„Lesson of love” in the New Zealand festival program
The film „Lesson of love” directed by Małgorzata Goliszewska and Kasia Mateja was included in the New Zealand International Film Festival program in the Becoming section. This year’s event will take place from July 24 to August 2. The picture is co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.
79 full-length and seven short films from 41 countries were included in the New Zealand International Film Festival program. All films will be presented online, and 27 of them additionally at screenings in cinema halls in eight cities, including Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. The festival in New Zealand also for the first time started cooperation with European Film Promotion’s Europe!: Voices Of Women In Film initiative, whose partner has been Sydney Film Festival for the last four years.
„This part of life belongs to me!” – says Jola, the heroine of the movie „Lesson of love” and packs suitcases to finally escape from a violent marriage after 40 years. Jola has met the expectations of others all her life. She raised six children alone, worked at night, put strong red lipstick on her lips and pretended to the world that everything was all right. One day something breaks in her and she decides to live the last years of her life in full swing. She goes to the sea with his friends, goes to the „Smile” cafe and sings to everyone around her. She loves songs about love, which she always dreamed of, but never knew. One day she meets Wojtek, a handsome old gentleman who treats her like a princess. Will Jola be able to reciprocate feelings, open up for the first time in her life to love? Especially since she has much less time than she thought.
A duo of female directors
Małgorzata Goliszewska is a documentary film director, she completed the DOK Pro course at the Wajda School in 2012 and POLSKA.DOC. She obtained a master’s degree in multimedia arts and worked at the Experimental Film Department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Szczecin. Małgorzata deals with various fields, including documentary and contemporary art. She directed several short films. „This type of bird” was shown at IDFA, Doc / Fest Sheffield, Krakow FF, Docs Againts Gravity, New Horizons IFF and many others. In turn, „Dress me” was appreciated by critics as an innovative look at the image of women.
Director and photographer Kasia Mateja is a graduate of the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland at the film and television faculty. She worked as a director, cinematographer, editor, sound engineer and producer. She made several short documentaries and experimental films in Scotland, Ireland, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Mongolia. Her documentary „Silence on the way to the Reindeer People” won awards at festivals in Brazil, Romania, Portugal and Poland. She runs workshops with young people from difficult environments.
The Polish premiere of the film will take place during Millennium Docs Against Gravity, which is scheduled for 4-13 September this year.