Poland Submits Cannes Jury Prize Winner ‘EO’ To International Oscar Race

Poland has selected Jerzy Skolimowski’s Cannes-winning title EO as its official submission to the International Oscar race this year.

The movie had its premiere in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize and the Soundtrack award and it’s set to screen in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the Toronto International Film Festival next month and is part of the New York Film Festival’s main lineup.

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EO marks Moonlighting helmer Skolimowski’s first project in seven years and follows the travels of a nomadic gray donkey named EO. After being removed from the traveling circus, which is the only life he’s ever known, EO begins a trek across the Polish and Italian countryside, experiencing cruelty and kindness in equal measure, all the while observing the follies and triumphs of humankind.

During his travels, he is both helped and hindered by a cast of characters that includes a young Italian priest (Lorenzo Zurzolo), a Countess (Isabelle Huppert) and a rowdy Polish soccer team. Skolimowski puts the viewer in the perspective of its four-legged protagonist, speaking to the world around us, societal ills and serving as a warning to the dangers of neglect and inaction all while on a quest for freedom.

The film is loosely impsired by Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar. Skolimowski and Ewa Piaskowska wrote and produced the title. Michal Dymek is the cinematographer and the project is scored by Pawel Mykietyn. HanWay films is handling world sales for the title and Jeremy Thomas is exec producer.

Ewa Puszczyńska, chairman of the Polish Oscars Commission said: “EO is emotional, great cinema. It moves and makes you reflect deeply on the condition of the modern world.”

Sideshow and Janus Films, who partnered on the release of last year’s International Oscar winner Drive My Car, are set to release the title in the U.S. with a New York release on November 18, followed by a December 2 release in Los Angeles before a national rollout.

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