EO World Cinema

EO

In Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski’s playful tribute to Robert Bresson’s 1966 AU HASARD BALTHAZAR, we experience the kindness and the cruelty of the human world through the melancholic eyes of a donkey. A carnival donkey bonds with a young performer (Sandra Dryzmalska), but is separated from her, when animal rights legislation delivers the braying protagonist to a horse retreat, from which a quiet escape sets off a series of adventures. The beast of burden set free into the world soon finds itself at the mercy of its human inhabitants, passing from person to person. By chance the donkey is briefly appointed soccer mascot, then sent to a salami factory, and somehow falls into the care of an eccentric aristocrat (Isabelle Huppert). Cowritten and produced with Ewa Piaskowska (co-writer FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA), EO is thrilling, confounding and not without humor. Its minimalistic tale is extravagantly and expressionistically conveyed through astoundingly beautiful cinematography and a lush soundscape, deservedly earning it the shared Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. –Malin Kan

Jerzy Skolimowski’s work includes the Berlin Golden Bear winner THE DEPARTURE, Cannes Grand Prix winner THE SHOUT, the political drama MOONLIGHTING and THE LIGHTSHIP, for which he won Best Director at the Venice Film Festival. He has also received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement from the Venice Film Festival.

Kristen Osborne
Variance Films
kristen@variancefilms.com

Details

Country: Poland, Italy

Year: 2022

Director: Jerzy Skolimowski

Screenwriters: Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski

Producers: Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski

Executive Producer: Jeremy Thomas

Director of Photography: Michal Dymek

Editor: Agnieszka Glinska

Production Designer: Miroslaw Koncewicz

Music: Pawel Mykietyn

Cast/Featuring: Sandra Drzymalska, Tomasz Organek, Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, Lorenzo Zurzolo, Isabelle Huppert

Running Time (minutes): 88

Languages: Polish, English, French, Italian

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