In its continued bid to provide compelling, artist-forward stories, WarnerMedia OneFifty has acquired the Oscar-nominated live action short, THE DRESS, to stream exclusively on HBO Max starting this month. The film is written and directed by Tadeusz Łysiak, a student at the Warsaw Film School and is nominated in the Best Live Action Short Film category for the 94th Academy Awards®.
The film is a poignant story about short-statured protagonist, Julia, who struggles with social rejection and bullying as she looks for love and intimacy while working at a roadside motel. Julia doesn’t want to suppress her desire, sexuality, and longing for physical intimacy and when a handsome truck driver comes into her life, her unrealized fantasies begin to come true. THE DRESS is not just the story of a woman meeting a man. It is a universal story about longing that affects everyone, regardless of the barriers and differences that divide us.
“We forget that we are all made of the same clay and that we all need love,” says director, Tadeusz Łysiak. “The world is full of lonely people who were doomed for this loneliness, even though, they do not deserve it. I hope our film will bring the audience’s attention to this issue and allow us to stop looking at ourselves only in the context of our looks, the shapes of our faces, our height, weight or other physical aspects.”
Actress Anna Dzieduszycka hopes that her role will be one step toward changing the perception of individuals like her on screen. “I wish people would stop using the word ‘otherness,’ become more open-minded, and embrace diverse viewpoints. Looks don’t matter. We all have magic inside us,” says Anna Dzieduszycka. Her acting has been recognized at many festivals in Poland and abroad. Anna’s awards include the Grand Prize for Best Actress at Flicker’s Rhode Island International Film Festival in the U.S.
The story told in THE DRESS reflects the condition of society, as it relates to artificially created beauty standards. The film is also giving a platform to women with disabilities that have experienced abuses. The University of Michigan says that 40% of women with disabilities are sexually or physically assaulted during their lifetimes.
“Can you imagine that? And this topic is not being discussed out loud!” says Łysiak “That’s why we decided to tell a story about this horrifying data.”
This is the second Academy Award® nomination for the Warsaw Film School, an educational institution located in the heart of Europe, that served as the film’s producer. THE DRESS has screened at nearly 40 film festivals around the world and has won 19 awards. Winning the prestigious Atlanta Film Festival qualified the film to compete for an Academy Award® nomination.
The creative team is composed mainly of students and graduates of the Warsaw Film School. This includes the director, who participated in the prestigious program FUTURE FRAMES – Generation NEXT of European Cinema within Eastern Promises at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and cinematographer Konrad Bloch who was recognized for his work as a cameraman on the set of THE DRESS at the 45th Gdynia Film Festival where he won the award for Best Cinematography.
The film is produced by director and screenwriter Maciej Ślesicki who is the co-founder and Chancellor of the Warsaw Film School. He is the producer of many student films, including OUR CURSE which was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary (Short Subject) in 2015. Dobro, Milo and Glosno served as co-producers for the project which was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. Salaud Morisset is responsible for international distribution and sales. THE DRESS is the only Academy Award® nominated production from Poland this year.
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