The White Ribbon (Das weiße Band) by Michael Haneke, winner of the Golden Palm, the main prize at this year's Cannes Festival, will open the 9^th International Film Festival ERA NEW HORIZONS in Wrocław on 23^rd July 2009.

The Golden Palm for The White Ribbon is a due crowning for the Austrian's director excellent film career, the great intellectualist of European cinema - Michael Haneke. His psychological thrillers, including Funny Games (1997), The Piano Player (La pianiste - 2000) and Hidden (Caché - 2004) have been fascinating and intriguing audiences for years. Avoiding a simplification of meanings, Haneke depicts cruelty of the modern world, exposing situations and relations which seem free from violence.

The White Ribbon refers to origins of the great totalitarian systems of the 20^th century. The film is impressive for its precision in reconstructing the reality of one hundred years ago, it is like a black-and-white photo that has come to life. The film is set before WWI in a small town in northern Germany and it tells the story of young members of a church choir, children from different milieus. They become witnesses, victims and probably also culprits of fatal events that shake the town's community.

The White Ribbon is a film about upbringing; this is where Haneke sees the causes for societies becoming so open to degrading ideologies - fascism and communism.

The White Ribbon will be screened in Polish cinemas starting 13 November 2009, distributed by Monolith Plus.