MACIEJ ADAMEK WINS 3RD PRIZE AT THE HARTLEY-MERRILL CONTEST

In Cannes, on 18 May, there was an Award Ceremony of the International Hartley-Merrill Screenwriting Contest finals. Maciej Adamek’s script entitled "The Photograph” won the Third Prize. Earlier on Adamek won the Polish edition of the Contest, organized for the first time by the Andrzej Wajda School of Film Directing.

Scripts winning the 23 national editions of the Hartley-Merrill Screenwriting Contest participate in the International finals. After the preselection stage, the script by Adamek reached the finals along with three other texts – from England, Jamaica and Scotland. The Main Prize ($ 5000) went to Jamaica’s Christopher Browne for his “Ghetta' Life”, the Second Prize ($ 3500) went to the Englishmen – Peter Straughan and Bridget O’Connor – for their script entitled “Ms. Ratcliffe's Revolution” and the Third Prize ($ 1500) – to Maciej Adamek for his “Photograph”.

Maciej Adamek’s text tells a story of a 16-year-old Adam, who suspects that his father is not the real father and sets out on a journey for truth. The incentive to go is a photo of his pregnant mother with a stranger. This is also a story of friendship with a two-year-older Przemek and of first love, which may destroy this friendship. The shooting is supposed to start in June 2007.

For the first time this year, the organizer of the Polish Edition of the Hartley-Merrill Contest was the Andrzej Wajda School of Film Directing. HBO Polska is a partner-coorganizer and the financial support was provided by the Polish Film Institute. The Strategic Sponsors of the School are: Prokom Software SA and Prokom Investments SA. Media coverage was granted by: the Kino monthly, Kino Polska TV and the Internet film portal Stopklatka.pl. Maciej Adamek’s script was one of the 84 applications for the contest. The Jury was made up of the following persons: Edward Żebrowski, Feliks Falk, Jacek Fuksiewicz, Jacek Kondracki, Magdalena Piekorz and Krzysztof Rak.

Two Polish scripts have won the Hartley-Merrill Contest before. ‘Bandyta’ [The Bandit] by Cezary Harasimowicz won the 1993/4 international edition, ‘Stacja’ [The Station] by Piotr Wereśniak won it in 1998/9. Other Polish scripts have taken high places in the international editions of the contest, e.g. Tomasz Wiszniewski and Robert Brutter’s  “Emigrant [The  Émigré]”, Henryk Dederko’s  “Bajland [The Fairy Tale Land]” and Agnieszka Krakowiak’s  “Cyganka [The Gypsy Woman]”.

Heartfelt congratulations to Maciej Adamek – we are glad that the first Polish edition of the Hartley-Merrill Contest organized by our School has been so fruitful for its winner also in the international finals.