Did you know that “Czterej pancerni i pies” (“Four Tankers and a Dog”) was filmed in Bydgoszcz? It’s not the only film that had our city or its surroundings as its set. Not long ago, Wojciech Smarzowski’s crew visited Ostromecko.
Bydgoszcz appears in the episodes of “pancerni” filmed in 1968.
They watched “Rudy” from the rooftops
The filmmakers captured the lock on Okol (which is commemorated to this day by a tank “102” tower near it), the no-longer-existent railway bridge over the Brda and the Bydgoski Canal, as well as Rybi Rynek, “playing” the fictional German town of Ritzen, and Wyspa Młyńska (Mill Island) and Świętej Trójcy Street. Older residents of Bydgoszcz remember the visit of the “Czterej pancerni i pies” crew very well. They were so interested that they observed the film set from the rooftops of tenements.
The Bydgoszcz scenery must have appealed to the filmmakers because a year later – in 1969 – Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski came here to film scenes for “Sąsiedzi” (Neighbors). It is a reconstruction of the “Bloody Sunday” in Bydgoszcz in September 1939. The film’s story begins on August 31, 1939. The tales of Polish heroism are accompanied by a love story, the tragic story of the doomed relationship between Anna-Maria, a German, and Piotr, a Pole, who is killed by German militants, the later perpetrators of the massacre of Polish citizens. The premiere of “Sąsiedzi”, in which Juliusz Machulski and Mieczysław Opania played among others, took place on September 3, 1969, at the “Pomorzanin” cinema.
Commissioner Herman on the case
We can also find the city on the Brda River in Tadeusz Chmielewski’s psychological crime thriller “Wśród nocnej ciszy” (In the Silence of the Night) from 1978, based on Ladislav Fuks’ novel “Śledztwo prowadzi radca Heumann” (Investigation Conducted by Counselor Heumann). In Chmielewski’s film, which is set in the 1920s in Pomerania, Commissioner Teofil Herman tries to solve the mystery of a series of murders of young boys. The task is difficult because the police officer is under pressure from the local community and the press due to the lack of progress in the investigation. And that’s not all. Herman also has family problems. A conflict with his son, Wiktor, is escalating. In order to spite his father, the boy starts helping a potential murderer. The commissioner must choose between his love for his son and justice.
In 2007, Bydgoszcz became a film set for the first time for a children’s film. Andrzej Maleszka filmed “Magiczne drzewo” (The Magic Tree), among other locations, on Wyspa Młyńska (Mill Island). This is commemorated by a prop – a large chair standing in a children’s playground on the island.
In the autumn of 2011, the creators of the TVN series “Prawo Agaty” (Agatha’s Law) visited the capital of Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Bydgoszcz was the home of the title character’s father, a football coach played by Marek Opania. We meet him, among other places, at the Zawisza stadium, but there are also scenes in the vicinity of the Stary Rynek (Old Market Square), Wenecja, and Wyspa Młyńska (Mill Island).
Jurek Jurecki, long live freedom and liberty
A year later, the comedy “Dżej Dżej” was filmed in Bydgoszcz. The title character, Jurek Jurecki, played by Borys Szyc, is a single man in his thirties who avoids people. He is drawn to various gadgets, to which he gives names. His car is called “Wacuś”, and his phone is “Pamela”. Jurek’s life changes when he gets hold of a car navigation system. Without hesitation, “Dżej Dżej” changes the voice from the device, provided by Tomasz Knapik, to another – a female, and a very sexy one at that. Soon, he falls in love with the navigation system and starts showering it with gifts. Strange? Absolutely.
In the absurdity of it all, we find another comedy with a Bydgoszcz accent in the background – “Disco Polo” from 2015. The film’s scenes with stars such as Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, and Piotr Głowacki were shot in the Opera Nova.
“Wesele” (The Wedding) for the second time
From September 17 to mid-November 2020, in the Palace and Park Complex in Ostromecko (in the classical New Palace) and the church of St. Nicholas, as well as in the market square in Stary Fordon, Wojciech Smarzowski filmed his latest film “Wesele” (“The Wedding”) (this is already the director’s second film with this title). The production premiered in cinemas in September 2021 and starred Agata Kulesza, Robert Więckiewicz, Michalina Łabacz, Andrzej Chyra, Agata Turkot, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Mateusz Więcławek, Ryszard Ronczewski, and Henryk Gołęb
