To kill a beaver

Tramway Film Studio
In Association with Telewizja Kino Polska and Lollipop Films presents
To kill a beaver
a Jan Jakub Kolski film
starring Eryk Lubos, Agnieszka Pawełkiewicz and Aleksandra Michael
Running time 100 min, 35mm, colour, Poland 2012
www.zabicbobra.pl
Filmmakers
Cast
Director — Jan Jakub Kolski
Screenplay — Jan Jakub Kolski
Director of photography — Michał Pakulski
Composer — Dariusz Górniok
Editor — Piotr Kolski
Sound — Jacek Hamela
Art directors — Paulina Korwin-Kochanowska
Urszula Korwin-Kochanowska
Production manager — Marek Bączyk
Producer — Wiesław Łysakowski
Eryk — Eryk Lubos
Bezi — Agnieszka Pawełkiewicz
Hadishka — Aleksandra Michael
Bezi’s father — Marek Kasprzyk
Officer — Mariusz Bonaszewski
Fair-haired man — Mateusz Król
Black-haired man — Daniel Misiewicz
And others
About the film
interlocutor makes sure if Eryk is willing to
take part in the project. He is.
The beavers rebuild the dam. When he
destroys it again, he is surprised by Bezi
(Agnieszka Pawełkiewicz), 17, a pretty girl,
who reproaches him and reminds him that
beavers are endangered species. At first,
Eryk keeps the ball rolling, but when Bezi
turns out to be too presumptuous to his
liking, he unceremoniously orders her out of
his area.
At night, he is haunted by an image from the
past of a winter chase with hounds. Someone
is running across the wood, the dogs bark
like crazy, the snow crunches under army
boots.
Eryk (Eryk Lubos), 37, the lead, has ordinary looks with a face
bearing witness to trials and tribulations throughout his life; his
eyes are tired and faded. We meet him as he is announced to
return to his childhood home, a dilapidated manor house,
inhabited by the local poor after the war.
We discover beavers that have settled in the nearby pond and
ditches, since the place was first deserted. Additionally, one of
the rooms is inhabited by a female teenager.
The man seems to be an electronics fan and installs four small
cameras around the house that transmit the image to his
computer. Via Internet he informs of his readiness to something
we do not know yet („I AM”). We soon hear a phone ring. The
Subsequent phone calls and information
build up an image of mystery incomplete,
misty, with the character of Eryk not clearly
defined. We find out that it concerns hostage
kept in a village in a troubled region of the
world, a definite house and a beautiful, darkhaired woman.
Matters progress until his first serious error
Eryk falls in love with the 17-year-old,
nameless girl.
Synopsis
Eryk dispels the persistent haunting by preparing a mysterious
“action.” In the granary and the pig sty, he puts up dozens of
targets with faces, those of the dark-haired woman prevailing.
Breaking up the dam fixed by beavers again, Eryk notices
movement in the water. He reacts like a real pro, trigger-happy. He
pulls out his Glock from behind his belt and shoots repeatedly at
the water. This is the first time when we learn that Eryk is armed
and uses his gun expertly. Faced with exposure, Eryk begs his
superiors not to cancel the action. He swears never to do it again.
So he is given a chance.
Bezi returns and seduces him, taking advantage of his weakness.
They make love violently and with no holds barred. They seem
rejected by the society on account of their hypersensitivity.
The trial day arrives. Eryk 'rescues' the darkhaired woman from a sorry plight in a
spectacular action in the granary and pig
sty. All the 'human' targets 'perish.' Only
she, the mysterious hostage remains alive.
At the end of the 'action,' Bezi shows up
unexpectedly in the granary. Eryk
involuntarily shoots. The bullet chips away
a splinter of wood right by the face of the
girl. Eryk is enraged. He slaps the terrified
Bezi in the face and orders her out. Then his
regular interlocutor calls. He wants to
cancel the action. Eryk reminds him of an
episode from the past. It transpires that he
saved his life once and now begs him to hold
back the information about his slip-up with
Bezi.
The interlocutor agrees but wants to know if
Eryk will behave professionally in
connection with the girl. Eryk agrees. He
soon finds Bezi at a meeting with her pals,
tears her away from her admirers and takes
her home. It dawns on him that he is unable
to kill the girl. Their romance goes on.
Bezi finds out a trace of the dark-haired
woman in Eryk's past. In a flashback, we
find out that in the next part of the chase
with hounds they caught the getaway,
a dark-haired citizen of Dagestan. Demoted
to a border patrol after his injury in
Afghanistan, he fell head over heels in love
with her. In return, Bezi tells him her story.
From childhood on, her father has molested
her. The locals know about it but do not
react, afraid of his threats. Eryk drives her to
the vicinity of her house and starts to cover
his tracks in the neighborhood. He decides to
give up the action. While he is dismantling
the cameras, he notices Bezi grapple with the
beavers' dam. It turns out, that badly beaten
by her father, now she wants to buy his
favors. He is deeply moved and promises her
he will take a liking to the beavers. Another
outburst of passion follows. The lovers
literally forget of the whole world. They let
themselves and the... beavers live in the state
of unbounded freedom.
One morning, Eryk drives to the
neighborhood of Bezi's house, lures the father
onto the field and brutally kills him. On
return home, he discovers that Bezi has been
kidnapped. Soon his regular interlocutor (his
debtor) calls. He informs Eryk that the action
has been definitely canceled and his location
and deadline will not be changed. It
transpires from their talk that by yielding to
passion, and next murdering Bezi's father,
Eryk condemned the Dagestan hostage to
death. Eryk tries the last resort. He kidnaps a
high intel officer and dumps him into the
cellar under the granary. There, during their
talk, we discover two different versions of
events.
Director’s word
„To kill a beaver” is a movie about love lightheadedness, the passions and paranoia. I placed it
on a razor's edge, on a narrow boundary between
lust and morality. My character thinks that he is in
control of the situation. Discovering - too late - that
he is under the contol of his own, crippled mind.
After making thirteen featured movies, I dreamt
about an adventure in which I would discover
a new me someone I feel and I don't want to resist
anymore. I had been receiving messages about my
„perfect“ workshop with less and less satisfaction,
because these were indeed messages about...
captivity. Therefore I wanted to make a movie
against my own workshop, I wanted to operate the
camera by myself, be as close to the picture as I
possibly could. I hoped that the movie (and myself
along with it) will set up a new appropriate only
for itself language. What are the characters (letters,
sentences) of the language? Roughness, anticalligraphic, dynamic oppositions (fast, slow),
emotional oppostions (intimacy, or the characters
“simultaneous“ extreme emotions).
In the movie “To kill a beaver”, I come back just
like my character to the place of childhood. There
awaits me an old house, pond and a beaver, that
annexed my childhood's native land. I hope that
this meeting generated something, that cannot be
described under the form of a clearly defined
calculation: mystery.
Jan Jakub Kolski, director
Setting
With this movie Jan Jakub Kolski returns to the motherland of his imagination. „To kill a beaver” has been shot in
Popielawy, director's childhood home. It was there that he made his debut fictional movie („Burial of a potatoe”) and
several other.
In his ”History of cinema in Popielawy” he pays tribute to the place and events that formed him.
With the movie „To kill the beaver” he comes back to family places; though long deserted and now inhabited by
beavers those places still provide the movie with the most important thing a mystery.
Characters
Eryk
Bezi
Eryk
37-year-old soldier. A major. Participant
of war operation in Iraq, Afghanistan
and others, of which we will not get to
know. We can only presume from the
bits of information that get to us, as well
as read from a face bearing witness to
trails and tribulations throughout his
life.
He comes to his childhood home in order
to prepare in quiet to his next action.
I turns out he is a bit out of practice,
which he hides from his clients, though
when he has to he grabs his gun
automatically. He is contacted by means
of mysterious parcels and short phone
messages.
Every night he has nightmares. He
dreams of chasing hounds and
sometimes of a beautiful, black-haired
woman. In time we find out that she is the
objective of his next rescue action in
a village on the border of Dagestan.
Bezi
We only know that she is 17 years old because she said so. We do not know her name she did not want to tell. We will call
her Bezi (from „bezimienna” nameless in Polish). Pretty and cheeky an insolent girl from the countryside.
Having run away from her home she decides to live at Eric's house where she decorated one of the rooms her way. She is
a fan of Hello Kitty and everything that is pinkish.
The girl falls in love with Eryk and dicovers traces of his past. She tries to convince Eryk to like beavers that settled at his
place whatever it takes. Her presence is not overlooked by Eryk's clients. In order to avoid deconospiracy the decide to
kill her. Eryk is unable to do that. When he is getting ready to his action Bezi gets kidnapped.
Hadishka
A dark-haired beauty. A mysterious
character that at the beginning appears
only in Eryk's nightmares. In time we
find out that she is taken hostage in
a village on the border of Dagestan.
Moreover, she is the objective of the
heavily prepared rescue action. The
situation is more difficult because of the
fact that Eryk has already met
Hadishka - emotions may disrupt an
unbiased point of view while in the
process of taking back a hostage.
Jan Jakub Kolski
Director
Born on the 29th of january 1956 in Wrocław.
Screenwriter, director, director of photography
(graduated from the CINEMATOGRAPHY
AND TELEVISION PRODUCTION
DEPARTMENT at National Filmschool in Lodz)
writer, Lecturer at the FILM AND TELEVISION
DIRECTING DEPARTMENT at the National
Filmschool in Lodz.
Director of 14 feature movies, over 20 short
movies, 5 TV movies.
Participant of many international film festivals
around the world among them Cannes, Berlin,
Venice, Tokyo, Moscow, New York, Motreal,
Toronto and others.
Frequently awarded and honored around the
world (over 100 times).
Jan Jakub Kolski is an author of „Jancio Wodnik i
inne opowiadania” („Johnnie the Aquarius and
other novels”), „Jadzia i małoludki” („Jackie
and the shortbuddies”), „Kulka z chleba” („Ball
of bread”), „Mikroświaty” („Microworlds”),
„Pamięć podróżna” („Travel memory”) .
A member of European Film Academy.
IMPORTANT SHORT MOVIES:
1982 The most beautiful cave in the world
1983 The little decalogue
1984 I won't make your heart blue
1985 What is your love
1986 The survival school; Palkiewicz got right
1987 The Slavic's dawn
1988 Beautiful day
2005 The great bear a short movie in the „Solidarity, Solidarity”
collection
TV THEATRE PLAYS:
1996 Pawky devil
1997 The tale of a very light bread
1998 Roses island
1999 Little Violins
2001 The camera of the dreams
FEATURE FILMS:
1990 Burial of a potatoe
1992 Pograbek
1993 Magneto
Johnnie Aquarius
1994 Miraculous place
1995 Playing from the plate
The Commanders Sword
1998 History of cinema in Popielawy
2000 Keep away from the window
2003 Pornography
2005 Yasminum
2009 Happy Aphonia
2010 Venice
2012 To kill a beaver
TV FILMS:
2000/2001 Małopole is the world
2002 To see as much as possible
2003 Where are thou Paititi
2004 Between the earth and heaven
2004 Namibia
Important prizes and awards:
The Burial of A Potato
•MFF Cannes (uncertain regard),
•Main Prize (Premio Pegoyu), award
for direction at MFF, Candas.
Pograbek
•Award of East-European Scenario
Foundation for screenplay and
dialogues, FPFF, Gdynia.
Jancio Wodnik
•Special Jury Award, journalist award,
main male character award for
Franciszek Pieczka at FPFF, Gdynia,
•Main Prize, Honorary award at Young
East-European Film Festival at Cottbus;
•Audience award at FFP, Chicago,
•MFF Cannes - un certain regard.
A Miraculous Place
•Award for direction, dialogues,
scenography, artistic form, main female
character to Grażyna Błęcka -Kolska,
supporting male role to Krzysztof
Majchrzak at FPFF, Gdynia;
•Official selection at MFF, Berlin
(Panorama).
Playing from the Plate
•Special Jury Award at MFF, Tokio
•Official selection at MFF, Berlin
(Young Cinema Forum);
•Main Prize, award for direction,
scenography and soundtrack at MFF
Slavic and Orthodox Countries,
Moscow.
The History of Cinema in Popielawy
•Golden Lions - Grand Prix at FPFF,
Gdynia,
•Grand Prix at Alpe Adria Cinema
Festival, Triest,
•Official selection (Panorama) at FF,
Berlin,
•Silver Witeź (II nagroda) at MFF Slavic
Countries, Smoleńsk
•Polish Film Award to the best film,
soundtrack, photography and edition;
•Grand Prix Cinema Tout Ecran,
Genewa.
Keep Away From the Window
•MFF in Istambul Grand Prix and
Film Review Award.
Pornography
•Golden Klakier (audience award) at
Polish Feature Film Festival, Gdynia
•Main male character award to
Krzysztof Majchrzak, supporting male
character to Jan Frycz, soundtrack
award to Zygmunt Konieczny, award
for sound to Jacek Hamela at Polish
Feature Film Festival, Gdynia.
•Chech minister of culture award at 44
MF Children and youth, Zlino (Czech
Republic).
Jasminum
•Main Audience Award at Chciago
Film Festival
•Golden Eagle from Audience
•Golden Eagles for: costumes,
scenography, sound, screenplay,
photography, main male character to
Janusz Gajos.
Venice
•Special Jury Award for outstanding
artistic achievement at World Film
Festiwal, Montreal
•Golden Frog at MFF „Camerimage”.
•Golden Knight award for direction at
MFF, Moscow.
Actors
Eryk Lubos | Eryk
Eryk Lubos (born 1974), movie and theatre actor.
In 1998 he graduated from PWST (public school of
acting) in Wrocław. He worked as an actor for
Współczesny Theatre in Wrocław; now he acts in
Rozmaitości Theatre in Warsaw. A best
supporting actor prizewinner for the movie
„Boisko bezdomnych” at the Polish fictional film
festiwal (2008); he got the Zbyszek Cybulski
award for his part in the movie „Moja Krew”
(2009). He acts in many film and TV productions.
Selected filmography:
2003 Stara baśń. Kiedy Słońce było bogiem
2004 Karol. Człowiek, który został papieżem
2005 Z odzysku
2007 Wszystko będzie dobrze
2008 Boisko bezdomnych
2009 Dom zły
2009 Moja krew
2010 Wenecja
2011 Róża
2012 To kill a beaver.
Agnieszka Pawełkiewicz | Bezi
Agnieszka Pawełkiewicz (born
17. 08.1990). A theatre and TV actress,
a student of PWST in Warsaw. She
debuts in „To kill a beaver” in the
full-length genre. Since 2011 she has
been acting in the TV series
„Ranczo”, since 2012 in „Hotel 52”.
She acted in the theatre plays
„Chopin w Ameryce” (Warsaw
Theatre Academy, 2009) and
„Lorenzaccio” (National Theatre,
Warsaw, 2011).
Aleksandra Michael | Hadishka
Aleksandra Michael (born
19.02.1989). An amateur actress,
a photographer. She graduated
from the Łódź Music School,
primary level; currently a student
of film picture realization, TV and
photography at WSSiP in Łódź. As
a child she acted in TV transmitted
theatre „Kamera marzeń” and in
„Keep away from the window”
directed by Jan Jakub Kolski.
Director of photography
Michał Pakulski
Born on 18.05.1980. A movie operator,
photographer. He graduated from Radio and
TV department at the Krzysztof Kieślowski
Silesia University in Katowice in 2007.
He is the author of cinematography to many
short movies and commercials. Among
others he collaborated with Artur Reinhart
on the movie „Wenecja”, for which got
a Golden Frog for the best cinematography at
MFF Camerimage. He is Jan Jakub Kolski's
nephew.
„To kill a beaver” is his full-length movie
debut.
Filmography:
To kill a beaver (directed by Jan Jakub
Kolski; 2011) cinematography
Venice (directed by Jan Jakub Kolski; 2010)
cinematography 2nd unit
1 000 000 $ (directed by Janusz Kondratiuk;
2010) camera operator
Trzy minuty. 21:37 (directed by Maciej
Ślesicki; 2010) camera operator
Happy Aphonia (directed by Jan Jakub
Kolski; 2009) camera operator
Jasna strona (short movie, directed by
Jagoda Madej; 2007) cinematography
Landryneczka (short movie, directed by
Barbara Białowąs; 2005) cinematography
Solidarność, Solidarność (short movie,
directed by Jan Jakub Kolski; 2005)
cinematography.
Art. directors
Paulina Korwin-Kochanowska
Urszula Korwin-Kochanowska
Twin sisters. Urszula graduated from
University of the Arts London Camberwell
College of Art and Design (2005) and
University of the Arts London Central Saint
Martins College of Art and Design (2008).
Paulina graduated from Łódź Art School.
Both are artists, art directors and founders of
informal group PUL working in Łódź. They
both do drawing, painting, graphics,
photography and pottery.
They actively take part in group exhibitions
and international workshops. They created
scenography for many short movies, theatre
plays and operas.
“To kill a beaver” is their full-length fictional
movie debut.
Filmography Urszula Korwin-Kochanowska:
To kill a beaver (directed by Jan Jakub
Kolski; 2011) scenography,
Tahmasp i Sahmeran (short movie, directed
by Paweł Maj; 2011) scenography,
Kuma San (short movie, directed by
Christian Krohn; 2009) scenography,
costumes,
Sleepwalk (theatre play, directed by Yuan
Shen i Rafaelle Swynghedauw; 2008)
scenography,
Hamlet (opera, directed by Ian MacKenzieThurly; 2008) scenography, costumes.
Filmography Paulina Korwin-Kochanowska:
Być i mieć (short movie, directed by Paweł
Ziemilski, Ireneusz Grzyb; 2011)
scenography, costumes, make-up,
To kill a beaver (directed by Jan Jakub Kolski;
2011) scenography,
Tahmasp i Sahmeran (short movie, directed
by Paweł Maj; 2011) scenography,
Siostra (short movie, directed by Lucia von
Horn Pagano; 2010) scenography, costumes,
Róża (short movie, directed by Lun Lee;
2009) scenography,
Aorta (short movie, directed by Bartek
Żmuda; 2009) scenography.
Music
Dariusz Górniok
A composer, pianist, arranger, lecturer
at the Silesia Univeristy in Katowice.
He graduated fron the Silesia
University and the Jazz and Pop Music
Department of the Musical Academy in
Katowice. He is a versatile creator,
feeling free in both writing choral and
chamber music in the classical music
genre as well as composing jazz and
pop music.
He is the author of theatre and movie
music.
Filmography:
To kill a beaver (directed by Jan Jakub
Kolski 2012) music,
Venice (directed by Jan Jakub Kolski
2010) music,
Happy Aphonia (directed by Jan Jakub
Kolski 2009) music,
Golden horn (directed by Monika
Górska 2007) music,
Officers (directed by Maciej Dejczer)
music, music rendition.
Awards:
2011 Venice, Września (Polish National
Film Festiwal „Prowincjonalia” an
award for music.
TRAMWAY Film Studio has been in existence since
Optimistic Film Festival Happy End in Rzeszów.
May, 2004 . It produces fictional movies, documentaries
Grand Prix V International Young Cinema Festival
and commercials. The owner of the company is Wiesław
Pełny Metraż in Lublin.
Łysakowski, producer and production manager, who
2005 Fale wyjazd — short fictional movie.
graduated from Radio and TV Department at the Silesia
Screenplay and director: Maciej Pisarek.
Univeristy.
Jury's special award at the Houston Festival.
I.A. Fictional movies co-production:
Fictional movies:
2010 Venice —full-length fictional movie.
2013 The Will To Live— full-length fictional movie.
Screenplay and director: Jan Jakub Kolski
Screenplay and director: Maciej Pieprzyca. The movie is
Production: AKSON STUDIO, PISF, TVP, TRAMWAY.
under production. Premiere is due for Autumn, 2013.
2012 To kill a beaver — full-length fictional movie.
Awards (main):
Screenplay and director: Jan Jakub Kolski. Premiere is
due for Autumn, 2012.
Four awards at the Polish Fictional Film Festival in
2011 Three sisters T — full-length fictional movie.
Gdynia:
Screenplay and director: Maciej Kowalewski. Premiere
Jan Jakub Kolski — Studio and local cinemas
is due for Autumn, 2012.
association award.
2010 Prosta historia o miłości — full-length fictional
Artur Reinhart cinematography award.
movie. Screenplay: Maciej Sobieszczański, director:
Joanna Macha scenography award.
Arkadiusz Jakubik.
Marcin Walewski movie debut award.
Awards:
World Film Festival in Montreal Special Jury's Award
First award for Arkadiusz Jakubik at the Polish Fictional
for extraordinary artistic accomplishment
Film Festiwal in the Indie category.
for Jan Jakub Kolski.
Grand Prix Golden Fish for Arkadiusz Jakubik at the
International sales | Producer
Tramway Sp. z o. o.
14/9 Rejtana Street , 02-516 Warsaw, Poland
+48 22 845 03 52, Fax. +48 646 73 40
e-mail: studio@tramway.pl
www.tramway.pl
Wiesław Łysakowski
+48 601 212 743
w.lysakowski@tramway.pl