Poland's 'United States of Love' making waves at Berlinale
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
20.02.2016 13:45
Director Tomasz Wasilewski's 'United States of Love', which is competing for the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival, has been snapped up by a host of distributors.
Director Tomasz Wasilewski (C) and actors Dorota Kolak, Julia Kijowska, Marta Nieradkiewicz and Magdalena Cielecka at the 66th annual Berlin International Film Festival, in Berlin, Germany, 19 February 2016. EPA/KAY NIETFELD
The film, which explores the plight of four Polish women in the transformation that followed the fall of communism, is one of 18 works competing in the main competition.
Screen Daily described Wasilewski's “intricately constructed puzzlebox drama” as “strong bait for niche distributors and festivals on the lookout for distinctively against-the-grain voices.”
Distributors from Benelux (Contact), Sweden (Triart), Portugal (Films4You), Turkey (Bir), Switzerland (Xenix), Bulgaria (Bulgaria Film Vision), Taiwan (Flash Forward) and South Korea (Brandon Young Ent.), have snapped up the film in recent days, following Spain (Golem), Greece (Strada) and the former Yugoslavia (MCS).
“'United States of Love' is plainly the confident work of a fast-maturing young film-maker with a strong voice and a sharp visual sense,” a review in The Hollywood Reporter argued.
The movie is the 35-year-old director's third feature, following on from 2013's 'Floating Skyscrapers', an exploration of gay love in contemporary Poland that won awards at a number of Polish and international festivals.
The 66th Berlin International Film Festival ends on Sunday 21 February. (nh)