“Crossroads”: The Great Comeback of Jan Englert. This is his first major role in years

In “Crossroads”, Jan Englert plays the role of an eighty-year-old retired doctor – Tadeusz, who got into a car accident. A tragic event destroys his life. The incident reveals old cracks in the fifty-year-old hero’s marriage and cracks in his relationship with his son. Highly hidden family secrets will be revealed…

Respected documentary filmmaker Dominika Muntean-Pankoff, in her feature debut, wrote the script under the influence of real events. “I found this story in 2016 in Krakow. To be precise, it was the beginning of this story that found me. A car accident occurred on my street involving an elderly man and a motorcyclist. One of them died and the other survived. I read a lot in the newspaper and could not stop thinking In it after that, I sat down with this beginning of the story in my head, on a bench in Planty Park in Krakow, and wrote in dots what could happen next,” the screenwriter recalls.

In the spring of 2022 in Krakow, she received the ZAiKS Authors’ Association Prize in the Script Pro Competition for the film “The Crossroads”, which was awarded during the Mastercard OFF Camera International Independent Film Festival for “A Modern Look at the Polish Cinema Congress”. Moral anxiety.” By that time, she had already spoken with the dean of theater and film, Jan Englert, the long-time director of the National Theater in Warsaw, to whom she offered the lead role. “It became clear almost after the first meeting that I had written this role from Just postpone it. He did not play Tadeusz, he was Tadeusz.”

The first slap on the group took place a year ago – on May 9, 2023 in Warsaw.

For Jan Englert, this is the first lead role in a film production in years. He made his big screen debut nearly 70 years ago – with a role in Andrzej Wajda’s film ‘Kanal’ at just 14 years old. Today his cinematic achievements number more than a hundred titles, including titles such as “Doctor Judym” directed by Włodzimierz Haupe, “Akcja pod Arsenal”, “Wielka sypa” and “Szczur” – all directed by Jan Omnicki, and “The Magnate Directed by Philip. Pajun, “Marriage Comedy” by Roman Zalewski, two parts of “Kilera” and “Embassada” by Juliusz Machulski, as well as “Satarak” and “Katyń” by Andrzej Wojda. Throughout his career, he has been associated with the capital’s contemporary, national (since 2003) and Polish theatres, where he has created many outstanding roles and directed a number of excellent performances. However, his greatest popularity was achieved through his roles in the following serials: “Polish Roads” by Janusz Morgenstern, “Nights and Days” by Jerzy Antczak, “Lalka” by Ryszard Behr, “Rudzina Polanikić” by Jan Rybkowski and “Mothers, Wives and Lovers” by Julius Machulski .

On the set of the last production he had the opportunity to perform with him Anna RomantowskaWho plays the wife of the main character in the movie “The Crossroads.” Dominika Montean-Pańków’s film crew also included, among others: Michal Czernicki, Martina Pieczkowska, Aleksandra Poplawska, Maria Kowalska, Filip Jorlacz, Marek Kalita I Robert Chibotar.

“This return to working in front of the camera, the collaboration with the filmmakers, the exceptional care and kindness shown by the production team – something I rarely see in my artistic career – the joy of ‘building’ the character of a hero close to me – I will do it.” “I remember it as one of the most important events of my professional career,” Jan Englert said in an interview with SFP magazine in September 2023.

He is responsible for the “Crossroads” pictures. Bartosz Sviniarski (“Silent Land,” “Oblivion”), for set design Aniela Dyboska. Characterization is a work of art Ewa Szod (“Woman on the Roof”, “Because There’s Sex in Me”), and fashion – Zofia Bebeg (“Sweet End of the Day”).

Currently, Dominika Muntean Pankow’s film has reached the final post-production stage and is being submitted to film festivals in Poland and abroad. Expected premiere is fall 2024.

The producer of the film “Crossroads” is Munk Studio, which operates within the Polish Filmmakers Association. Co-producers are CANAL+ Polska, a documentary and feature film studio, and Beata Ścibakówna. The film received support from the Polish Film Institute. It is also jointly financed by European funds and the local government of the Kujavian-Pomerania Voivodeship.