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Director’s Profile

Director: TBC

Producer & Production Company


′TSOTSI′, winner of the 2005 OSCAR® for Best Foreign Language Film, was developed and produced by Peter FUDAKOWSKI and his wife, Henrietta, who was also the script editor on the film. Development and production finance came from The UK Film & TV Production Company plc (UKFTV), of which Peter is CEO. UKFTV was founded as an EIS company in 2001.

In 2003, UKFTV was instrumental in the development and production of ′Bugs 3D!′ - an IMAX film about the microcosmic life of insects. This 40 minute documentary has to-date grossed over $29m worldwide and is expected to continue screening around the world in IMAX theatres for years to come. UKFTV has also co-produced and financed the HELEN WEST crime series of TV films, ′A Deep Sleep′, ′Shadow Play′ and ′A Clear Conscience′ starring Amanda Burton.

Peter and Henrietta have over 21 years of experience in the film business. In 1985 they founded Premiere Productions Ltd, an independent production company and as MD of Premiere, Peter wrote and produced multimedia training films for the finance industry, winning numerous international prizes, and worked with such talent as Jonathan Pryce, Miranda Richardson, Lindsay Duncan, Bill Paterson, and for clients including Price Waterhouse Coopers, the Bank of England, Ford, The European Investment Bank, Lloyds and TSB.

During the last ten years, Peter was instrumental in financing such features as: ′Keeping Mum′, starring Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Maggie Smith; John Boorman’s ′Country of My Skull′, aka ′In My Country; Piccadilly Jim′ starring Brenda Blethyn, Tom Wilkinson and Sam Rockwell. Other credits include the following co-productions of which Peter was Executive Producer: ′The Last September′ starring Maggie Smith, Fiona Shaw and Michael Gambon; ′Trial by Fire′ for ITV starring Juliet Stevenson and Jim Carter.

In May 2007, Peter participated as a member of the Jury of the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival. Peter is currently serving on the Jury for BAFTA’s Carl Foreman Award, and will be a member of the Jury at the Polish Film Festival, in Gdynia, in September 2007.

Currently in development are two feature films: one set in contemporary China based on Joseph CONRAD’s ′The Secret Sharer′; the other set in 18th Century London based on the life of Thomas Coram. Also in development is a 50 minute documentary about cinematic adaptations of CONRAD’s stories, ′Conrad on Film′ (working title).

Synopsis

A contemporary love story set on the Yangtze – inspired by Joseph Conrad’s short story, The Secret Sharer. Like many young Westerners of humble means or adventurous spirit in the mid 1990s, Conrad is a Polish man (30 yrs) who left Old Europe to seek his fortune in the New China. When Conrad achieves his ambition and becomes a captain, his first command is a rusting container ship anchored in Wushan, in the middle of China on the Yangtze. His task, the job nobody wanted, is to sail this old ship with its even older crew on its last voyage to the scrap yards of Wenzhou, a coastal city south of Shanghai. The night before he has to sail, Conrad sees the body of a woman floating at the foot of the rope ladder which hangs over the side of his ship. The swimmer makes no effort to climb up on board. Alone on deck, a stranger to his crew as much as his ship, Conrad senses the woman’s predicament. He speaks to her gently in fluent Mandarin. Onto his ship, climbs a beautiful naked Chinese woman. This would be any young man’s fantasy if the woman (Li, in her 30s) hadn’t been in the river for hours, intent on swimming until she drowned from exhaustion. Conrad shelters Li in his cabin that night. As dawn breaks, a police vessel approaches the ship. Armed police board, followed by a certain Captain Wang board the ship. They say they are looking for a murderer and begin searching. They point out the consequences of harbouring a murderer. Wang confides to Conrad that the fugitive murderer is his wife, Li. To protect his position, he now has to give her up to the law. “But she’s escaped off my own ship! That wilful woman - believing her conscience to be a better judge than her fellow man!” Does Conrad continue to hide the “murderer”, or does he give her up to be judged and executed? His crew is already suspicious and mutinous. He has his career to think about and a duty to his employer to sail the ship to its final destination. Conrad decides to take a risk, sharing everything on the voyage down the Yangtze, from his food and music, to his bed and whispers of communion with his secret sharer. Until … love takes its course and a great dilemma turns into a supreme one. © Copyright Peter Fudakowski, 2007

Achievements

Released in United Kingdom, Taiwan

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