Candidates of Death

For over fifteen years, three boys and the father of one of them have been going away together every year to shoot yet another amateur horror film in extraordinary locations around Poland. Will their friendship last until the end of the world?

A dozen or so years ago, director Maciej Cuske took his son Staś and his two friends, Rafał and Adrian, on holiday, during which they shot a B-movie horror film together. He wanted to get the boys away from their computer screens. At the time, he had no idea that this would turn into one of the greatest adventures of his life, and that together they would create a one-of-a-kind horror series called Candidates of Death. Today, the boys are nearly thirty years old. The documentary chronicles their cinematic adventures over more than a dozen years. It combines a love of cinema with extraordinary emotional depth and a sense of humour. It is a tale of growing up, fears, and the dreams of young men who are not afraid of their feelings, while also paying tribute to the strength of the father-son bond.

The film premiered at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, where it won the Polish competition and two audience awards at Millennium Docs Against Gravity.

Description by the distributor: Against Gravity

Did you know that…

… thirteen amateur short horror films, "Candidates of Death", have been made? They will soon be available on the project’s website.