Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2018: #23. Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War

Cold War

Polish auteur Pawel Pawlikowski began making films in the late 1990s with The Stringer (1998) before moving into several UK productions, including 2000’s Last Resort, and the high-profile My Summer of Love (2004), which starred Emily Blunt in her film debut and re-teamed Pawlikowski with Paddy Considine. After 2011’s romantic thriller The Woman in the Fifth with Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott Thomas, Pawlikowski became an international sensation with his fifth film Ida (2013), which premiered out of Telluride and scored him a BAFTA and an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Pawlikowski reunites with Ida star Agata Kulesza and The Woman in the Fifth star Joanna Kulig (both prominent Polish actresses who have worked with a variety of international auteurs) in a film set in 1950s and 1960s Poland. Cold War sees a love triangle between a woman and two men plays out against the backdrop of touring musical group Mazowsze, a product of a 1948 Ministry of Culture decree and post-war communist ideations.

Release Date/Prediction: Amazon Studios purchased Cold War this past summer and with an Eduard Limonov biopic on the way, the idea would be to premiere the completed film and begin international sales on the next. Seeing as Pawlikowski has yet to compete at one of the major European festivals, we think the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival might be a fine place to premiere. Amazon Studios has several high-profile auteur properties, and depending on where they wish the new Terry Gilliam and Luca Guadagnino may determine which line-up Pawlikowski ends up in.