POLAND
Erratum
2010 – 35mm – color - 90’
Direction: Marek Lechki
Screenplay: Marek Lechki
Photography: Przemysław Kamiński
Editing: Robert Mańkowski
Set design: Barbara Komosińska
Original Music: Bartek Straburzyński
Costumes: Anna Weber
Cast: Tomasz Kot, Ryszard Kotys, Tomasz Radawiec, Janusz Michałowski
Producer: Marek Lechki
Production: Harmony Film Production Lechki Marek, Uskorz Maly 6a, 56-100 Wolow, Poland, cell: +48504691491, email: harmonyfilm@gmail.com, lechkimarek@gmail.com, in cooproduciton with Heliograf Sp. Z O.O., Voiceland Sp. Z O.O.
SYNOPSIS
Michal, aged 34, is leading a prosperous, well-rounded life with his wife and son, a nice apartment, and a job in a large accounting office. Unexpectedly, just before his son's first communion, Michal is sent by his employer to his home town to pick up a car imported from the USA. He goes reluctantly, hoping the business is carried out quickly. Michal picks up the car, but before leaving town he visits his father, with whom he's been in bitter conflict for years. At his wife's request, he invites his father to their son's first communion. The father rejects the invitation and the conversation ends in a quarrel. After this visit, an upset Michal gets into the car. His plans of a quick return are thwarted on the spot, however. Things take a different turn. There is a car accident and Michal has to stay in town a couple of days longer. He has to wait.
As he walks through the city streets, he encounters people he used to be close with, but who he left several years ago; he visits familiar places, so important for him in the past. Something awakens inside him during this trip; something he had long forgotten about. He tries to fight it. A banal trip turns into an emotional journey towards a life he no longer remembered.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT
“Erratum is a film born out of a form. First, there were images – impressionist, blurred, rough. Then a story comes out of those images. A young man walking around the town he cannot leave. Soon it becomes clear why he cannot leave it. Why he has come here in the first place. Who he is and what he is experiencing. The protagonist has been plucked out of everyday life, from a safe, prosperous life. Only after changing his perspective is he able to perceive the crisis he is in, the emptiness that has become a part of him.
Walking around the town where he was born, he meets people he used to be close with and visits familiar places. He hears a lively voice he has not heard in a long time. He decides to follow it. At first, the protagonist is hardly able to act. He performs some of his moves automatically, but the motivation to act slowly grows in him. A genuine action appears, thanks to which the protagonist finds enough strength to face his hardest issues. Erratum is a film in which the atmosphere plays an important role. The atmosphere is almost the character of the film. An element significantly affecting the plot.
One of the thoughts from the early work on the script of Erratum was ascertaining the sometimes hardly noticeable phenomenon of abandoning that self particle that once shaped us, which is responsible for our rapacity, intransigence, but also for great sensitivity, for the direct, almost magical perception of reality, in order to gain more luxury, comfort and convenience.
Erratum is also a story about very humanlike familiar issues, about love and friendship, about not being a rebel anymore, about overcoming weaknesses.
Although the film raises difficult and sometimes painful questions, there is a lot of good humour and lightness. It is a film that is enjoyable to watch.”
THE DIRECTOR: MAREK LECHKI
Scriptwriter, director, producer. Born in 1975. Graduate of the Radio and Television University of Silesia in Katowice (directing department). Awarded for short films and documentaries at independent film festivals. His medium length film My Town (2002), produced by TVP (Polish Television) in the series Generation 2000 was awarded at the most important Polish festivals: in Gdynia (Special Jury Prize, Best Screenplay Prize), Koszalin (Best Screenplay Prize), Łagów (Best TV Film), Cracow (Silver Dragon for the best feature film), the Wojciech J.Has Award 2003 and was presented at major international festivals, including Karlovy Vary IFF, Toronto IFF, Palm Springs IFF, Paris IFF, etc. To produce Erratum - his full length feature debut - he established a production company called Harmony Film Production Lechki Marek.
FILMOGRAPHY
2002 The Astronomer (short)
2002 My town
2010 Erratum
AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
2010 Warsaw Film Festival - Competition 1-2: Winner
2010 Pusan IFF - Flash Forward Section: Special Mention of the Jury
2010 Chicago IFF - New Directors Competition: Gold Plaque
2010 Thessaloniki IFF - International Competition: Best Screenplay Award
2010 Gdynia Polish FF: Best Directing Debut 2010, Critics Award For Best Movie, Award of Association of Foreign Organizers of Polish Film Festivals
2010 “Young And Cinema” Debut Films Festival In Koszalin: Critics Award for Best Movie
