IDFA, the world’s largest documentary film festival, is currently underway. The festival in Amsterdam opened with "About a Hero"—a story about the role of artificial intelligence in our lives, directed by Polish filmmaker Piotr Winiewicz. But that’s not the only Polish highlight in the festival's International Competition. Two Polish productions, "Trains" by Maciej J. Drygas and "The Guest" by Zuzanna Solakiewicz and Zviki Gregory Portnoy, are featured. All three films will premiere in Poland during the 22nd edition of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival in May 2025. It’s a major success for Polish cinema, as IDFA is often the starting point for highly discussed documentaries that later win prestigious awards.
ABOUT A HERO by Piotr Winiewicz
Winiewicz’s film features the legendary director Werner Herzog, who once said, "A computer will not make a film as good as mine in 4500 years." But is that true? "About a Hero" is an adaptation of a screenplay written by AI, drawing inspiration from Herzog’s works. This fictional, yet self-aware, narrative intertwines with interviews with artists, philosophers, and scientists, exploring concepts such as originality, authenticity, immortality, and the soul in the era of AI. Herzog himself takes on a unique role in the film, one he has never played before in his life…
THE GUEST by Zuzanna Solakiewicz & Zvika Gregory Portnoy
Two Polish feature films in IDFA’s International Competition will also have their domestic premieres at Millennium Docs Against Gravity. The first is "The Guest", directed by Zuzanna Solakiewicz and Zviki Gregory Portnoy, with co-directed by Michał Bielawski. It tells a deeply relevant and poignant story in light of the ongoing crisis at Poland’s border. Set in the winter of 2021 during the escalating border crisis, it follows Maciek and his mother Renata, who live in a Polish village near the Belarusian border. The militarized zone, patrolled by border guards and soldiers, is a closed area meant to push back "illegal" migrants. One day, Renata lets an exhausted Syrian refugee into their home.
TRAINS by reż. Maciej J. Drygas
The second film, "Trains" by Maciej J. Drygas, is a reflective journey through the 20th century composed entirely of archival footage. This silent, visually striking film is accompanied by an intricate sound design with music by Paweł Szymański. It explores the train compartment as a space where people are temporarily detached from the context of their daily lives. For hours or days, they inhabit a new social setting, their lives dictated by the rhythm of the timetable. The film captures the beauty, magic, and, at times, pain of train travel.
Polish audiences will have the chance to see all three films during the 22nd edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity from May 9 to 18, 2025, in cinemas in seven cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź, and Bydgoszcz) and from May 20 to June 2, 2025, online at mdag.pl!
