Agnieszka Holland’s Second World War drama the unanimous decision of the Polish Oscar committee

Agnieszka Holland’s In Darkness has been chosen as Poland’s foreign language Oscar candidate by a board consisting of Dariusz Gajewski (chairman), Michał Chaciński, Agatha Dominik, Sławomir Jóźwik, Krzysztof Kamyszew, Zygmunt Miłoszewski, Agnieszka Odorowicz, Ilona Ostrowska and Paweł Potoroczyn.

The Poland-Germany-Canada co-production tells the story of Leopold Socha, a Polish man who went from smalltime crook to hero during the course of the Second World War when he rescued a number of Jewish refugees in the Nazi-occupied Polish city of Lvov.

Socha was played by Robert Więckiewicz with Agnieszka Grochowska, Kinga Preis, Julia Kijowska, Marcin Bosak and Benno Fürmann co-starring.

Holland previously received an Oscar nomination in the best adapted screenplay category for her film Europa, Europa in 1992, while feature Angry Harvest received a best foreign language nomination in 1986, representing West Germany.

Sony Pictures Classics bought the US rights to the film in February, Kino Świat handles in Poland.

Poland has never won the best foreign language film Oscar. It was last nominated for Andrzej Wajda’s Katyn in 2007.

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