Section: Polskie Horyzonty

SONATA

SONATA

Bartosz Blaschke
PL, 2021, 118 Min

Autistic or child prodigy? Grzegorz is excluded from both school and society, that is until his new supervisor discovers that, rather than autism, he has a hearing impairment. A new hearing aid works wonders, and the 14-year-old develops into an exceptional pianist. Fascinatingly varied in its implementation, this sensitively staged success story, based on true events, plays out against the fascinating mountain backdrop of the outer Subcarpathian region.

Presented by FilmPolska.

The film traces the career of Grzegorz Płonka, who was born in the Tatra mountains in 1961. Born prematurely, he was protected by his parents, but also somewhat insulated. The parents initially refuse to believe the diagnosis that their son is, in fact, not "disabled", and yet in the end "Gresziek" or "Grześ", as everyone calls him, performs as a pianist in the philharmonic orchestra and plays Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. From the very start he resists being classified as a “disabled person”, refuses to take part in an excursion together with children with Down’s syndrome and reacts with anger when he once again is not taken seriously. The ambition with which he works his way up to becoming an outstanding artist is admirable. Equally admirable is the acting of young Michał Sikorski, who performs Gresziek with an energetic mixture of verve and depression, creativity and destructiveness. The experienced TV series screenwriter Bartosz Blaschke shows how touching and versatile commercially staged cinema can be. Even if his story sounds like a fairy tale, it is in fact true.

Weltspiegel (large hall): original version with English subtitles + German simultaneous translation

Drehbuch
BARTOSZ BLASCHKE
Kamera
TOMASZ AUGUSTYNEK PSC
Ton
TOMASZ SIKORA, ARTUR KUCZKOWSKI
Schnitt
ROBERT PIECHNIK
Ausstattung
ALICJA KAZIMIERCZAK
Musik
KRZYSZTOF A. JANCZAK
Darsteller
Grzegorz Płonka MICHAŁ SIKORSKI
Małgorzata Płonka MAŁGORZATA FOREMNIAK
Łukasz Płonka ŁUKASZ SIMLAT
Michał Płonka KONRAD KĄKOL
Produzent
SYLWESTER BANASZKIEWICZ, MARCIN KUREK
Produktion
mediabrigade
Co-Produktion
Telewizja Polska S.A., Krakowskie Biuro Festiwalowe, Wojewódzki Dom Kultury in Rzeszów, Dolnośląskie Centrum Filmowe, Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych I Fabularnych

Bartosz Blaschke - Film director and screenwriter, graduate of Cinematography and Photography at the Radio and Television Department of the Uniwersytet Śląski in Katowice and the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing in Warsaw; in 2021 he made his debut as the director and the screenwriter of the full-length feature film ‘Sonata’.

He received two awards in the SCRIPT PRO competition: 2nd place for the script for the film "Sonata" in 2018 and 3rd place for the script ‘Felicja i Jezus’ (‘Felicity and Jesus’) in 2014.