Polish productions in the Berlinale 2022
Co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, the film „We Haven’t Lost Our Way”, directed by Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal, will be presented in the Forum section of the International Film Festival in Berlin. It will be its world premiere. The Forum Expanded section includes two short co-productions: „If Revolution Is a Sickness” (dir. Diane Severin Nguyen) and „Majmouan” (dir. Mohammadrez Farzad). This edition of Berlinale will be held on February 10-20, 2022.
Ewa, the main character of the film „We Haven’t Lost Our Way”, is a translator. She gives private English lessons. One day she gets a package from his ex-partner Erik. The man sends her a notebook – a notebook from a journey aimed at the unusual Burning Lake.
During the trip, Eryk and his friend Olle stay with Anna and Roman, in their villa located in the forest. The couple live a happy life with their children and spend their time listening to music and reading books. From day to day, going on the way seems less and less likely, and the goal less and less realistic. Reading the notes, Ewa decides to go away herself, find the places and people described in the notebook.
Cast and filmmakers
The main roles in the film are played by Agnieszka Żulewska, Andrzej Konopka and Oskar Hamerski, with partners: Małgorzata Zawadzka, Roman Gancarczyk and Małgorzata Hajewska. The plot of the picture was based on a novel by the Swedish writer P.C. Jersilda „To warmer countries”, and the script for the film was written by Anka Sasnal. The author of the photos is Wilhelm Sasnal. The film was made by the Balapolis company, and its producers are Agata Szymańska and Magdalena Kamińska.
Anka Sasnal is a director, screenwriter and editor, while Wilhelm Sasnal is a painter and filmmaker. Together, they create documentary and feature films that have been presented and won awards at international festivals: „From Far A View Is Beautiful” (Wrocław, Linz, Rotterdam), „Aleksander” (Copenhagen), „Huby” (Berlinale) and „The Sun, the sun blinded me” (Seville, Montreal).
„Subtotals” (Majmouan)
This is the first project of the vnLab Film Essay Studio of the Film School in Łódź, whose world premiere will take place during the Berlinale, in the Forum Expanded section. The image by Mohammadreza Farzad, with a screenplay inspired by a story by Gregory Burnham of the same title and Edouard Leve’s Self-Portrait, is a meditation on the uncertainty of life embedded in numbers, in which no guarantees can be found. It is a poetic film essay that touches the deeply humanist essence of existence.
The 15-minute film consists of edited home recordings, recorded on the 8mm tape scenes from the life of Iranian society. Against them, a deep voice spins its counting down, summarizing event categories like tables in a spreadsheet. Mathematical precision stands in deep contrast with the eye of the camera, which intimately drifts between scenes taken from home archives, emphasizing the passing of time. By contrasting experiences with the numbers summarizing them, the director emphasizes everything that is elusive and indescribable, and what is the content of everyday life.
Agnieszka Zwiefka with her project „She” was selected for Berlinale talents – script station.