Venice Film Festival contender “Leave No Traces” will represent Poland at next year’s Academy Awards.
A statement from New Europe Film Sales, handling the film’s sale, said, “We are happy to announce that Jan P. Matuszyński’s “Leave No Traces,” premiering in Venice Competition next week has just been selected as Poland’s Oscars entry for Best International Feature category at 94th Academy Awards.”
The feature, directed by Jan P. Matuszyński, is the first European country to submit an entry. It is based on a true story, which was the subject of Cezary Łazarewizc’s book “Leave No Traces: The Case of Grzegorz Przemyk.”
Set in 1983, the film focuses on the plight of Jurek (played by Tomasz Ziętek), a witness to a state-actioned murder of a high schooler who goes on the run after he becomes an enemy of the communist state, who use all the resources at their disposable in their attempt to go after him.
“One of the questions that got into my mind while reading it was how many things can you actually find out about what happened there? How much of the truth can you get?” Matuszyński told Variety of Łazarewizc’s book.
“I really tried to dig through every detail of those main and supporting characters to know their truth – why they did this, did they think this was right or wrong,” he said. “I don’t want to judge my characters in a film. I don’t care if it’s based on a true story or not. That’s not the role of cinema.
“Every great film is some sort of motivation on a theme or a story, not saying what is wrong and what is right, or who did what and why,” he added. “I really care about the freedom of the viewer to decide. I have to give them tools to think – not to say that this one is good or this one is bad.”
New Europe Film Sales is handling film sales. Check out the trailer below.