Festivals - Sundance Film Festival 2021 : Prime time will have its US premiere

By Mulder, 02 january 2021

New Year’s Eve 1999. Twenty-year-old Sebastian, armed with a gun, hijacks a TV studio and takes two hostages—a famous TV presenter and a security guard. His plan? No one seems to know, including Sebastian himself. His demand to deliver his message, whatever that may be, via live broadcast is repeatedly thwarted by an uncertain police force and an egotistical network chairman. As the night wears on, Sebastian and the hostages bond in unexpected ways, while those in power fumble to restore order.

Before YouTube or TikTok, there was broadcast television. Prime Time, the debut feature from director Jakub Pi?tek, subverts the “medium is the message” concept by revealing how tenuously the medium is held together by ineptitude at all levels. Prime Time’s claustrophobic and chaotic atmosphere is marked by its use of one location, handheld camera movement, and frenetic editing. Sebastian (Corpus Christi 's Bartosz Bielenia) is neither the villain nor the hero but one more person swept up in the power of spectacle and the fantasy of revolt.

Synopsis :
In 1999 Sebastian locks himself in a TV studio. He has two hostages, a gun, and an important message for the world.

Prime Time (Poland)
Directed by Jakub Pi?tek
Produced by Jakub Razowski
Executive Producer : Krzysztof Terej
Written by Jakub Pi?tek, ?ukasz Czapski
Starring Bartosz Bielenia, Magdalena Pop?awska, Andrzej K?ak, Ma?gorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik, Dobromir Dymecki, Monika Frajczyk
Music by Teoniki Ro?ynek
Sound : Micha? Fojcik, Bart?omiej Bogacki
Cinematography : Micha? ?uka
Production Designer : Katarzyna J?drzejczyk
Edited by Ula Klimek-Pi?tek, Jaros?aw Kami?ski
Distributed by Watchout Studio, Polish Film Institute, TVN, Krakow Festival Office
Release date : January 30, 2021 (Sundance)
Running time : 93 minutes

Premiere : jan. 30 - 9:00pm // Second screening : feb. 1 - 4:00pm (local time)

(Source : press release)