In Episode 30 we featured Wanda Kościa, a London-based Polish-born director, producer and award winning documentary filmmaker, and her BBC film “Hunting the Nazi Gold Train” – a mysterious story of a train full of gold, buried by the Nazis in Polish Silesia.
His most recent film “The Last Witness” talks about this monumental masacre, in itself a tragedy, but also about another tragic aspect of it – the cover up by the Allies, who didn’t want to reveal the Soviet guilt, ascribing it to the Germans. The film shows the fate of Polish refugees after WWII who lived for years in displaced persons’ (DP) camps in Britain, unable to return to their motherland controlled by the communist Soviet Union after the war, and unable to openly talk about why they had to stay in Britain and what had happened.
A DP (displaced people’s) camp
Robert Więckiewicz as the last witness
Alex Pettyfer as the Bristol journalist
Ask around: Who knows that in 1939 the Soviets invaded Poland in alliance with Nazi Germany? Germany would not have invaded Poland if it wasn’t in agreement with the Russians. Who knows that over a million Poles were deported to Siveria, where hundreds of thousands died of starvation, disease and exhaustion? Who knows about the Siberian deportations and mass killings in Russsian forests? Who knows about the post-WWII silence and lies?
Piotr Szkopiak on the set
Piotr Szkopiak on the set
The cast and crew
Piotr Szkopiak’s “The Last Witness” has been exteremely successful at festivals around the world: 25 Award Wins, 2 Awards of Excellence, 9 nominations and 5 official selections and has been shown in Britain, Poland, the US.
Winner
BEST FEATURE FILM, Portugal International Film Festival 2019
Director Piotr Szkopiak at the Portugal Film Festival 2019
BEST FEATURE FILM, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE (ALEX PETTYFER), BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, BEST EDITING, BEST SOUND DESIGN, Nightlight Impact Awards Festival 2019
BEST LEAD ACTRESS (TALULAH RILEY), BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, BEST COSTUME DESIGN, New York City International Film Festival 2019
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (TALULAH RILEY), Garden State Film Festival 2019
RISING STAR, Canada Independent Film Festival 2019
BEST MEDITERRANI DIRECTOR, Barcelona Planet Film Festival 2019
BEST FEATURE FILM, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST FEATURE FILM CINEMATOGRAPHY, European Cinematography Awards 2019 (February)
BEST PICTURE, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST ACTOR (ALEX PETTYFER), BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, BEST EDITING, Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards 2018 (October)
BEST FEATURE FILM, Miami Independent Film Festival 2018 (November)
BEST BRITISH FEATURE, London Independent Film Awards 2018 (November)
GOLD AWARD FEATURE FILM, GOLD AWARD DIRECTING, Latitude Film Awards 2019 (March)
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE, Accolade Global Film Competition 2018
CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE, Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival 2019
Nominated
BEST ACTOR (ALEX PETTYFER), Garden State Film Festival 2019
BEST PICTURE (THRILLER/DRAMA/ACTION), BEST LEAD ACTOR (ALEX PETTYFER), BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (MICHAEL GAMBON), BEST DIRECTOR, New York City International Film Festival 2019
BEST FEATURE FILM, Hollywood Art and Movie Awards 2019
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER, Santorini Film Festival 2019
BEST THRILLER, The Grand Budapest Film Festival 2019
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE FILM, Berlin Motion Picture Festival 2018
