Gdansk Film In the Cannes

A film that chronicles the struggle of one of the shining lights of the Solidarity movement is being tipped for great things at this year's Cannes Festival.

'The Forgotten Heroine', by veteran German director Volker Schlondorff, tells the tale of a remarkable Polish lady who stands up for the rights of her colleagues at the historic Gdansk shipyard.

The German-Polish co-production is directly based on the real-life odyssey of Anna Walentynowicz. However, since she did not give permission for her name to be used in the film, the crew are downplaying the connection:

'All I can say is that 'The Forgotten Heroine' is a film about an individual who, thanks to her activity, can actually change history,' the director commented.

Schlondorff has shot several films in Poland, and his adaption of Gunter Grass's 'The Tin Drum', also filmed here in Gdansk, won him the double whammy of Palme d'or and Oscar when it was released in 1979. Pulling this off for a second time would seem like a tall order, but Schlondorff has the cooperation of several outstanding Polish actors, including Wojciech Pszoniak, Andrzek Grabowski and Andrzej Chyra, the latter taking the role of moustachioed legend, Lech Walesa.