Pardon

DIRECTOR

Jan Jakub Kolski

SCREENPLAY

Jan Jakub Kolski

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Jan Jakub Kolski

Julian A. Ch. Kernbach

EDITING

Konrad Śniady

MUSIC

Dariusz Górniok

PRODUCER

Jan Jakub Kolski

Aleksandra Michael

PRODUCTION

Wytwórnia Doświadczalna

CO-PRODUCTION

Centrala

Mimesis Film

sentimentalfilm

Set in the realities of post-war Poland, the film tells the story of mourning parents setting off on their last journey with their son, as seen from the point of view of their grandson Jan. The son of Hanna and Jacob, a Home Army soldier Waclaw “Odrowaz” Szewczyk, is shot by the secret police in the autumn of 1946. After suffering a series of humiliations by the new authorities, who continuously desecrate their child’s corpse, Hanna and Jacob decide to provide their son with a proper burial in the Paclawska Calvary, 500 km away. Their venture through Poland – a country still haunted by the post-war nightmare, becomes a metaphorical journey into the depths of the human soul and an attempt to reorder the world in which neighbors turn against each other, and where one’s current enemy may become an unexpected ally.

“I based this story on the life of my uncle Wacław Szewczyk, who was a ‘cursed soldier’. He was shot by the communist regime’s Secret Police (UB) and he could not get peace, as UB dug him out of the grave three times, and each time his parents wanted to give him a proper burial. So they travel to bury him where there is peace and quiet.” – Jan Jakub Kolski

FESTIVALS

Montréal World Film Festival
Camerimage
Prague International Film Festival - Febiofest

Polish Film Festival

Awards

Polish Film Festival

  • Best Screenplay
  • Best Costume Design
  • Best Actress
  • Best Film (nomination)

Jan Jakub Kolski

Jan Jakub Kolski (1956, Wroclaw) has long been one of the most interesting Polish directors. He studied cinematography in Łódź, writes his own scripts for his films and has also established himself as a novelist. His films have been screened at the Cannes (Pogrzeb kartofla / Funeral of a Potato, 1990), Tokyo (Szabla od komendanta / Sabre from the Commander, 1995) and Venice, where he competed with Pornografia (Pornography) in 2003. His films Far from the Window (2000) and Historia kina w Popielawach (History of Film in Popielawy, 1998) are known to the Karlovy Vary audience from the competition section East of the West. Kolski is often inspired by the landscape of his childhood, which he uses as the basis for the dreamlike setting in which he sets his ambiguous heroes.