The distributor of a Polish documentary on Roman Polanski is alarmed by the film’s release in France, believing that it is paying the price for the controversies around the filmmaker, which exhibitors deny.
The Polish documentary on director Roman Polanski and the childhood of American photographer Ryszard Horowitz is struggling to be released in theaters in France. The distributor of the film is alarmed, believing that the many controversies of the filmmaker impact the documentary. Walk in Krakow follows the Oscar-winning director for 1h15 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 to be released on July 5, is currently only scheduled in two theaters in France, one in Rouen and the other in Paris, at the Arlequin cinema, said its distributor Michèle Halberstadt ( ARP). The programmers of the rooms ” refuse to see him“, she added. ” They tell me that in this context, it is better not“program it.
The documentary “did not convince”
” Operators are cautious and not very brave“, assures the owner of the Harlequin, Sophie Dulac, explaining that she was convinced by ” the quality” of the film, which does not at all address the adult life of the filmmaker. Questioned by AFP, the director of a major French cinema network rejects these accusations, affirming that his teams have seen the film and decided not to distribute it because of its quality. According to him, the distributor” looking for controversy“on a film that isn’t even signed Polanski.” It’s much more pragmatic: there are a lot of films in this period, it’s a documentary that isn’t very good, of TV quality. There is absolutely no form of censorship“, he hammers.
A boss of another large art house in the Paris region confirms that the film has been seen by his teams but ” did not convince, a fortiori in a context where many good films are released“.
Another movie planned
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.