KATYN

Country:	Poland
Language:	Polish
Duration:	118 minutes
Distributor:	TVP SA
Director:	Andrzej Wajda
Starring:	Artur Zmijewski / Maja Ostaszewska / Andrzej Chyra
Genre:	Drama

Katyn is is a heart-wrenching story of families – wives waiting for husbands, mothers for sons and children for their fathers. It tells the tragedy of a generation, all waiting for their men to come home.

In 1939, after Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland, the Red Army crossed the Polish border, placing all Polish officers under Soviet internment. By the end of October the detained officers were imprisoned in Soviet camps. In the spring of 1940, Stalin ordered some 20,000 Polish POWs to be taken to the forest of Katyn and two other NKVD centres, where they were systematically slaughtered. Director Andrzej Wajda’s father was among them.

In 1943, when the Germany army discovered the mass graves at Katyn, the USSR authorities denied everything, continuing to do so until 1989. All this time, their families waited, hoping the men were still alive. Katyn is a film about an invincible struggle for memory and truth and an uncompromising reckoning with the lies the communist powers created to force Poland to forget those who had been killed.

What the Critics say!

“…master filmmaker Andrzej Wajda vividly and movingly dramatizes one of the last major crimes of World War II” Kirk Honeycutt – hollywoodreporter.com

“Expert cinematography, compelling acting, and a story that leaves the viewer both sorrowful and angry” – The Economist

WINNER: Best Film – Polish Film Awards 2008

WINNER: Best Supporting Actress – Polish Film Awards 2008

WINNER: Best Cinematography – Polish Film Awards 2008

NOMINATED: Best Foreign Language Film, The Oscars® 2008