'Hevelius': The story of Poland's greatest maritime tragedy heads for Netflix debut

On nan nighttime of 13 January 1993, nan ferry 'Jan Heweliusz' sailed from nan larboard of Świnoujście successful Poland to Ystad successful Sweden 2 hours late.

Difficult upwind conditions had been reported anterior to nan voyage and nan unit knew they were successful for a difficult nighttime astatine sea. No one, however, could person predicted that nan challenging crossing would move retired to beryllium nan biggest peacetime maritime calamity successful nan country's history.

A full of 56 group died, including 36 passengers and 20 unit members. Only 9 group survived.

This event, still shrouded successful mystery, is nan taxable of nan Polish Netflix bid 'Hevelius'.

The communicative is told from nan position of nan show's 2 main characters: nan subsister of nan tragedy, struggling pinch guilt, and nan grieving widow who mislaid her hubby successful nan disaster.

Set successful nan realities of communist Poland, nan bid paints a image of a tense ineligible strategy successful which, successful nan end, nan ship's skipper is nan only personification to blasted - moreover though location was a much analyzable inheritance to nan event, and shared responsibility. By nan clip nan ferry group sail successful January 1993, it had already had 30 awesome incidents connected its record, including a partial sinking conscionable complete a decade earlier.

"A large portion of nan bid is dedicated to that disaster and shows it, but besides an moreover bigger portion is really astir what happened afterwards. It tells nan communicative of nan group who stayed ashore, who mislaid loved ones, besides nan group who survived nan disaster. It is not only a drama. It is not only a disaster film, but it is besides simply a societal drama. And a courtroom drama," explained Jan Holoubek, head of nan series, successful an question and reply pinch Euronews Culture.

Although it is simply a fictional series, nan creators person devoted a awesome woody of activity to bespeak nan reality of nan events arsenic intimately arsenic possible.

"Kasper Bajon, who wrote nan script, went done dozens of files, talked to very galore group who were affected by nan disaster. So location is simply a awesome woody of truth here," adds Holoubek.

The accumulation is notable for its grandeur, pinch a wide scope of practical, typical and machine effects used.

"The task is already 1 of nan astir difficult and demanding projects I americium alert of truthful acold successful nan history of Polish cinematography. Mainly because nan standard of nan number of afloat integer shots, particularly nan shots of nan Hevelius, nan ferry sailing astatine nighttime successful a afloat storm, were very difficult shots and specified a movie having much than 60 afloat integer shots I person not seen. In addition, location were astir a 1000 shots successful full passim nan series, which required various types of typical effects involvement, dense aliases light, truthful successful that respect it is surely a unsocial series," explained typical effects supervisor Krzysztof Hrycak.

The standard of nan task reflects nan move improvement of nan Polish film, tv and post-production industry

"I deliberation we are moving successful a very bully guidance arsenic Poland, because astatine slightest we, from accumulation to production, are making films aliases bid that person an expanding stock of typical effects, which from nan constituent of position of complexity for america is rather important, but besides generally, qualitatively these productions are getting amended and better, good realised and pinch much and much panache," adds Hrycak.

Projects specified arsenic Hevelius show really wide a talent excavation Polish cinema has today

"No little than 95 per cent of this bid was made successful Poland, by Polish hands, and it seems to maine that nan manufacture is perfectly competitory connected a European aliases world scale. We person nary complexes here," says Holoubek.

Hevelius is now disposable connected Netflix.

Video editor • Pawel Glogowski