KULEJ. DWIE STRONY MEDALU
KULEJ. ALL THAT GLITTERS ISN'T GOLD
Performance
When Kulej returns to his homeland, to great acclaim after his triumph in Tokyo, there is no doubt: he wants to defend his title in Mexico in four years’ time; at all costs. And yet it is not only his wife Hela, who rather than bask in his fame wants to pursue her own career, that stands in his way. The intelligence service also puts out feelers to him, whilst illegal gambling, alcohol and constant scandals raise question marks about his sporting future.
After the poetic art-house masterpiece BIRD TALK and the eco-zombie genre parody IT CAME FROM THE WATER, Xawery Żuławski now tries his hand at the biopic genre with this epic, based on true events, with its exquisite set design and star ensemble that follows in the footsteps of ROCKY, MILLION DOLLAR BABY and SOUTHPAW. In doing so, he not only incorporates historical details and the political and social colour of the time but also, in what is a double portrait, tells a multi-faceted tale of emancipation – at once feminist, political and individual.
Text: Rainer Mende
07.11.2024 | 19:00 | Stadthalle (original version with English subtitles + simultaneous translation into German)
Xawery Żuławski - Xawery Żuławski is a director, screenwriter and creative producer at Watchout Studio. He graduated from the Film and TV Directing Department of the Łódź Film School. His first feature-length film, Chaos, won the Best Directing Debut Award at the 2006 Polish Film Festival in Gdynia and the Great Amber Award at the 2007 Koszalin Debut Film Festival Young and Film. One of his greatest successes is a screen adaptation of Dorota Masłowska’s novel Snow White and Russian Red, for which he received awards, incl. the Silver Lions at the 2009 Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. His film Bird Talk won the 2020 Golden Reel Award in the Polish Film category, and the Youth Jury Award at the 2019 Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. He received the Golden Claw Award at the festival in Gdynia for It Came from the Water.
