Łukasz Maciejewski writing for the website Filmweb, "the creator of Interrogation is one of few professionals in Polish cinema who knows how to make political cinema."
"I have come to be perceived as a specialist in issues dealing with the Secret Service and Security Service " – Ryszard Bugajski said in a statement for the daily Rzeczpospolita (10.12.2004). With his famous Przesłuchanie / Interrogation considered one of the most powerful portrayals of the Stalinist system in Polish cinematography and Generał Nil / General Nil, a film based on the biography of the legendary General Nil, commander of the Home Army's Diversionary Directorate, he is perceived as a creator of historical and socially engaged cinema. Closed Circuit is yet another example, a motion picture in which the director deals with journalistic topics.
The creators of Closed Curcuit received the Vector Award from the Employers of the Republic of Poland Association, a prestigious prize given out since 2002 to people involved in business, politics, culture and the media. "For having courage to show the truth about the problems faced by Polish entrepreneurs in confronting the ruthless bureaucratic machine", the jury justified their choice, "and their perseverance in bringing the film to a close". Closed Circuit was entirely self-financed on a budget gathered among others from Polish companies and entrepreneurs to whom bringing the story, which took place in Poland ten years ago to the big screen, was important.
Closed Circuit gathers an impressive cast: actor Janusz Gajos as the corrupt prosecutor who has already skilfully played dark characters in Władysław Pasikowski’s Psy / Pigs and Interrogation, actress Urszula Grabowska who was named Best Actress at the Gdynia Film Festival for her part in Feliks Falk’s Joanna, cinematographer Piotr Sobociński jr. who shot Wojciech Smarzowski's war drama Rose and Traffic Department. The film's script was written by Michał S. Pruski and Mirosław Piepka, who also authored Antoni Krauze's Czarny czwartek. Janek Wiśniewski padł / Black Thursday. Janek Wiśniewski Down. The song promoting the movie is the work of Polish rock band Kult.
Born in 1943, film and television director, script writer, prose writer, and translator Ryszard Bugajski holds a degree in philosophy from the University of Warsaw and directing from the Łodz Film School. He started his career in the 1970's as assistant to the maker of animated films Daniel Szczechura and the renowned feature film director Krzysztof Zanussi. In 1976 he joined the X Film Unit managed by Andrzej Wajda, where he made the films Kobieta i kobieta / A Woman and a Woman and Zajęcia dydaktyczne / Classes. In 1981 Ryszard Bugajski made the full-length feature film Interrogation, its message, which was incompatible with the political line of the Polish authorities after the imposition of martial law, becoming the direct cause of the X Unit being dissolved. The official premiere of Interrogation did not take place until December 1989, after the political transformation in Poland. Persecuted by the authorities, he decided to emigrate to Canada in 1985, where he directed episodes of popular television series, and where he made his full-length feature Clearcut. He returned to Poland in 1995. He makes feature films, documentaries, television series and Television Theatre productions for Polish television station TVP. Apart from the book version of Interrogation, reissued many times, he has published the novels Przyznaję się do winy / I Confess (1985) and Sól i pieprz / Salt and Pepper (2000), which continues the story of the protagonists of his most famous film. For Interrogation Ryszard Bugajski has received awards at film festivals, including the Golden Grapes in Łagów, the audience award and a special prize at the Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia, and the Silver Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Układ zamknięty / The Closed Circuit comes to Polish cinemas on the 5th of April 2013.
Sources: Bartosz Staszczyszyn article for culture.pl, thenews.pl, brownpapertickets
Editor: MJ, 25.03.2013