Studio Babelsberg congratulates Roman Polanski on the Tribute Award which he had already received two years ago and was now able to accept in person at the Zurich Film Festival last night. The award ceremony was followed by the world premiere of the surprise film Roman Polanski - A Film Memoir, a documentary about Roman Polanski's life, which was made with significant support from Studio Babelsberg. Roman Polanski has close connections with the studio, having made the three-time Oscar winner THE PIANIST at Studio Babelsberg in 2001 and THE GHOSTWRITER in 2009.
The biographical documentary Roman Polanski - A Film Memoir spotlights the life and work of Roman Polanski. Over the course of a total 15 hours of interviews, the exceptional director looks back on his own life and gives his view of events to Andrew Braunsberg, a friend of many years and the producer of his films from the 70's like Macbeth, What? and The Tenant. The result is a film which, for the first time, makes Polanski's whole life and achievements as a filmmaker comprehensible in a feature-length biographical documentary.
Roman Polanski is one of the outstanding directors of the present day and we congratulate him on the honorary award for his life's work. The documentary by Andrew Braunsberg is an exciting 90-minute biography whose drama, emotionality and entertainment draws from Roman Polanski's extraordinary life story.
Charlie Woebcken
CEO of Studio Babelsberg
Co-producer of the documentary
The at times extremely emotional interview scenes were shot during Roman Polanski's house arrest in Gstaad/Switzerland. The sequences are illustrated with excerpts from his films, moving images from contemporary news programmes and TV magazine features as well as photographs which place his accounts into a chronological and thematic context.
Charlie Woebcken, CEO of Studio Babelsberg AG and co-producer of the documentary: „Roman Polanski is one of the outstanding directors of the present day and we congratulate him on the honorary award for his life's work. The documentary by Andrew Braunsberg is an exciting 90-minute biography whose drama, emotionality and entertainment draws from Roman Polanski's extraordinary life story.“
Roman Polanski - A Film Memoir is an Andrew Braunsberg production, executive producer Timothy Burrill, director Laurent Bouzereau, director of photography Pawel Edelmann. Charlie Woebcken, Christoph Fisser and Henning Molfenter of Studio Babelsberg and Luca Barbareschi are co-producers. Studio Babelsberg will market the film in the German-speaking territories (Germany/ Austria/ Switzerland).
