Directed by: Jerzy Hoffman
Script: Jerzy Hoffman, Jozef Hen
Cinematography: Pawel Lebieszew
Music: Krzesimir Debski
Producer: Jerzy R.Michaluk, Jerzy Hoffman
Cast: Bohdan Stupka, Daniel Olbrychski,
Michal Zebrowski, Jerzy Trela, Maria Aleksandrowa,
Anna Dymna, Malgorzata Foremniak, Ewa Wisniewska

About movie

The events of When The Sun Was God– An Ancient Tale take place in the 9th century, a hundred years before Poland adopted Christianity. The lands around Goplo Lake are ruled by the bloodthirsty prince Popiel, who murdered all his relatives, in order to make sure his son inherits the throne. His crimes lead to a peasant revolt.
Ziemowit, a young hunter and warrior, is deeply in love with Dziwa, the beautiful daughter of Wisz. He cannot marry her, however, because her father offered her to the gods, and she was sent to serve Swiatowid, the god of Sun, at his shrine. Ziemowit does not accept the old man’s decision. He decides to fight for the girl.
Meanwhile, he meets Piastun, the ex-commander of the prince’s army, and decides to join him and the peasants in the rebellion against Popiel. The prince calls for the Viking troops to his aid. This enables him to withstand the peasants’ siege. But the situation changes when Ziemowit defeats the Viking commander in a duel. Popiel is left alone with but a handful of warriors. He locks himself in a stone tower, where, according to the legend, he is eaten by mice. The land is free. Ziemowit goes to the shrine to claim his beloved. Love proves to be stronger than the will of the gods.
The first script based on Old Fairy Tale (Stara Basn), a novel by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, was written about 20 years ago, but it has never been made into a movie. Hoffman and Hen have decided to depart from Kraszewski and to transform some of the plot. Using the original setting for the historical events in the land of the Polanie tribe adds authenticity to the movie, shot by the renowned Russian cinematographer Pawel Lebieszew.

Jerzy Hoffman

Born: 1932, Krakow. Director and screenwriter. Studied film directing at the State Film Institute in Moscow, received the diploma in 1955. Between 1954 and 1965 he worked in a team with Edward Skorzewski. They co-directed 27 documentaries and 3 features: The Gangsters and the Philanthropists,1962 (Gangsterzy i filantropi), The Law and the Fist, 1964 (Prawo i piesc) and Three Steps on the Earth, 1965 (Trzy kroki po ziemi). 1966 was the year of Jerzy Hoffman's first independent project. After the successful adaptation of the last part of Henryk Sienkiewicz's Trilogy, Pan Wolodyjowski (1968), he made its prequel, The Deluge, which was nominated for the 1974 Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture. In the late 1990s Jerzy Hoffman made his greatest dream come true: he filmed With Fire and Sword (1999), thus making the Sienkiewicz Trilogy complete. The movie proved to be the biggest box office success in the last 20 years of the Polish film history.

His other features include:

1976 The Leper (Tredowata)
1978 Till the Last Drop of Blood (Do krwi ostatniej)
1981 The Quack (Znachor)
1983 Be It Thy Will (Wedle wyrokow Twoich)
1992 The Beautiful Stranger (Piekna nieznajoma)
2003 The Old Fairy Tale