Submit your film to festival

BIKINI BLUE

Synopsis: 

Great Britain, 1953. Cold War lasts despite the summer. Stalin is dead, the British just finished celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, cinema halls are possessed by “The War of the Worlds”. 

30 years old Dora Szumski is an English woman married to a Polish immigrant Eryk. He is a former Polish Military officer for whom the existing power balance doesn't leave much choice. He can either be sentenced to death in his homeland or be an immigrant. After a failed suicide attempt he stays in Mabledon Park – a mental hospital for Polish ex-soldiers traumatized by the war. 

Dora does not only sense what is the secret behind Eryk's illness. She also has some proof... But the supervisor of the unit – dr Lipman stops her from starting such serious talk with her husband. Dora, full of anxiety, drops her son Paul off at her sister's Sara and starts her old, worn-out motorcycle to visit her husband in the asylum.

The long expected encounter of spouses doesn't end in the hospital. Eryk runs away and turns up in a wayside inn rescuing his surprised wife from trouble. She wants her husband to immediately go back to the hospital, but finally agrees to go with him to the movies. Not aware of the deception, drugged with psychotropes she allows Eryk to kidnap her to a desolated sea shore. 

It won't be just peaceful and romantic evening on the beach - we are following Dora’s trip into the heart of her husband’s mystery.

Runtime: 
87 min
English subtitle: 
Yes
Information for the Audience: 

written and directed by: Jarek Marszewski

produced by: Juliusz Machulski

cast: Lianne Harvey, Tomasz Kot, Ruby Bentall, Lee Ross, Tilly Gaunt, Lech Mackiewicz

director of photography: Jacek Podgórski

 

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT: 

The immigrant’s fate has long been a stigma for many nations.  Along decades Great Britain has become a new home for people from all continents. The times in which “Bikini Blue” is set have seen nearly a quarter of a million Poles - traumatised by war and politics - find shelter and start a new life in the British Islands. For most of them it meant a journey to an unknown planet. It is the life in the “alien world” and an “interplanetary”, English-Polish love tale, that this story is about. 

Dora, a young English woman, and Eryk, a Polish exile, are a married couple. Their marriage, though fulfilling and happy, is torn by Eryk’s sickness and his rebounding past that has been concealed from his wife and repressed by his own mind. “All swindlers upon earth are nothing to the self-swindlers” - Eryk tried to be one. 

Dora and Eryk try to redeem their once “stolen” future.  This story is about the curse of a double life, which can be pieced together only through honest truth and with the help of someone close. After all, Dickens wrote that “love is in all things the most wonderful teacher”. “Bikini Blue” is a tale of love and madness in the times of Cold War.

Jarek Marszewski

Screenings / Awards: 

GRAND PRIX - SCRIPT PRO - Polish Screenplay Competition

19.04.2017 - Warsaw - Polish Premiere

9.07.2017 - Madrid IFF - 4 nominations: Best Director, Best Lead Actress, Best Suppurting Actress, Best Cinematography  

Directed by: 
Jarek Marszewski
Writing credits: 
Jarek Marszewski
Cast: 
Lianne Harvey, Tomasz Kot, Ruby Bentall, Lee Ross, Tilly Gaunt, Lech Mackiewicz
Produced by: 
Juliusz Machulski
Music by: 
Bartosz Chajdecki
Cinematography by: 
Jacek Podgórski
Film Editing by: 
Jaroslaw Kamiński
Casting by: 
Ewa Łepecka Agnieszka Kik - Czapla
Art Direction by: 
Kasia Filimoniuk
Set Decoration by: 
Karina Baranówna
Costume Design by: 
Barbara Sikorska - Bouffał
Makeup Department: 
Tomasz Matraszek
Production Management: 
Andrzej Besztak
Release Date: 
Friday, April 21, 2017
Total votes: 74456

Subtitles: