Pawlikowski wins best director award at Cannes Film Festival
Polish-British filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski on Saturday won Palme d'Or for best director at the 71st International Film Festival in Cannes for his film "Cold War".
The film, selected for the official competition of the 71st Cannes Film Festival, was the first Polish film to compete for the prestigious Palme d’Or award since Roman Polański’s ‘The Pianist’ scooped up the major award in 2002.
Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture Piotr Gliński congratulated Pawlikowski in a statement sent to PAP on Saturday evening.
"I would like to thank the entire Polish crew present in Cannes for the proud representation of Polish cinema industry," Gliński wrote. As he noted, "the film has been fighting for Palme d'Or of the Cannes Festival until the last moments, which in itself is a great achievement."
"I'm pleased all the more that the Polish Film Institute not only co-financed the foreign promotion of the film, but, more importantly, it supported Paweł Pawlikowski's 'Cold War' with seven million zlotys," the minister of culture stressed.
‘Cold War’ follows the story of two mismatched lovers of different temperaments and backgrounds, whose complex and nigh-on impossible relationship is written in destiny.
Set against the backdrop of the Cold War in 1950s Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, the story revolves around a tour by the popular Polish folk music and dance ensemble Mazowsze, which was originally founded by the Ministry of Culture of the Polish post-war communist government in 1948.
In 2015, Pawlikowski`s previous film “Ida” received the Oscar for the best foreign language film. It has been the first time for the Polish film to win the Academy Award in such a category. (PAP)
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