Mystery drama Spoor selected as Poland’s candidate for Oscar

The chairman of the selection committee, acclaimed Polish-British filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski, has said that Spoor is “a universal, carefully crafted story that certainly increases our sensibility.”

He added: “This patchwork of genres remains incredibly current and has us constantly asking basic questions. It is a film about the value of fighting for what surrounds us, for our environment and for those who are weaker than us.”

According to Pawlikowski, Spoor is “a film with a strong message that also serves as a long feminine voice; works by women have been increasingly present in world cinema in recent years."

“Spoor” means the track or trail of an animal that is being hunted. The film tells the story of retired engineer Janina Duszejko, who lives a quiet life in the Polish Sudety mountains close to the Czech border. One winter night, she stumbles upon the dead body of her neighbour, who was a poacher. The only visible tracks around his house are roe deer hooves. The woman starts an investigation into the man’s mysterious death.

The script of Spoor, by Holland and Olga Tokarczuk, is based on Tokarczuk's best-selling novel Drive Your Plough over the Bones of the Dead, published in 2009. The film is a co-production between Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Sweden. It won the Silver Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

Three of Holland’s films have won Oscar nominations: Angry Harvest (1985), Europa, Europa (1991), and In Darkness (2011).

Her credits also include To Kill a Priest (about the 1984 murder of the Solidarity priest Father Jerzy Popiełuszko), The Secret Garden, Washington Square, The Third Miracle, Total Eclipse, and Copying Beethoven. (mk/gs/pk)

Source: PAP, Polish Film Institute