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BEAR SEASON

By Simon ABOUD

BLOCKFILM - as FIN

Family - Pre-Production 2021

A story about a boy, his inebriated Uncle, a bear that may or may not exist, and the need to believe -- in someone.

- Year of production
- 2021
- Genres
- Family, Drama
- Countries
- USA, UNITED KINGDOM
- Languages
- ENGLISH-UNITED STATES
- Budget
- 10 - 25 M$
- Duration
- 90 mn
- Director(s)
- Simon ABOUD
- Writer(s)
- Donald MARTIN
- Cast
- Luke EVANS, Jacob TREMBLAY, Olga KURYLENKO
- Producer(s)
- J.todd HARRIS (BRANDED PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT), Jinko GOTOH, Andrea & Mitchell GABOURIE (FORTÉ ENTERTAINMENT), Byron A. MARTIN (BYRON A. MARTIN PRODUCTIONS INC.)
- Synopsis
- In 1951, Chester Wierzbicki, 11, lives in Detroit with his widowed Mom Ilona and his Uncle Izzy. His father Aleksy died in WW2, without ever seeing his son.
  Having Aleksy’s unemployed drunk of a brother serve as the boy’s only male role model is a challenge – for Ilona, and for Chester.
  Izzy is a grand storyteller. Most call him a liar and a lout. He served in the Polish Army Service Corps, with Aleksy. Izzy is a damaged man, in pain. It’s why he drinks. Today, his condition would be called PTSD. In 1951, no one had a name for it. Izzy simply can’t let go of the war. He regales Chester with tall tales about Wojtek, the soldier bear, the beer guzzling and cannon loading lance-mascot of Poland’s 22nd Artillery Supply Company. Izzy says Wojtek loved no one more
  than Aleksy. Such stories come to life in B&W flashbacks … but did the bear really exist? Izzy has no photos, no proof. Everyone thinks the crazy bear stories are bogus. Chester doubts his Uncle but he does love those stories.
  Once Izzy learns that his former fiancée, Katarzyna, is now widowed and living in Ohio, he lies about a job offer there, and convinces Ilona to let Chester go with him. It’s an unusual road trip and nothing goes as expected. Katarzyna is already engaged to another man. That sends Izzy on a binge and he ends up bed-ridden. As Chester cares for his Uncle, he learns the truth -- Izzy was Wojtek’s best friend, not Aleksy, and Izzy has never been the same since having to leave
  Wojtek, after the war, at the Edinburgh Zoo.
  There is a gaping hole in Izzy’s heart. Chester realizes there is only one way to fix it. Another unusual road trip unfolds: aboard a freighter, for Liverpool (without passports) and then on to Edinburgh. This means telling Ilona a lie or two. When she uncovers the lies, she goes to the police to report her son has been kidnapped. At the Edinburgh Zoo, Izzy and Wojtek are reunited. With beer. Cigarettes. Play wrestling. When Izzy introduces Chester to Wojtek, the boy looks the bear in the eyes and feels a true connection. As Wojtek hugs the boy, it is magical, as if the world is welcoming him and letting him know everything is going to be alright. Chester is forever changed.
  Izzy is arrested for kidnapping and entering the U.K. illegally. When Ilona arrives, she withdraws the kidnapping charge. At the zoo, they all spend time with Wojtek, fulfilling Aleksy’s last wish and Izzy’s dream, for Ilona and Chester to meet the beloved bear. Family.