East of the West - Competition 2008 / Pora umierać / Poland 2007
After an official lease comes to an end, the last tenant leaves what was once a grand villa, now in a state of disrepair. The elderly owner plans to renovate her family home, but her son has other ideas. This minimalist black-and-white film offers a poetic testimony in which the ascetic, objective camera is directed at the main character, superbly portrayed by the legendary Polish actress, 93-year-old Danuta Szaflarska.
An elderly woman enters the surgery and when the doctor, without looking up from her papers, orders her to take off her clothes, she replies: “F… you!” She then returns to her run-down wooden villa where the last of her tenants – forced upon her by the authorities – is moving out. Aniela is now able to savour her newly acquired privacy, which she shares with her faithful companion and guardian – her dog. She dreams of renovating the large villa and hopes that her son will move in with his family to live with her. He, however, has other plans for the family estate. The beautiful summer days pass by, the old lady conducts endless monologues and begins to feel increasing loathing towards her son and his silly, obese daughter. She senses that the world is losing its values, and she herself is losing the will to live. Thus she decides upon a possibly misguided course of action – yet, in doing so, she guarantees that her house will live on. This minimalist black-and-white film offers a poetic testimony in which the ascetic, detached photography of Arthur Reinhart is directed at the wistful solitude of the main character, superbly portrayed by the legendary Polish actress, 93-year-old Danuta Szaflarska.
104 min / Black & white, 35 mm
Director Dorota Kędzierzawska
/ Screenplay Dorota Kędzierzawska
/ Dir. of Photography Arthur Reinhart
/ Music Włodek Pawlik
/ Editor Dorota Kędzierzawska, Arthur Reinhart
/ Producer Piotr Miklaszewski, Arthur Reinhart
/ Production Tandem Taren-To, Kid Film
/ Cast Danuta Szaflarska, Krysztof Globisz, Patrycja Szewczyk
/ Contact Kid Film
www: www.kidfilm.pl/timetodie
Dorota Kędzierzawska (b. 1957, Łódź, Poland) won important awards for her short films while she was still studying film and drama in Moscow and Łódź: Agnieszka (1980), The Egg (Jajko, 1982), Beginning (Początek, 1983) and Gucia (1985). Her debut End of the World (Koniec świata, 1988) brought her a Golden Ducat in Mannheim, her film Devils, Devils (Diabły, diabły, 1991) was hailed in Cannes, she received a series of domestic and international awards at various festivals for her film Crows (Wrony, 1994), and also for her subsequent films Nothing (Nic, 1998), and I Am (Jestem, 2005). The last two films mentioned were also screened in Karlovy Vary.
Kid Film
Orzechowskiego 19, 04-824, Warsaw
Poland
E-mail: [email protected]
Danuta Szaflarska
Actress
Karolina Rozwod
Producer
Maciej Karpinski
Film Institution Rep., Film Institution Rep.
Maria Letowska
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