Telford’s newest Cinema will be holding a very special screening this October which will feature a live question and answer session with the film’s Director.
Wellington Orbit Cinema, which opened at the end of June will be hosting the special event on Saturday October 12th.
The multi award winning film, ‘The Last Witness’ will be screened along with a Polish Buffet and a question and answer session afterwards with the Director, Piotr Szopiak.
Piotr told us “I am hugely honoured to be the first director to offer a Q&A session at the Wellington Orbit and hope it will be a popular success and pave the way for many more such events with many more directors in the future as I have found that sometimes the stories behind the making of a film are as interesting if not more so than the films themselves”.
Piotr continued “it is exactly why I wanted to make films in the first place; to create a unique experience which is artistic, entertaining and educational and one that will hopefully engage an audience and stimulate debate”
Piotr was born in England, in 1966 of Polish parents and with no formal training in film and television, The Last Witness is Piotr’s second feature film and was first released in Poland in 2018 on 156 screens.
Sophie Eades, Wellington Orbit’s Chief Officer said “we have planned a very special evening around Piotr’s film. Starting with a Polish Buffet, we will then screen the film and afterwards the audience can ask Piotr questions about the film, his career, or film making in general”.
Sophie continued “this really is a very special event and one that will undoubtedly be popular with the large Polish Community we have in the area”.
Piotr said “I am hoping the local Polish community will attend the screening because the events depicted in the film seem lesser known in both Poland and the UK and touch on why the post-war Polish community in the UK was formed but this is not just a Polish story but a British one also and why I felt particularly well placed to tell it as I was born in England of Polish parents”.
The Last Witness has been awarded a whole host of international accolades including: Winner, for the best lead actress, best cinematography, best costume design at the New York City International Film Festival in 2019, as well as Winner – Rising Star at the Canada Independent Film Festival 2019. Piotr’s awards also include an Award of Excellence for the Best Narrative Feature, Best Director and Best Cinematography at the Vegas Movie Awards in 2019. He also was a winner at the London Independent Film Awards in November 2018 and won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Alex Pettyfer – who took the lead role), Best Cinematography and Best Editing at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 2018.
Piotr works regularly as a director in UK television drama. Credits include Casualty, The Coroner, Heartbeat, Father Brown, Shakespeare & Hathaway, Doctors, River City, EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, for which he was twice nominated for BAFTA TV Awards. Both Variety and the UK’s Guardian described him as ‘a director to watch’.
Piotr’s next film is a contemporary thriller called ‘Winter in July’, in which a brother and sister fight for justice on opposite sides of the law in a Europe dealing with new threats to its security and stability including terrorism, corruption and political extremism.
For more information about the event, please call Wellington Orbit on 01952 743377 or visit www.wellingtonorbit.co.uk. Tickets are £14 for all seats, which includes a Polish Buffet.
