Film Movement has acquired U.S. rights to Maciek Hamela’s In the Rearview, winner of effectively over a dozen awards at movie festivals around the globe, together with the highest prize at Sheffield DocFest.
The movie, a visceral account of Ukrainian households attempting to make it to security throughout the Polish border after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will get a U.S. theatrical launch and an Oscar push for Best Documentary Film.
Hamela and producer Piotr Grawender are at present in Amsterdam for the Dutch premiere of In the Rearview at IDFA. The movie is taking part in within the Best of Fests part, which is reserved for what the pageant considers to be the most effective documentaries of the 12 months. In the Rearview additionally has made the IDA shortlist of the 2023’s greatest nonfiction movies.
When we spoke with Hamela on the Cannes Film Festival, he defined that a lot of Polish society mobilized to help Ukrainians after Russia’s brutal and unprovoked assault. Hamela was no exception; he raised cash to purchase a van and commenced transporting individuals of all ages from Ukraine to Poland and out of the zone of Russian bombing. A number of weeks into his emergency effort, he determined to movie the journeys by organising a digicam contained in the van. It recorded whereas he drove.
Director Maciek Hamela (R) and producer Piotr Grawender outdoors the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023
“There were so many questions at the beginning [of the filming process], starting from the question if this is not going to destroy the intimacy of the whole situation of what I was witnessing,” Hamela instructed us, “and going to all the moral questions of how to shoot people in such a fragile moment of their lives.”
In the Rearview premiered on the Millennium Docs Against Gravity pageant in Poland in mid-May, going from thee to Cannes, the place it performed within the pageant’s ACID sidebar. Hamela stated it was essential to him that viewers determine with the beleaguered individuals on display screen.
“I want the audience to see that these people have exactly the same lives as we do,” he stated. “It’s their ordinary lives. They have pets, they have cows, they quarrel with their wives. They have kids who want to go for vacation to the sea. And they have to lie to them [because of the war] or promise them things, promises they cannot keep,” he says. “This happens very often when we see documentaries about atrocities — we get very quickly disassociated from what we’re seeing because it’s too much. We can’t take it anymore. And this is what I wanted to avoid.”
A Ukrainian baby holds a paper with very important details about her in case she turns into a sufferer of Russian bombing.
Film Movement President Michael Rosenberg stated in a press release, “We are proud to bring this intimate, yet powerful and devastating film to U.S. audiences, reminding us all of the human perspective of a war which continues to rage.”
In the Rearview has additionally been acquired by Filmin in Spain and Portugal, VG in Norway, Fabula in Turkey, and PCCW in Hong Kong. The movie was launched in France final week by New Story. It can have its Polish theatrical launch on November 24.
Cinephil is representing the worldwide rights for the movie and negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers with Michael Rosenberg at Film Movement. The movie is produced by Piotr Grawender (Affinity Cine), Maciek Hamela (Pemplum), Jean-Marie Gigon (SaNoSi Productions), and Anna Palenchuk (435 FILMS).
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