(Paris) The distributor of a Polish documentary on the childhood of American photographer Ryszard Horowitz and director Roman Polanski is alarmed by the film’s release in France, believing that it is paying the price for the controversies surrounding the filmmaker, which deny operators.
Walk in Krakow follows for 1h15 the Oscar-winning director for The pianist (2003) in the streets of Krakow, alongside his childhood friend, Ryszard Horowitz. The film, a return to the tragic childhood of these two Holocaust survivors, is signed by two Poles, Mateusz Kudla and Anna Kokoszka-Romer.
The documentary, which is due out on July 5, is currently only scheduled in two theaters in France, one in Rouen and the other in Paris, l’Arlequin, its distributor Michèle told AFP. Halberstadt (ARP). The theaters’ programmers “refuse to see it”, she added: “they tell me that, in the context, it is better not” to program it.
“The exhibitors are cautious and not very courageous”, assures AFP the owner of the Harlequin, Sophie Dulac, explaining that she was convinced by “the quality” of the film, which does not address life at all. adult of the filmmaker.
Questioned by AFP, the leader of a major French cinema network rejects these accusations, saying that his teams have seen the film and decided not to distribute it because of its quality.
According to him, the distributor “seeks controversy” on a film that is not even signed Polanski. “It’s much more pragmatic: there are a lot of films in this period, it’s a documentary that is not very good, of TV quality. There is absolutely no form of censorship,” he insists.
A boss of another large art house in the Paris region confirms for his part that the film was seen by his teams, but “did not convince, a fortiori in a context where many good films are released”.
Persona non grata in Hollywood, Roman Polanski is the target of old accusations of sexual assault and rape, which he disputes, but which have earned him legal proceedings in the United States for more than 40 years.
Only since the release in 2019 of I accuse and his César for best director, that his case has become a symbol in France of the fight against sexual violence in the cinema world.
Since then, the director has kept a low profile, but has shot a new film in Switzerland, The Palace, with Mickey Rourke and Fanny Ardant. It is to be released in Italy on September 28, a few weeks after the Venice Film Festival. No French or American release date has been announced.