WAR GAMES AND THE MAN WHO STOPPED THEM
POLISH TITLE: GRY WOJENNE
"War Games and The Man Who Stopped Them" is a story about a man whom historians consider as the most important spy of the cold war era. The main character of Dariusz Jabloński's documentary is Ryszard Kukliński (pseudonym: Jack Strong), a colonel in headquarters of the Polish Army (Ludowe Wojsko Polskie) in the '70s. Between 1972 and 1981 he handed over to the West over 40 thousand pages of the top secret Warsaw Pact documents.
Some people claim that if it wasn't for those documents, maybe all Europe would be licking their wounds after the worldwide nuclear cataclysm. Americans see him as a hero, Russians – as a traitor, Poles are divided. Kukliński considered himself as an ordinary soldier, who – whatever he was doing, was doing it for his country. "War Games" is a film about Kukliński, but without Kukliński in front of the camera. Actually it's been done according to his wish, as he said "history will judge me and I don`t want to do anything, that could influence it". The film focuses on his story told from many points of view, searching mainly for an answer to the question: who really was colonel Kukliński? A hero, who for the price of his life and lives of his relatives saved the world and Poland? Or a traitor, who broke the oath taken to Poland for money. And that's how many of his old commanders and colleges from headquarters of Polish Army see it. The film is a result of almost 5 years of hard work of the director and the crew. It took a lot of time and effort to interview the most important witnesses of colonel Kukliński's work in USA, Russia and Poland. Many of them appear in front of the camera for the very first time. There are also unique documents concerning the colonel case and the era, declassified especially for the purpose of the film. New film technique and 2D and 3D animations are included in "War Games", picturing potential development of a global scale military conflict.
Dariusz Jabłoński
Tomasz Michałowski
Bartosz Pietras
Michał Lorenc
Apple Film Production
Dariusz Jabłoński »
Director and producer, president of Apple Film Production. Not often directs, his most famous film is "The Photographer", a documentary awarded at the most prestigious festivals in the world. His feature film debut was "Strawberry Wine", based on Andrzej Stasiuk's novel, "Galician Tales". Jabłoński graduated from Directing Department at the Polish National Film, Television and Theater School in Lodz. He is a founder of Polish Film Academy and Polish Film Awards – The Eagels. He is also the founder and the president of Independent Film Foundation, created to promote Polish cinematography and filmmakers both in the country and outside Poland. For 11 years Independent Film Foundation has been organizing Polish Film Awards. Dariusz Jablonski is also a creator and Artistic Director of ScripTeast, training programme for scriptwriters from Eastern and Central Europe. He is a member of Polish and European Film Academy.
20. Polish Film Festival in America, USA, 2008 (screening)
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, 2010 (screening)
22nd International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), 2009 (competition)
East Silver Market 2010, Czech Republic, 2010 (competition)