Still from Jerzy and Michal Skolimowski's "Ixjana", photo: materials from the distributor
Ixjana is the story of a young writer, Marek who winds up at a ball thrown by an eccentric millionaire, known as the king of publishers and finds out that his debut novel will be published. Alcohol and psychotropic pills cause him to black out. He reaches nirvana and commits murder. On regaining consciousness, he doesn’t remember anything, then takes a metaphorical walk through hell to get to the truth. He is sure that he killed his friend Arthur. He is led by a woman, a femme fatale Marlena who would not hesitate to ripe his heart out. Drawing attention to the cinematography by Adam Sikora, following the screening of the film at the 2012 International Film Festival in Rome, the Italian media said "It's a fascinating film that is hard to crack". Critics note the richness in literary and film allusions - from Mikhail Bulgakov to Roman Polański.
The premiere of the long-awaited Ixjana is marked by the sudden and tragic death of the co-writer, co-director and author of the music score for the film, the younger of the two brothers - Jerzy who tragically passed away in May 2012. Michał (aka John Yorick) and Jerzy (aka Józef or Joseph Kay and Jerry Skol.) worked on the script to Ixjana for six years. At a press conference at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome organised during the 7th International Film Festival in Rome, where Ixjana screened, Michał Skolimowski said he was fascinated by black magic and the interpretation of dreams, "the film draws its inspiration from Sigmund Freud's books, Greek literature, Dante, Goethe and contemporary literature. Our passion was born during a walk in the forest, my brother and I decided that we wanted to make a movie about our experiences." [editor's translation] he added.
The action takes place in Warsaw, where the brothers lived at the beginning of the 1990s when they were in their 20ties. Even though 80 per cent of the film was shot at night, the directors knew the city like the back of their hand. "They had everything precisely thought out and mapped out", the film’s producer Jacek Samojłowicz says in an interview, "they analysed in the smallest detail the behavious of the characters, their emotions and motivation. They knew the actor’s lines by heart and acted out every scene themselves before filming the actors".
Michał and Jerzy Skolimowski are the sons of the director, scriptwriter, poet and painter Jerzy Skolimowski (born 1938) whose films Barrier (1966), Le Depart (1967) and Moonlighting (1982) earned him a place among European classics. His most recent film the 2012 political thriller Essential Killing starring Vincent Gallo and Emmanuelle Seigner was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the 67th International Film Festival in Venice.
Jerzy and Michał Skolimowski’s Ixjana competes in the Main Competition at the Rome Film Festival. Ixjana comes to Polish cinemas in November 23rd 2012.
- Ixjana. Poland 2012, 98 minutes. Directing: Michał Skolimowski, Józef Skolimowski Script: Michał Skolimowski, Józef Skolimowski, Music: Józef Skolimowski, Cinematography: Adam Sikora, Production: Jacek Samojłowicz, Film Media S.A Coproduction: Studio Produkcyjne Orka, Studio Filmowe Kadr, Opus Film, Studio Filmowe Perspektywa, Skopia Film, Narodowe Centrum Kultury. Cofinancing: Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej, Distributor: Monolith Films. Cast: Sambor Czarnota, Borys Szyc, Magdalena Boczarska, Ewa Hornich, Łukasz Simlat
Sources: Press materials, Życie Warszawy, Fakt, Stopklatka
Editor: Marta Jazowska