HIACYNT
CRIME / DRAMA
POLAND
2012
HIACYNT (Int. title: OPERATION HYACINTH) is a Polish film by Piotr Domalewski from 2021. The premiere of the film took place on August 18 that year at the Nowe Horyzonty film festival in Wrocław; the film was released on Netflix in October that same year. The title refers to the large-scale operation of the Polish police in the 1980s – known as 'Operation Hyacinth' – in which some eleven thousand homosexuals were registered. HIACYNT consists of 1 episode of 1 hour and 52 minutes.
STORY: Robert (Tomasz Ziętek) is a young police officer in Warsaw in the 1980s. His father Edward has a high position within the national security service and is keen that his son also have a career there.
GAY COUPLE STORYLINE: With his colleague Wojtek (Tomasz Schuchardt), Robert (Tomasz Ziętek) is assigned a murder case involving a gay man. While the police close the case, Robert discovers that more similar murders have been committed and strikes out on his own. He uses the student Arek (Hubert MIlowski) as an informant for the gay community of Warsaw. Although Robert is engaged to Halinka (Adrianna Chlebicka) works at the police archives, a relationship develops between the two men and Robert begins to have doubts about his sexual orientation.
Robert (Tomasz Ziętek) & Arek (Hubert Mikowski)
TOMASZ ZIĘTEK (2012) June 28, 1989, Inowroclaw, Poland.
HUBERT MIKOWSKI (2012) June 23, 1999, Warschau, Poland
SPECIAL: Marcin Ciastoń drew inspiration for the screenplay from Operation Hyacinth, an action undertaken by the Polish secret services in the 1980s. The operation targeted the country's gay community, and the material gathered was used to extort men and to enforce their cooperation. Launched under the pretext of tackling the AIDS epidemic and prostitution, Operation Hyacinth saw a significant number of homosexuals imprisoned, arrested, or otherwise persecuted.
AWARDS: 'HIACYNT' 4 wins and 2 nominations.
6.8 IMDB
