A JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI FILM

From the acclaimed director of E S S E N T I A L K I L L I N G (Venice Grand Jury Prize)M O O N L I G H T I N G (Cannes Best Screenplay)T H E D E PA R T U R E (Berlin Golden Bear)T H E S H O U T (Cannes Grand Jury Prize) and T H E L I G H T S H I P (Venice Special Jury Prize/Best Director)

S Y N O P S I S

A jealous husband out of control, his sexy actress wife, a sleazy Hollywood director,

a reckless drug messenger, a disoriented young woman, an ex-con hot dog vendor,

a troubled student on a mysterious mission, a high-rise window cleaner on an illicit

break, an elderly sketch artist, a hectic paramedics team and a group of hungry nuns.

A cross-section of contemporary urbanites whose lives and loves intertwine. They live

in an unsure world where anything could happen at any time. An unexpected chain of

events can seal many fates in a mere 1 1 minutes.

C O M M E N T S F R O M J E R Z Y S K O L I M O W S K I

N O T H I N G I S C E R T A I N

We tread on thin ice. We walk the edge of the abyss. Around every corner lurks

the unforeseen, the unimaginable. The future is only in our imagination. Nothing is

certain - the next day, the next hour, even the next minute. Everything could end

abruptly, in the least expected way.

C Y B E R C E M E T E R Y

I had this idea that the prologue would be something akin to a cyber cemetery

for our characters. We shot the opening sequence using common tools: a phone

camera, a computer camera, a closed-circuit camera. I wanted to convey the feeling

of intimacy, immediacy and the truth of authentic source material. The original

concept involved having to do with simple, innocent objects outliving us – like your

wallet surviving an airplane crash in which you yourself perish. Today, with social

media so prevalent, you might say a significant part of our afterlife is realized in the

form of photographs or video footage existing independently in cyber space, or

(paradoxically) in some “cloud.”

T H E U N D E R L I N I N G P A S S A G E O F T I M E

In my initial idea for the film, time played an instrumental role. The script was written

with rigid constraints in mind. I measured the action of the characters methodically

and intended to present each story in real-life time. The action was to be contained,

precisely, within 1 1 minutes, between 17:00 and 17:1 1 . In the final shape of the film,

loosening this rigidity of structure turned out to be more compelling. One can

still, I hope, sense the underlining passage of time, but it is not instrumental to the

emotional perception of the story. I ended up opting for the metaphor.

T H E N U M B E R 1 1

On a purely aesthetical level, the symmetry and simplicity of the number 1 1 somehow

appeals to me. I’m sure the number itself has some numerolological connotations, but

honestly speaking, I never much cared to look into that.

T H E B A N A L A N D T H E P O I G N A N T

I’ve always found constraints to be stimulating. In the case of 1 1 M I N U T E S , this

additionally freed me from having to deal with conventional narrative devices. I really

wasn’t interested in following character arches or motivations, presenting plausible

storylines and plot points, or thinking in terms of beginning, middle and end. My

focus was on seeing my characters through a continuous series of almost abstract

moments, as accidental and banal – or poignant – as only life can be. I enjoyed this

strange mixture of the meaningful and the meaningless, of the relevant and the

irrelevant. I was curious to see how the two blend together.

B E T W E E N O R D E R A N D C H A O S

We shot 1 1 M I N U T E S primarily in Warsaw, plus a week of shooting on the stage

in Dublin and another week on the stage at Alvernia Studios near Cracow. The key to

the selection was always pure production pragmatism. As to the location in Warsaw –

we have indeed considered all of the major squares here. We chose the location

eventually seen in the film, Plac Grzybowski, because it provided the most jarring

contrast between the old and the new, between order and chaos, the beautiful and

the ugly. The square itself, or ideed the city, is never named (and there is no reason

it should be), but I hope the location somehow conveys the experience of jagged,

dynamic crossroads. With the unexpected lurking behind every corner. The character,

as well as the common expectation of “Polishness,” are changing. Poland has over the

course of the past twenty years really undergone a dramatic change.

J E R Z Y S K O L I M O W S K I

1 1 M I N U T E S is Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski’s new feature. His last film,

E S S E N T I A L K I L L I N G won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Venice Film

Festival, Best Film in Mar del Plata (Argentina), as well as several Polish Academy

Awards (Golden Eagle).

With over 20 films to his name, Skolimowski’s work includes the Berlin Golden Bear

winner L E D E PA R T , Cannes Grand Prize winner T H E S H O U T , Cannes Best

Screenplay winner and political drama M O O N L I G H T I N G , Venice Fest Best

Director/Special Jury Prize winner T H E L I G H T S H I P , and the 2008 thriller F O U R N I G H T S W I T H A N N A , which opened the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and

won the Grand Jury Prize in Tokyo.

Early in his career, Skolimowski was a writer on Roman Polanski’s 1962 classic

K N I F E I N T H E WAT E R . As an actor, Skolimowski has appeared in E A S T E R N P R O M I S E S , B E F O R E N I G H T FA L L S , M A R S AT TA C K S and T H E AV E N G E R S . He is also an accomplished painter who has participated in the Venice

Biennale and other exhibitions across Europe and the US.

F I L M O G R A P H Y

2015 1 1 M I N U T E S / 1 1 M I N U T

Director / Producer / Screenwriter

2010 E S S E N T I A L K I L L I N G

Director / Producer / Screenwriter

2008 F O U R N I G H TS W I T H A N N A / C Z T E RY N O C E Z   A N N Ą

Director / Producer / Screenwriter

1991 3 0 D O O R K E Y / F E R DY D U R K E

Director / Producer / Screenwriter / Actor

1989 TO R R E N T S O F S P R I N G

Director / Screenwriter / Actor

1985 T H E L I G H T S H I P

Director / Screenwriter

1984 S U C C E S S I S T H E B E S T R E V E N G E

Director / Producer / Screenwriter

1982 M O O N L I G H T I N G

Director / Screenwriter / Actor  

1981 H A N D S U P / R Ę C E D O G Ó RY

Director / Screenwriter / Actor

1978 T H E S H O U T Director / Screenwriter

1972 K I N G , Q U E E N , K N AV E

Director

1970 D E E P E N D

Director / Screenwriter

1970 T H E A DV E N T U R E S O F G E R A R D

Director

1968 D I A LO G U E (segment “The Twenty-Year-Olds”) Director / Screenwriter

1967 T H E D E PA R T U R E / L E D E PA R T

Director / Screenwriter

1966 B A R R I E R / B A R I E R A Director / Screenwriter

1965 WA L KOV E R / WA L KOW E R

Director / Screenwriter / Actor

1964 I D E N T I F I C AT I O N M A R K S : N O N E / RYS O P I S

Director / Screenwriter / Actor

S K O P I A F I L M

was established in 2007 by Jerzy Skolimowski and Ewa Piaskowska. The company

produced the last three Skolimowski titles: F O U R N I G H T S W I T H A N N A ,

E S S E N T I A L K I L L I N G and 1 1 M I N U T E S and was involved as co-producer

in several independent Polish productions. Skopia Film also co-organizes the Poland

Film Festival in Japan.

E L E M E N T P I C T U R E S

Element Pictures is run by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, with offices in

Dublin and London, working across production, distribution, and exhibition. Element

Pictures Distribution also handles Studio Canal’s slate in Ireland as well as direct

acquisitions. Element Pictures operates an online video on demand platform, Volta.ie,

which focuses on the finest of Irish and international films. Additionally, Element runs

and operates the Light House Cinema, one of Dublin’s premiere art house cinemas.

1 1 M I N U T E S

M A I N C A S T

Film Director R I C H A R D D O R M E RHusband WOj C I E C H M E C WA L D OWS K IWife PAU L I N A C H A P KOHot Dog Vendor A N D R Z E j C H Y R ACourier DAW I D O G R O D N I KFemale Climber AG ATA B U Z E KMale Climber P I OT R G ŁOWAC K IDoctor A N N A M A R I A B U C Z E KPainter jA N N OW I C K IBoy ŁU K A S Z S I KO R AGirl with a Dog I F I U D EHer Ex-Boyfriend M AT E U S Z KO Ś C I U K I E W I C ZWoman in Labor G R A Ż Y N A B Ł Ę C K A- KO L S K ADying Man jA N U S Z C H A B I O R

M A I N C R E W

directed by j E R Z Y S KO L I M OWS K Iscreenplay by j E R Z Y S KO L I M OWS K Idirector of photography M I KO Ł A j Ł E B KOWS K I P S Cmusic PAW E Ł M Y K I E T Y Neditor AG N I E S Z K A G L I ń S K A P S Msound R A D O S Ł AW O C H N I O production designer j OA N N A K AC Z Y ń S K A WOj C I E C H ŻO G A Ł Acostume designer K A L I N A L AC Hmake-up designer A N N A N O B E L- N O B I E L S K A

production manager A N D R Z E j S T E M P OWS K I DA R I U S Z K ŁO D OWS K IVFX A LV E R N I A S T U D I O S P L AT I G E I M AG E

P R O D U C T I O N

produced by E WA P I A S KOWS K A j E R Z Y S KO L I M OWS K Iexecutive producer j E R E M Y T H O M A Sexecutive producers A N D R E W LOW E E D G U I N E Y E I L E E N TA S C A M A R E K Ż Y D OW I C Zproduced by S KO P I A F I L M (Poland) E L E M E N T P I C T U R E S (Ireland)in co-production with H B O E U R O P E O R A N G E P O L S K A S . A . T V P S . A . F U N DAC jA T U M U LTco-financed by T H E P O L I S H F I L M I N S T I T U T E Bord Scannán na hÉireann / T H E I R I S H F I L M B OA R D E U R I M AG E Sworld sales H A N WAY F I L M S

T E C H N I C A L D E T A I L S

2 0 1 5 P O L A N D / I R E L A N D 8 1 M I N U T E S CO LO R , D C P I N P O L I S H & E N G L I S H

1 1 M I N U T E S was shot in Poland and in Ireland

EUROPE EUROPE

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Front cover by W I L H E L M S A S N A L