The latest film by the Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski, which won the special jury award at this year’s Venice Film Festival, has gone on general release in Poland.

The premiere screening of Essential Killing in Warsaw was attended by the director and the famous actress Emmanuelle Seigner, who appears as the only female character.

Vincent Gallo, who plays the main role in the film, received the ‘Best Actor Award’ in Venice. He portrays the character of a Taliban fighter who
is taken prisoner by Americans for killing three US soldiers.

During his transfer through Eastern Europe he escapes and embarks on a bloody fight for survival. Essential Killing is a Polish-Hungarian-Norwegian-Irish production.

Skolimowski has many internationally-acclaimed films to his credit, made both in Poland and abroad, such as Walkover (1965), Barrier (1966), Le depart (1967), Deep End (1970), King, Queen, Knave (1972), The Shout (1978) and Moonlighting (1982). In 2008, he returned to film-making after a lapse of seventeen years with a highly successful Four Nights with Anna. (mk)