FAMU versus Łódź Film School
As part of the FAMU versus program, the Łódź Film School accepted an invitation to FAMUFEST. Five Polish students will present their work in the Bio Oko cinema.
Polar Bears / Bartosz Stankiewicz / 20 min / original language: PL / subtitles: CZ, EN – Young wrestler Kuba is preparing for his first semi-professional match. But when he weighs himself at training, he finds out that he has to lose four kilos in twenty-four hours or he won't even be allowed to compete. Wanting to lose weight fast, he returns home, where he meets his brother, who is hiding from the police. Together they embark on an extreme weight loss journey: cycling, bathing in hot water, sweating under a blanket. During the exhausting process, Kuba receives a very unusual offer from his brother.
Trigger warning: eating disorder
There Are People In The Forest / Szymon Ruczyński / 10 min / original language: PL / subtitles: CZ, EN – A lonely man limps down the road. A truck drives up to him. Several armed men jump out of it. They capture the limping man and transport him to the forest. The only witnesses of the scene are people from a nearby village. Since 2021, situations like these are commonplace on the Polish-Belarussian border of the EU, which is the scene of an ongoing refugee crisis. An animated documentary whose creator happens to live in a town by the border.
Trigger warning: violence, death, real life events
Lament No.1 / Jakub Jakubik / 27 min / original language: PL / subtitles: CZ, EN – Crying is commonly seen as an essential part of grieving, helping to deal with loss. Holding back your emotions is often frowned upon, especially by the closest ones…
Trigger warning: death, dead body
Walka Z Cieniem / Nadiya Rodkina / 21 min / original language: PL / subtitles: CZ, EN – The political situation in Belarus forced Dima to flee the country. Fearing for his loved ones, he constantly maintains contact with those who had to stay there. Despite his various efforts to start a new life in Poland, he keeps fighting the shadow of his past.
Be Somebody / Michał Toczek / 27 min / original language: PL / subtitles: CZ, EN – A regular guy, an electrician named Wiktor moves in with his family to a new apartment. Soon they find out that the apartment used to belong to Lech Walesa, a Polish Nobel Peace Prize winner, who started out as an electrician. Wiktor's wife, Sylwia, starts to make money on foreign tourists, turning their new home into a museum and her husband into Walesa's impersonator. Sylwia's new obsession leads to Wiktor's confrontation with Walesa's legend.
Total screening time: 105 min.
