Biography Dox

The Prince and the Dybbuk

Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski
Screening time  
27.02. / Tuesday, 22:00 - 00:00 Theatre 3  
A cinematic journey and a search for Michał Waszyński, a mysterious Polish director and an influential personality of the European film scene.

Who was Moshe Waks really? A golden boy of cinema, a fraud or a man who constantly confused the illusion of film with reality? The son of a poor Jewish blacksmith from Ukraine died in Italy as Prince Michael Waszynski, Hollywood producer and exiled Polish aristocrat. He made more than 50 films including cinema hits with Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale. However, only one film was his true obsession, The Dybbuk, based on an old Jewish legend, the most important and mystical Yiddish film ever made, directed by Waszynski shortly before the outbreak of the WWII. It seems he had achieved almost everything he could possibly have wished, but something seemed to be stalking him, leaving him permanently restless. Waszynski kept searching for the lost print of his film Dybbuk which held his early memories of the Jewish shtetl and his first love. What secrets are hidden in this old masterpiece of Yiddish cinema?

Elwira_niewiera

Elwira Niewiera

Elwira Niewiera is a Polish/German director and screenwriter of the well-known documentary films Domino Effect, The Prince and the Dybbuk and The Hamlet Syndrome. She is the winner of many international awards, among others Grand Prix-Semaine de la Critique for the Best Film at 75th Locarno Film Festival, Best Documentary on Cinema at the 74th Venice Film Festival, Polish Film Academy Award for Best Documentary, and Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig Film Festival. In her artistic work, she focuses primarily on political, social and cultural transformations in Eastern Europe. She is a member of the European Film Academy.

Piotr_rosolowski

Piotr Rosołowski

Piotr Rosołowski is a Polish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer based in Berlin. He graduated from the Katowice Film School and was awarded an Academy of Media Arts scholarship in Cologne. Together with Elwira Niewiera he co-directed three successful feature documentaries: Domino Effect, The Prince and the Dybbuk and The Hamlet Syndrome. He also works as a director of photography and has shot many award-winning feature and short films.

General sponsor

Książę i Dybuk

Germany, Poland
2017, 82'

Directed by:
Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski

Screenplay by:
Piotr Rosołowski, Elwira Niewiera

Cinematography:
Piotr Rosołowski

Edited by:
Andrzej Dąbrowski

Producers:
Ann Carolin Renninger, Matthias Miegel, Malgorzata Zacharko

Produced by:
Film Art Production, Kundschafter Filmproduktion GmbH Berlin

Festivals & Awards:

Venice International Film Festival – Best Documentary; Minsk International Film Festival Listapad 2017 – Diplomas Award; IDFA – Best of Fests 2017; Viennale 2017; Trieste Film Festival 2018