Still from Agnieszka Holland's "In Darkness", photo by Robert Pałka
Agnieszka Holland's In Darkness is set to enter the American market after Sony Pictures Classic purchased all American rights to the film. The company has previously been responsible for promoting films by Roman Polanski and Woody Allen. "They have a great deal of enthusiasm for the project" Holland said in a recent statement.
In Darkness, based on the book In The Sewers of Lwów by Robert Marshall, tells the true story of a Lviv Pole named Leopold Soch. A thief and sewer-worker, Soch decides to hides a group of refugee Jews during the war. At first he does this for money, but over time his motivation changes.
Holland describes the project as illustrative of the fine line between "the best and worst of human nature." German actor Benno Furmann plays one of the Jewish characters in the film.
"Holland not only shows that this is a very sad story, but also that people coped in any way they could and that they even, in this horrible situation, were able to experience moments of happiness- they loved and were loved" says Furmann, whose co-stars include Maria Schrader and Herbert Knaup.
The film will be shown at the film festival in Toronto is also likely to be shown at the Venice Film Festival, also. The Polish premiere of In Darkness is planned for the autumn later this year.
Film commentators stress that the film has a large chance at an Oscar nomination in the foreign film category. The decision rests with whether "In Darkness" is selected as the Polish candidate to the American Film Academy. Sony Pictures Classic already achieved success in this respect with their previous Danish film, "In A Better World" directed by Suzanne Bier.
Holland's 1990 film Europa, Europa, based on the biography of Solomon Perel, was an Academy Award nominee for "Best Screenplay", whilst 1985's Angry Harvest was in the running for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Source: IAR