Paweł Zawadzki, a Polish-language teacher, arrives in Dobrowice,
and carries out his own investigation into the death of a pupil from the local secondary school.
Dobrowice is a portrait of many little towns scattered all around Poland.
The town is governed by a local system of power. A powerful businessman bosses the whole town around, because money is power. The Police, mayor, local officials – all of them depend on one another. Nobody wants to change it, for fear of being pushed onto the margin of society. The best strategy is to adopt and keep a low profile.
Now, in this perfectly arranged world, where everybody knows their place, the pupils of the secondary school in Dobrowice find the corpse of classmate Asia Walewska (Katarzyna Sawczuk). As a result, the construct of “our peaceful Dobrowice” starts to crumble.
Jakub Żulczyk and Monika Powalisz, the scriptwriters, managed to create a world full of not-so-obvious and complex characters. There are no irreproachable characters in this town. Everybody has something to hide, and we will often get the impression that some of the criminals are, in fact, more honest that the so-called respected citizens. The film is dominated by two leading characters, who create the main axis of the plot, and both of them also demonstrate two completely different approaches to acting. Maciej Stuhr, in Belfer (Teacher) fascinates with his minimalistic yet expressive acting, while Grzegorz Damięcki portrays Grzegorz Molenda, the businessman involved in shady business and with the whole town in his grip.
This TV series features performances by top-quality Polish actors, for example Andrzej Pieczyński, Magdalena Cielecka, Łukasz Simlat, Paweł Królikowski, Sebastian Fabijański, and Radosław Bluszcz, to name but a few. The group of already recognisable actors is accompanied by a collection of young actors: Aleksandra Grabowska, Mateusz Więcławek, Paulina Szostak, Malwina Buss, Patryk Pniewski, and Józef Pawłowski.
In the first season of the series, Chełmża was chosen to play the town of Dobrowice, where the plot of Belfer takes place.
Belfer / Teacher
Poland 2016-2017, season 1, TV crime series
Directed by: Łukasz Palkowski, Krzysztof Łukaszewicz, Maciej Bochniak
Screenplay: Jakub Żulczyk, Monika Powalisz, Bartosz Ignaciuk, Wojciech Bockenheim
Cinematography: Marian Prokop
Music: Atanas Valkov
Executive producer: TVN
Produced by: ITI Neovision
Cast: Maciej Stuhr, Paweł Królikowski, Piotr Głowacki, Aleksandra Popławska, Robert Gonera, Józef Pawłowski, Magdalena Cielecka, Grzegorz Damięcki, and others.
The Polish Film Awards: Eagles for the best film series; Telekamera Awards – Special Prize, the title of EMPIK Bestseller.
Important people