- Occupation
Director - Country
Spain
Sánchez Helena
The Secret of the Trees
The Secret of the Trees’ reveals an extraordinary story buried underneath the silence of the Siberian landscapes. In 1939, with the burst of Second World War, Jacek Lopuszanski was a young Pole accused of being an English spy because of his Waterman fountain pen, his Dunhill pipe and his Longines watch. He was deported to the Gulag in Kolyma, in the Polar Arctic Circle, at the hand of Stalin. Jacek managed to survive and fled through Siberia and Central Asia by train and at times even on foot. In 1942 he arrived by ship in Persia to finally join the Polish Army; then he crossed Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt to fight against the Nazis in Montecassino (Italy) during World War II. He eventually exiled in Derby (UK), where he lived all his life till his death in 2003. This is the story of Jacek Lopuszanski, a man in the wrong place at the wrong time. His story is also the forgotten odyssey of 2m Polish men, women and children deported by Stalin following the occupation of Eastern Poland. This is the story of a terrible unanticipated journey seen through the astonished eyes of young Jacek. But he managed to survive, and came back to reveal the secrets hidden beneath the roots of the immense Siberian forests.
The Secret of the Trees’ reveals an extraordinary story buried underneath the silence of the Siberian landscapes. In 1939, with the burst of Second World War, Jacek Lopuszanski was a young Pole accused of being an English spy because of his Waterman fountain pen, his Dunhill pipe and his Longines watch. He was deported to the Gulag in Kolyma, in the Polar Arctic Circle, at the hand of Stalin. Jacek managed to survive and fled through Siberia and Central Asia by train and at times even on foot. In 1942 he arrived by ship in Persia to finally join the Polish Army; then he crossed Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt to fight against the Nazis in Montecassino (Italy) during World War II. He eventually exiled in Derby (UK), where he lived all his life till his death in 2003. This is the story of Jacek Lopuszanski, a man in the wrong place at the wrong time. His story is also the forgotten odyssey of 2m Polish men, women and children deported by Stalin following the occupation of Eastern Poland. This is the story of a terrible unanticipated journey seen through the astonished eyes of young Jacek. But he managed to survive, and came back to reveal the secrets hidden beneath the roots of the immense Siberian forests.
Helena Sánchez graduated in philosophy and was active in this field and art installations before dedicating to writing. Her first steps into writing were as critic for the art magazine “Fuera de Banda”. In 1996 she co-founded the production company Los Sueños de la Hormiga Roja. Author of ten full length documentary scripts - seven of which have already been produced (amongst others: Si Me Quieres Escribir 2006 and Living on Your Feet. The Struggles of Cipriano Mera 2009) - two novels and a short story collection. In her latest work, the central theme has been the memory of conflicts and its protagonists in the 20th century.
The K Effect’ documentary/historical fiction , 2011 (post-production), Spain v ‘Living on Your Feet. The Struggles of Cipriano Mera’, historical documentary, 2009, Spain (selected in 43 IFF and awarded 10 prizes – Best Documentary at Tallahassee amongst others) v ‘Si Me Quieres Escribir – Letters from the Frontline’, historical documentary, 2006, Spain v ‘Manuel Monleon. A Scream on the Wall’, historical/art documentary, 2004, Spain v ‘Eva’s Double life’, documentary, 2002, Spain
Project Market - 2012