Influence

Influence (Polish: Hiszpanka) is a 2015 Polish film directed by Łukasz Barczyk, released in cinemas on 23 January 2015. Set in the closing days of the First World War during the Greater Poland Uprising, it follows a circle of clairvoyants who hold a séance to shield the pianist and statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski from a rival medium hired by the Prussian army, blending alternative history, pitch-black comedy and spy thriller. The cast includes Crispin Glover, Bruce Glover and Karl Markovics.

Alternative history places most of its load on the invisible end of the craft: a 1918 Poznań has to be rebuilt around the actors, which is the business of matte painting, digital set extension and the patient removal of aerials, road markings and everything else that betrays the present day. The séance material pulls the other way, where atmospheric simulation, smoke and light interaction and careful compositing let a supernatural presence register without ever hardening into a monster. Terminal FX contributed visual effects and animation to Influence, work that sits within the studio’s wider portfolio of film, television and commercial projects.