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MDAG Online will run until June 1 on mdag.pl. Here are the most interesting Polish films from the program of the 23rd Millennium Docs Against Gravity that are available online. In the case of many of them, this is the only chance to see them before they continue their festival journey and will not be available from the comfort of home for a long time.
Polish productions and co-productions
The charismatic director and protagonist of the film “The Confessions of a Mole” Mo Tan delighted both audiences and the jury, receiving the Award for Best Debut. This Polish-Chinese co-production tells the story of how, after seven years in Poland, Mo returns to China for the New Year. The family reunion quickly turns into an emotional battle: her parents, believing in a prophecy, demand the removal of the mole from her face. You can watch her adventures on your own screens as well.
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Equally intriguing are the protagonists of the film “Freak Show” directed by Filip Pawlak and Łukasz Ronduda. Four artists with disabilities decide to create a performance for the opening of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. The film follows the protagonists’ preparations while confronting viewers with the loneliness and stigmatization experienced by the community of people with disabilities.
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Meanwhile, the Polish-Italian production “Ewa – the Last Lesson” (dir. Andrea Mura, Federico Savonitto) tells the story of one of the last witnesses of Jerzy Grotowski’s disappearing theater, the artist Ewa Benesz. After more than 40 years of artistic research in Italy, she decides to write down her memories and return to Poland. How will her knowledge be passed on?
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The protagonist of the film “Please Do Not Sit Down” (dir. Piotr Małecki), Wojciech Plewiński, also returns in memory to the beginnings of his work. This outstanding photographer decides to prepare an exhibition, traveling in the footsteps of his works. The journey to places such as Teatr Studio, Nowa Huta, Kalatówki, Rożnowski Reservoir, and Biebrza becomes a pretext for memories, analysis of his work, and confrontation with the past.
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A retrospective of the outstanding avant-garde artists Franciszka and Stefan Themerson, meanwhile, is heard from the perspective of their relative Jasia in “My Themersons.” The year is 1939. Cheerful and shy, she lives in the world of books by Aunt and Uncle Themerson. She dreams of Paris, the Sorbonne, and a future that seems obvious. War interrupts childhood and shatters the order of the world. The film portrays war as an experience of disintegration – a fracture of language, meaning, and reality. From the perspective of a child and two artists, it presents innocence, love, and creativity as forms of resistance against violence and a space for saving humanity.
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The list of feature-length films concludes with the Ukrainian-Polish co-production “Traces.” This is another film by director Alisa Kovalenko, author of the films “My Dear Theo” and “We Will Not Fade Away,” previously shown at MDAG. It is a record of the perseverance and solidarity of Ukrainian women who are learning to overcome traumatic experiences connected with Russian sexual war crimes while simultaneously running the organization SEMA Ukraine. They help women with similar experiences. The film received the SMAKJAM Award for Best Production in the Polish Competition at the 23rd MDAG as well as a distinction in the Competition for Best Polish Film.
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Polish short films
MDAG Online also features short films. In Block 1 titled “Interrupted Growing Up,” Polish productions dominate – “Mentor,” “Everything I Play For,” and “Heads in the Clouds.” They are joined by the moving Palestinian film “Hassan,” which shows the fate of a teenage boy in the war-torn Gaza Strip desperately trying to reunite with his family.
The titular “Mentor” is a mysterious boxer training in Warsaw’s Praga district. A group of his acquaintances from the sports club speculate about who he really is, and their shared ideas about his life confront reality.
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“Everything I Play For” is the story of young football players from the Polish Homeless National Team who, after difficult experiences, try to regain control of their lives. During an international tournament, they face not only rivals from around the world but also their own fears, traumas, and need for acceptance.
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Two girls visiting an abandoned swimming pool use their imagination to create their own world full of memories, play, and a sense of safety. By recalling images of home, childhood, and places lost because of the war in Ukraine, they try, if only for a moment, to regain the closeness and carefree spirit of former days in the film “Heads in the Clouds.”
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The 23rd edition of MDAG Online takes place from May 19 to June 1 on mdag.pl. The titular patron of the event is Bank Millennium
