Blu-Ray BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / Region ABC
RRP: £19.99
Release Date: 18 September 2023
SRBD 070
Blu-Ray |
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In 1950s Stalinist Poland, a headstrong cabaret singer, Tonia, is imprisoned without explanation. Days become months, punctuated only by the physical and psychological torture of relentless interrogation. Over time, the relationship with her captors grows ever more complex. Krystyna Janda’s award-winning portrayal of a woman’s fight for survival is mesmerising in its intensity.
Based on true events, Ryszard Bugajski’s harrowing film was banned under martial law in Poland, but thrived on underground VHS after a copy was smuggled out by the director at great personal risk. Finally released after the Fall of Communism, the film remains a powerful and ever more relevant indictment of totalitarianism.
Presented from the new 2K restoration by WFiDF, Poland, our world premiere, region-free Blu-ray features an exclusive, in-depth interview with the late Ryszard Bugajski in which he discusses the film’s history, production, the controversy surrounding its release and subsequent banning by Polish authorities - plus a booklet with the complete transcript of the 1982 ‘Co-laudation’ commission hearing which led to Interrogation’s total suppression.
• Interrogation (Przesłuchanie, 1982) presented complete and uncut from an HD transfer of the new 2K restoration of the film produced by WFDiF, Poland.
• Ryszard Bugajski on Interrogation: a 2005 interview with the late director in which he discusses the film’s contextual history, its production, and the controversy surrounding its release and subsequent banning by the Polish authorities.
• 40-page booklet with writing on the film by Michael Szporer and the complete transcript of the 1982 hearing before the so-called ‘Co-laudation’ commission which led to Interrogation’s total suppression.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C).
• World premiere release on Blu-ray.
Directed by Ryszard Bugajski
Story - Ryszard Bugajski and Janusz Dymek
Screenplay - Ryszard Bugajski
Producer - Tadeusz Drewno
Executive Producer - Andrzej Wajda
Cinematography - Jacek Petrycki
Art Director - Janusz Sosnowski
Film Editing - Katarzyna Maciejko
Costume Design - Jolanta Generalczyk
Main Cast
Antonina ‘Tonia’ Dziwisz - Krystyna Janda
Major Zawada ‘Kąpielowy’ - Janusz Gajos
Lieutenant Morawski - Adam Ferency
Witkowska - Agnieszka Holland
Mira Szejnert - Anna Romantowska
Konstanty Dziwisz - Olgierd Łukaszewicz
1990 Cannes Film Festival /
Winner: Best Actress - Krystyna Janda
1990 Chicago Film Festival /
Winner: Silver Hugo – Best Film
1990 Polish Film Festival /
Winner: Special Jury Prize;
Best Actress - Krystyna Janda;
Best Actor - Janusz Gajos;
Best Supporting Actress - Anna Romantowska
“There is no whiff of unsavoury voyeurism about the film. Sombre and harrowing, enlivened by a few flashes of sour wit, it is a highly intelligent account”
Hilary Mantel, The Spectator
“Set in Poland's totalitarian 1950s, which by enormous implication mirrors Jaruzelski's Poland of the 1980s, Bugajski's film stays right under your skin. [...] A sensational performance by Janda, an increasingly riveting tour de force... vital viewing.” The Washington Post
“Politically explosive… The film remains gripping and powerfully shocking.”
Sigt & Sound magazine
“This powerful and worthwhile film: it is relentless in showing the psychological cruelty of a Polish female imprisoned by the secret police in 1951 and it’s not for everyone as it lacks entertainment value. But if you’re politically motivated and have the grit to sit through such a harrowing tale, then you will be rewarded with an intelligent work that suggests Orwell and Kafka.” Dennis Schwartz
