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Ariztical has taken North American rights to “All Our Fears,” a gay drama based on the life of Polish artist Daniel Rycharski that won the top prize at last year’s Gdynia Film Festival. Variety has been given exclusive access to the film’s international trailer.

“All Our Fears” tells the story of Daniel (Dawid Ogrodnik), a young artist torn between his small village community, urban art galleries, the Catholic Church and his gay identity. When his lesbian friend (Agata Labno) commits suicide after suffering from homophobic heckling, Daniel’s life mission becomes the redemption of his community through a towering work of art. Meanwhile, he struggles not to lose Olek (Oskar Rybaczek), a local man he loves who isn’t able to embrace his sexuality.

The film is written and directed by Łukasz Ronduda and co-directed by Łukasz Gutt. It’s produced by Kuba Kosma, who collaborated with Ronduda...

The 55th edition of the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival returned to life in a fully live format Friday after a year-long Covid-forced break, with its traditional rousing dance numbers and a lifetime achievement Crystal Globe for Michael Caine.

The versatile two-time Oscar winner prompted his third standing ovation from the audience packed into the fest’s Grand Hall at the Hotel Thermal when he raised his walking cane from the stage in thanks to his fans.

Saying he began his actor’s journey as “a nobody from nowhere who knew nothing,” Caine told the crowd, “You’ve given me an award for something I love doing.” Fest president Jiri Bartoska honored him with what the actor called the heaviest prize he’s ever tried to lift at an upbeat ceremony featuring elaborate choreography themed around the 1960s U.S. pop song “Popcorn,” with dancers whirling discs that riffed on...

After years of frustration with the course of the country’s politics, Poland’s labor minister has all but thrown in the towel. An idealist at heart, she’s ready to resign when an unexpected controversy opens the door for her to rise to the very top of the political establishment. The only thing standing in her way? A fiery, rebellious, openly gay chef who’s suddenly captured the minister’s heart. With her political fortunes hanging in the balance, she has to choose between her career and love—even though she manages to win at both in the end.

“Politics of Love” is perhaps not the most conventional romantic comedy to come from Poland, a country whose president, Andrzej Duda, has in recent years decried homosexuality as an “ideology” and made anti-lgbtq rhetoric a central tenet of his ruling Law and Justice Party.

But Joanna Szymanska (pictured), who is...

Fools (Glupcy)

Poland’s Tomasz Wasilewski is about to begin working on his fourth film, the tentatively titled Fools. The Polish-Romanian co-production will be produced by Ewa Puszczynska (of Pawlikowski’s Ida and Cold War) through her own company, Extreme Emotions, co-produced through Romania’s Micro Film. Wasliewski will once again work with Romanian Dp Oleg Muntu, who lensed his 2016 feature The United States of Love. In the cast of his latest is Dorota Pomykała and Łukasz Simlat. Wasilewski’s 2013 film Floating Skyscrapers, one of a handful of Lgbt cinema from Poland, won the East of West award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival (his 2012 debut In a Bedroom also screened there).…...