Pokot

Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovakia

Synopsis

Duszejko, an eccentric retired construction engineer, an astrologist and a vegetarian lives in a small mountain village on the Czech-Polish border. One day her beloved dogs disappear. They cannot be found anywhere. A few months later on a snowy night Duszejko's introvert neighbour stumbles upon the dead body of a poacher living nearby. He died a mysterious death. The only traces are those of roe deer hooves around the house …
As time goes, more grisly killings are discovered. The victims belonged to the local elite and were passionate hunters. Duszejko tries to convince the local police force that they were murdered by wild animals. As another body is found after the costume ball, Duszejko becomes the main suspect. She was the last to see the victim. When the local parish house burns down and the priest and chaplain of the local hunting association dies in flames, the police are almost certain who did it …

Director's Statement

Our film could be called: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD WOMEN.
The world in which we live in, certainly Poland in which this story takes place, is such a place.
The main character of SPOOR – Janina Duszejko (Agnieszka Mandat) is honest, passionate but also mad. Mad with anger, obsessions, love for animals and with compassion for marginalized people. She is full of rebellion and outrage.
Her cruel, anarchic revolt is not meant to outrage us. On the contrary – the viewer should identify with her. Is that immoral? Yes but only thanks to extreme provocation (which is often underlined with humour and tenderness) can we uncover the injustice and cruelty of the world that Duszejko inhabits. She and her contemporaries, she and her animals.
The protagonist leads us through a landscape in which the beauty of nature and human friendship are mixed with mud, corruption, cruelty, stupidity and blood.
SPOOR does not end with a simple moral. The genres are mixed, as are reality and imagination. The audience may come away thinking that it was all just in the mind of Duszejko who suffers from an allergy to light ...

Director's Biography

Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1948, Agnieszka Holland graduated from the FAMU Film School in Prague and began her career assisting Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Wajda. She collaborated with Krzysztof Kieślowski on the screenplay of his trilogy, THREE COLOURS.
Her film GORĄCZKA screened in Competition at the Berlinale in 1981, the year in which she emigrated to Paris. Since then she has made over 30 films in Poland, Germany, France, the UK and the USA, winning awards including the Emmy, Golden Globe, Golden Lion and BAFTA. Her films IN DARKNESS, EUROPA EUROPA and ANGRY HARVEST were all nominated for an Oscar®.

Filmography:
2017 SPOOR
2015 HOUSE OF CARDS (series, 2 episodes)
2014 ROSEMARY'S BABY (series, 2 episodes)
2010-2013 TREME (series, 5 episodes)
2013 BURNING BUSH (miniseries)
2011-2012 THE KILLING (series, 3 episodes)
2011 IN DARKNESS
2009 JANOSIK. THE REAL STORY
2004-2009 COLD CASE (series, 4 episodes)
2004-2008 THE WIRE (series, 3 episodes)
2007 THE TEAM (series, 2 episodes)
2006 COPYING BEETHOVEN
2002 JULIE WALKING HOME
1999 THE THIRD MIRACLE
1997 WASHINGTON SQUARE
1995 TOTAL ECLIPSE
1995 FALLEN ANGELS (series, 1 episode)
1993 THE SECRET GARDEN
1992 OLIVIER, OLIVIER
1991 LARGO DESOLATO (TV)
1990 EUROPA EUROPA
1988 TO KILL A PRIEST
1985 ANGRY HARVEST
1981 LONELY WOMAN (TV)
1981 FEVER
1979 PROVINCIAL ACTORS
 | 

Cast & Crew

Directed by: Agnieszka Holland, Katarzyna Adamik

Written by: Olga Tokarczuk, Agnieszka Holland

Produced by: Pavla Janoušková Kubecková, Tomáš Hrubý, Fredrik Zander, Jakub Viktorin, Krzysztof Zanussi, Janusz Wachala, Johannes Rexin

Cinematography: Jolanta Dylewska, Rafal Paradowski

Editing: Pavel Hrdlicka

Production Design: Joanna Macha

Costume Design: Katarzyna Lewi ńska

Make-Up & Hair: Janusz Kaleja

Original Score: Antoni Komasa-Lazarkiewicz

Sound Design: Mattias Eklund, Andrzej Lewandowski

Cast: Patricia Volny (Dobra Nowina/Good News), Jakub Gierszal (Dyzio), Agnieszka Mandat (Duszejko), Wiktor Zborowski (Matoga), Miroslav Krobot (Boros)

Nominations and Awards

  • European Costume Designer 2017
  • Feature Film Selection 2017