King Matt The First

The world of sisters Zoja and Lea is filled with shared games, discoveries, and conversations, alongside their daily squabbles and disagreements. Initially, the girls, who bear a striking resemblance to one another, seem to share an extraordinary bond of sisterhood. However, as time passes, the older sister, Zoja, begins to grow apart from Lea. She loses interest in playing in the sand or swimming in the river, retreating into the realm of books and spending increasingly more time with her peers instead of her sister. Despite their differences, both girls share a deep-seated fear of crossing the threshold into adulthood, which they perceive as a source of danger. They observe how adults seem indifferent to the destruction of their world, ignoring environmental catastrophes and fueling war conflicts. 

Jaśmina Wójcik’s creative documentary, “King Matt the First”, invites us into a realm unbound by adult hierarchies and constraints. It offers a contemplative journey into the intimate lives of the protagonists, where curiosity leads the way, and emotions and senses serve as vital tools. Yet, contemporary crises— war, pandemics, and climate disasters—echo ominously in the background. Can we truly determine when childhood ends and adulthood begins? As adults, do we actually remember what it’s like to be a child? And when we enter adulthood, don’t we lose a sense of vulnerability forever? Most importantly, what can children teach us if we simply listen to their words? These questions, among many others, are explored in Jaśmina Wójcik’s film, inspired by Janusz Korczak’s (Henryk Goldszmit) novel of the same name. More than a century after its publication, the author’s words remain profoundly relevant, resonating with the tensions and uncertainties of today’s reality—especially from the perspective of young people standing on the brink of adulthood.