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The Real End of the...





Prawdziwy Koniec Zimnej Wojny
Dir. Jerzy Śladkowski | Runtime: 53’ |
Country: Poland | Year: 2011 |
Category: You’r Right: Democracy and Development
Competition: Special Competition of The European Commission
Screenings: 13.11

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The newest film of the author shows how did the Poland’s entrance to NATO look like behind the scenes. Following the June elections and appointing the government of Tadeusz Mazowiecki we regained civil rights. However our polish territory was still stationed by the Russian soldiers and the country was the member of Warsaw Pact Organization. We lacked of sense of security.
The breakthrough came on 12th March 1999. The country got back the security for the first time since 1799. The admittance to the political and military alliance was a proof that Poland is a part of Western Europe and is not dominated by the influence of Russians.
The success in membership was not obvious, though. It was a result of political, diplomatic, lobbying operations made by outstanding people i.e. Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Zbigniew Brzeziński or Jerzy Koźmiński. They put a lot effort to convince American politicians that Poland will not weaken NATO, but will increase the security of alliance members. Some western politicians and experts backed our issues. They were anonymous but very influential. One of them was CIA agent David Forden, who had worked with colonel Kukliński and was conscious and well acquainted with the curse of geopolitical location of Poland. The Kukliński’s issue is well pictured in the movie. Today we can say in public, that explaining the situation of colonel was the condition of America to admit Poland to the Alliance.
The prep of photography took 8 months. The film was shot in Warsaw, Washington, NY, Brussels, Lisbon, Moscow The film is filled with spicy facts that have never been told in public. Śladkowski conversationalists disclosed how did following knots of intertwined interests get untied for the Polish issue to win. The director says: “what we are looking for is accidental events, secret meetings, gaffes, luck of the draw, behind-the scenes talks. Through all of this we can get to the real world policy. We shed light on the influence of the accident, mood, affinity or its lack in the creation of breaking news, but also the importance of intuition, appropriate knowledge on the Polish success ”. We explain step by step the whole process and the sense of all operations involved.
The author emphasizes that in the case of security and foreign policy there was cross party consensus in Poland. Till now there is no serious community which questions benefits of our membership in the Alliance. Scorpio Sudio Productions produces the second film about maxi issues in the convention of dynamic document. The former documentary film of Andrzej Fidyk and Anna Więckowska “Balecoriwcz. Gra o wszystko”/ “Balcerowicz. Jackpot” pictured our land in the face of change from socialistic economy into free market.
„The Real End of The Cold War “ is a documentary political thriller with a happy ending.
Jerzy Śladkowski graduated from the Faculty of Classics at the University in Toruń and the Faculty of Journalism at the Warsaw University. He used to work in Polish TVP as a reporter, than as reports and documentary films producer. In 1982 he moved to Sweden, where he has lived and worked till now. He produces films for Sweden TV and Sweden Film Institute. He works also for Finnish, Danish and Norwegian television. Since 1993 he has worked for German ZDF and ARTE satellite-based program. Since he left Poland, he produced 30 documentary films about social issues. He is interested in people struggling with tough situations of today’s world. He got inspired in the South America, Asia and Africa. After changes that took place after 1989 in Europe, he began to be interested with the Eastern Europe. In 1990 he filmed "Trójkąt śmierci"/ „The triangle of death” about ecologic destructions in the South region of Poland, which received annual award of journalists in Stockholm. The another one, “Vendetta” was about Albania and received an award in the prestige Prix Italia Festival in 1996.
