LEAVE NO TRACES

ŻEBY NIE BYŁO ŚLADÓW

Directed by Jan P. Matuszyński
Poland, France, Czech Rep | ca. 160 min. | 2021 | political thriller | Polish

Poland, 1983. The country is shaken by the case of Grzegorz Przemyk – a high school student beaten to death by militia. Based on true events, the film follows the story of Jurek – the only witness of the beating, who overnight became the number one enemy of the state. The oppressive regime used its whole apparatus – the secret service, militia, the media and the courts – to squeeze Jurek and other people close to the case, including his parents and Przemyk’s mother, Barbara.

Credits

Director: Jan P. Matuszyński
Screenplay: Kaja Krawczyk-Wnuk
Cinematography: Kacper Fertacz
Editing: Przemysław Chruścielewski
Production Design: Paweł Jarzębski
Sound Design: Dreamsound

Cast: Tomasz Ziętek, Sandra Korzeniak, Jacek Braciak, Agnieszka Grochowska, Mateusz Górski, Robert Więckiewicz, Aleksandra Konieczna, Adam Bobik, Tomasz Kot

Production Company: Aurum Film (Leszek Bodzak & Aneta Hickinbotham)
Co-production Companies: Les Contes Modernes, Arte France Cinéma, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes-Cinéma, Canal+, Background Films, Magiclab, Czech Television, Mazovia Warsaw Film Fund
With support of: Polish Film Institute, Région Provence-Alpes-Côte D’azur, Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
In partnership with: Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée and Czech Film Fund

Jan P. Matuszyński
Poland

Festivals & Awards

Venice Film Festival – Official Competition
Trieste Film Festival
Palm Springs International Film Festival

press quotes

No background knowledge of these players is needed to savor Leave No Traces; the film never morphs into a history lesson. At its best, it thrums with an incendiary fury that brought me back to Costa-Gavras’s Z, another cry of rage and a fulminating investigation into a country’s shady past… bursts with the fury of an unavenged crime… Matuszyński keeps a point of view above the events, and there’s something admirable in his implacable commitment to leave no stones unturned… the fervor Leave No Traces brims with is universal, its plea for justice ever topical. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one thinking of George Floyd as the end credits rolled.

Leonardo Goi – MUBI Notebook

Icy political thriller that envelops the viewer bit by bit and never lets go…The title alludes to the perfect work of the agents, who hit without leaving traces. But the film also does its job well. And it is just the opposite.

Tommaso Koch – El Pais

Matuszynski confirms himself as one of the most interesting directors of the new Polish cinema. Shot with a hand-held camera that is constantly attached to the characters, “Leave No Traces” is a strong indictment that brings to life with great realism a highly dramatic period.

Andrea Chimento – Il Sole 24 Ore

The film is undeniably a tour de force in execution… The story’s outcome undeniably hits hard, and viewers worldwide will appreciate the evident parallels with the deaths of George Floyd and other victims of police brutality worldwide.

Jonathan Romney – Screen International

New Europe Nabs World Rights to Jan P. Matuszynski’s ‘Leave No Traces’

Trailer

Presskit (PDF)

ŻEBY NIE BYŁO ŚLADÓW_LEAVE NO TRACES_Ernest Nita_Mateusz Górski_Tomasz Ziętek_fot. Łukasz Bąk_0093small

LEAVE NO TRACES_Still_4_Feat._Sandra Korzeniak_Photo©Łukasz Bąk

LEAVE NO TRACES_Still_1_Feat._Tomasz Ziętek_Photo©Łukasz Bąk

LEAVE NO TRACES_Still_2_Feat._Dariusz Chojnacki_Tomasz Ziętek_Ewelina Stryjenki_Andrzej Nejman_Photo©Łukasz Bąk