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Letters to Santa | |
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Directed by | Mitja Okorn |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Marian Prokop |
Edited by | Jarosław Barzan |
Music by | Łukasz Targosz |
Production company | |
Distributed by | ITI Cinema |
Release date |
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Running time | 116 minutes [1] |
Country | Poland |
Language | Polish |
Box office | $26,923,513 [2] |
Letters to Santa (Polish : Listy do M.), alternatively known as Letters to St. Nicholas, is a 2011 Polish-language [3] romantic comedy film, directed by Mitja Okorn. The action takes place during one single Christmas Eve, when a few adults find the loves of their lives. The film's plot refers to the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually , though events of the movie differ from the ones in the 2003 film. It was shot in Warsaw, Poland from 27 January to March 2011. [4] The movie has 4 sequels, Letters to Santa 2 released in 2015, Letters to Santa 3 in 2017, Letters to Santa 4 in 2021, and Letters to Santa 5 in 2022. [5] [6]
The film Letters to Santa portrays lost characters who discover that what happened to them is love. On this special day of the year, five women and five men are finding out that there is no escape from love and Christmas. [1]
Over the opening weekend the movie drew nearly 400 thousand people (specifically, the film was seen by 367,447 viewers). At the time this was the third best opening by a Polish film in the last 20 years. [7] [8] In its first three weeks the film grossed $6,175,026, and was seen by over a million viewers. [2] [9]
Maciej Dejczer has since produced two sequels to Letters To Santa. The shoot in Warsaw began on 25 February 2015 and finished in April. Branded as "the Polish Love Actually", Letters to Santa 2 continues the genre of romantic comedy with a Christmas theme. [10] The third film was released in 2017, and it became the most popular film of the year in Poland with 2.98 million admissions. [11]
The film was positively received by both critics and the general public. [12] It was also appreciated by Duncan Kenworthy, producer of Notting Hill and Love Actually , who said:
The movie is fantastic. And as the audience I think it is both funny and poignant. It's made me feel a sudden craving for Christmas. [13]
Winter weather was not conducive to the production of Letters to Santa. Snowmakers were utilised for the production of artificial snow. [14] Filming began in Kampinos forest snowstorms and streets of Warsaw. [4] A major challenge for the production was shooting in the popular Arkadia mall. The film crew could only carry out filming at night, although the story takes place across a busy Christmas Eve. There was reportedly a festive atmosphere on set. [14] Katarzyna Bujakiewicz, dressed as a snowflake, sang "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", Tomak Karolak and Roma Gąsiorowska in beautiful costumes entertained over 150 children and 300 adults extras who played Varsovians participating in last-minute Christmas shopping. [4] [14]
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Letters to Santa 2, is a 2015 Polish-language romantic comedy film, directed by Maciej Dejczer, that is a sequel to 2011 Letters to Santa film by Mitja Okorn. The action takes place during a Christmas Eve, and follows the lives of characters from the first film, focusing on various aspects of love as shown through separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as the tales progress. As same as in the first film, its plot refers to the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually, though the events of differ in those films. The movie was produced by TVN, and distributed by Kino Świat. It was filmed in Warsaw, Poland, and premiered on 13 November 2015.
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