BOY WITH A FROG

Three years from the life of a couple of kids, windshield washers working around the Magnolia shopping mall. Their life stories are similar; mother is dead, father is an alcoholic, alternatively father is living abroad, mother can’t cope with the situation. Adults are either absent from their lives, or they play minor roles. It’s almost like playing “Indians,” the windshield wipers hunt their bison, that is cars leaving the mall parking lot. They have money for Burger King, for KFC, for beer and also for drugs. Sometimes it’s stealing a gutter for scrap or pinching someone’s phone, but when winter comes Christmas caroling is where the real money is. On the street, kids grow up quickly. Luck had it that while this documentary was being filmed, Charles Ray’s Statue “Boy with a Frog” stood in Venice, right before being taken down. What can a boy do with a frog? He can blow it up like a balloon, he can kill it, he can release it.

  • Bartek Bartos
    Director
  • Piotr Bartos
    Director
  • Bartek Bartos
    Writer
  • Agnieszka Papiewska
    Producer
  • Piotr Bartos
    D.O.P
  • Bartek Bartos
    D.O.P
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    CHLOPIEC Z ZABA
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 7 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    July 20, 2014
  • Production Budget:
    16,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Poland
  • Country of Filming:
    Poland
  • Language:
    Polish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • T-Mobile New Horizons 2014
    Wroclaw
    Poland
    July 28, 2014
    European Premiere
    Best Film/Magnify Competition
Distribution Information
  • MANIFIESTA
    Country: Poland
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Bartek Bartos, Piotr Bartos

The Bartos Brothers – originating from Upper Silesia, Bartek born in ’79 and Piotr born in ’84 are a Wroclaw film duo. The director, producer, and screenwriter, Bartek, having majored in Film and Television production, graduated from the Silesia University Department of Radio and Television. Piotr works as a director of photography, editor, but first and foremost, he is an artist experimenting with the moving image. Until 2008, they have operated separately. Bartek produced documentaries for a Dutch TV station. Amongst others he is credited as producer of “New Generation.” He has also collaborated with such individuals as the Oscar winner Mikie Van Diem (“Character”) on the production of “X-ray eyes.” He has directed cultural and entertainment shows for Polish Public Television TVP1,TVP2 and commercial station TVN. He directed TV shows like: Red Bull X-Fighters – the final closing of the 10th Anniversary Stadium. He also produced and directed TV advertisement and music videos. Piotr pursued an independent creative career, experimenting with film, photography and graphics, He has collaborated with various artists, including Tomek Tryzna, the writer of the novel "Miss Nobody” which was adapted into a film by Andrzej Wajda. Together they have co-authored “Dancing in Shells” a photographic prose published by the G+J House. He has co-directed the film “Answers to Questions Never Asked” along with the music artist L.U.C. for whom he has shot several music videos. In 2013 the Bartos Brothers opened the MANIFIESTA studio in Wroclaw, focused on production of independent auteur films. The film “Boy with a Frog” (Best Film/Magnify Competition/IFF NEW HORIZONS 2014) were their joint directorial feature debut. In 2015 “Floating on fire” art feature doc. about Jana’s Napoli art installation devoted to the victim of Katrina has premiere at New Orleans Film Festival. The same year their short feature film “Egzul” has won ShortCutz Amsterdam.

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Director Statement

"because art should enjoy, and even if sad, the sadness we should enjoy" Nutscracker