filmPOLSKA 2024: Festivaleröffnung mit IM RÜCKSPIEGEL

In the organizer's words:

PL/FRA/UKR 2023
D: Maciek Hamela
84 min, OVD
C: Yura Dunay, Wawrzyniec Skoczylas, Marcin Sierakowski & Piotr Grawender
S: Piotr Ogiński
M: Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz

Even if they don't say anything, their faces speak volumes. Crammed together on the benches of the minibus, they look into an uncertain future. You can see fear, exhaustion, worry and rarely relief in their eyes. Only slowly do you realize that this is not a vacation trip, but an evacuation. The passengers are leaving the war in eastern Ukraine behind and with it their belongings, relatives, animals and their previous lives. A long and dangerous journey lies ahead of them.

The film limits itself to the bare essentials. For the most part, we observe the fugitives like the driver - statically, in the rear-view mirror, looking back rather than forward. In the few scenes outside the car, the dramatic context of the events unfolds - tearful farewells, mines on the road, blown-up bridges and repeated roadblocks. And yet there is hope, because every journey brings another handful of people to safety. [Rainer Mende]

Maciek Hamela will be on site.