IN DARKNESS BY AGNIESZKA HOLLAND NOMINATED TO ACADEMY AWARDS
The main protagonist is a man of contradictions: on one hand, he is a loving father, on the other – a small thief; he is at the same time very religious and quite immoral. All in all, he is an ordinary man, a mixture of goodness and evil. But his predicament is truly one of a kind. In this story, Socha matures and becomes a beacon for humanity. His transformation is neither easy nor sentimental, and maybe that is why it fascinates us so much – we are able to not only follow his journey, but also to participate in it.
Agnieszka Holland
The script, written by David F. Shamoon, was based on a novel of Robert Marshall called In the Sewers of Lvov. The part of Leopold Socha, a sanitation worker living in Lvov, was played by Robert Więckiewicz; Socha's wife was portrayed by Kinga Preis.
In Darkness gained acclaim at a number of international film festivals. Among others, it won the Golden Frog for Best Film at the Plus Camerimage Festival and the award for best film at the St. Louis Festival. The film is the official Polish submission to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
For me as a filmmaker, the biggest and most exciting challenge was the darkness. They live in darkness, odour, extreme humidity and isolation for over a year. We knew that in order to show it to the audience, we had to get to know this underground world in a very realistic, human and intimate way. We wanted the audience to feel, with all of their senses, that they are there with the characters.
Agnieszka Holland
