Sonata

Born prematurely, diagnosed as an autistic child, Grzegorz lives in his own, hermetic world not being able to connect with others. He goes to school with severely impaired children, learning absolutely nothing. He’s only able to articulate single, incomprehensible words and is unable to interact with those around him. His only interest seems to be banging on the old broken piano in his house.
At the brink of his 15th birthday, it turns out that the cause of Grzegorz’s isolation isn’t autism but a deep hearing impairment. Thanks to his parents and one doctor – professor Skarżyński, who implanted him with a cochlear implant, Grzegorz starts to discover speech, sound, and music, in which he falls in love. It turns out that underneath his disability, a great musical talent has been hidden for many years.
Grzegorz now desires to become a pianist and perform Beethoven’s „Moonlight Sonata” at a great philharmonic concert hall. But no one, apart from him and his family, believes that this deaf boy – though aided with new technology – will ever make his dream come true. He moves from school to school, but no one seems to take his passion seriously.
“Sonata” is a dramatically moving film that takes place in the majestic Tatra Mountains and tells the real story of a unique musician – Grzegorz Płonka from a small town, Murzasichle. It shows an incredible journey, burdened with huge effort and great struggle to achieve the impossible. It’s a film filled with music, stunning mountain landscapes, human determination, passion and most of all with the success that Grzegorz achieved.

Producers:
Sylwester Banaszkiewicz, Marcin Kurek

Script:
Bartosz Blaschke

Director of photography:
Tomasz Augustynek

Production management:
Kamil Janik

Music:
Krzysztof A. Janczak

Sound:
Artur Kuczkowski, Tomasz Sikora

Scenography:
Alicja Kazimierczak

Make-up:
Anna Gorońska

Editor:
Robert Piechnik

Cast:
Michał Sikorski (Grzegorz Płonka), Małgorzata Foremniak (Małgorzata Płonka), Łukasz Simlat (Łukasz Płonka), Konrad Kąkol (Michał Płonka), Irena Melcer (Justyna), Jerzy Stuhr (prof. Skarżyński), Lech Dyblik (Juras), Grażyna Sobocińska (Alicja)