01/07/2022 - The sophomore oeuvre by Paweł Maślona follows the life of Poland’s 18th-century national hero Tadeusz Kościuszko and is said to be a “story of violence”

Director Paweł Maślona on the set of Scarborn (© Łukasz Bąk)

Looking again at Paweł Maślona’s first film, the successful, multi-character, black comedy Panic Attack [+see also:
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interview: Pawel Maslona
film profile], it might suggest that his upcoming effort, Scarborn, will be anything but a classical period biopic. The titular Kos is Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Polish national hero and the leader of the 1794 uprising against the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia that happened after the Second Partition of Poland. A year later, the Third Partition of Poland wiped the country off the political map for 123 years.

Before fighting for Poland’s independence, Kościuszko took part in the American Revolutionary War and was appointed a brigadier general by the Continental Congress in 1783. However, his military career is not the focus of Maślona’s Scarborn, which is billed as a vengeance film, a black comedy and a drama.

Kościuszko (Leave No Traces [+see also:
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interview: Jan P Matuszyński
film profile]’ Jacek Braciak), accompanied by a friend and former slave Domingo (Straight Outta Compton’s Jason Mitchell), is preparing to instigate an uprising against the Russian Empire’s forces. He is chased by Russian officer Dunin (Robert Więckiewicz), who wants to stop Kościuszko’s rebellion before it even starts. The other leading character in the film is young peasant Ignac (Corpus Christi [+see also:
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interview: Bartosz Bielenia
interview: Jan Komasa
film profile]’s Bartosz Bielenia), who needs to prove his noble origins in order to receive his huge inheritance. As actor Bielenia tells Gazeta Wyborcza, all characters apart from Kościuszko and Domingo are fictitious. The film is said to be a “story of violence”, that ever-present scourge of Poland’s history and present day.

The cast also includes Agnieszka Grochowska (Fucking Bornholm [+see also:
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interview: Anna Kazejak
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interview: Tomasz Wasilewski
film profile]) and Andrzej Seweryn (The Netflix series Queen). The script was written by Michał A Zieliński, and Piotr Sobociński Jr (The Wedding Day [+see also:
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interview: Wojciech Smarzowski
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interview: Dawid Ogrodnik
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interview: Maciej Bochniak
film profile], Leave No Traces), are the movie’s producers, together with German-based Daniel Baur and K5 International (The Coldest Game [+see also:
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interview: Łukasz Kośmicki
film profile]), which also handles the film’s world rights. Scarborn is the first Polish original production by the Viaplay platform. The local distributor is Kino Świat, and the domestic theatrical release is scheduled for 2023.