MAŁGORZATA SZUMOWSKA

The 2014 goEast Portrait is dedicated to Małgorzata Szumowska, one of the most interesting directors working in middle Europe at present. Her Teddy-winning feature W IMIE ... / IN THE NAME OF (2013) about a Polish priest struggling to reconcile his homosexuality with his faith enriched the gender-themed focus of goEast in 2013. Szumowska, who was born in Krakow in 1973, was represented at goEast in 2005 with STRANGER (2004), her second feature, and received the Award for Best Director.
The Portrait also showcases Szumowska’s early work. Before making her remarkable debut feature SZCZĘŚLIWY CZŁOWIEK / HAPPY MAN (2000), she shot a diverse series of shorts and documentaries, a selection of which will screen at the festival. Particular interest was roused by her short documentary CISZA / SILENCE (1997), which is now listed among the best films made by students at the Lódz film academy. Szumowska graduated in directing from the renowned Polish institution in 1998. She also works as a screenwriter and producer; in 2009 she co-produced Lars von Trier’s ANTICHRIST.
One of her most successful films to date was 33 SCENY Z ZYCIA / 33 SCENES FROM LIFE (2008), in which Julia Jentsch plays a photographer whose picture-book life is devastated when her mother falls ill with cancer. The film received the Polish Film Award and the Special Prize of the Jury at Locarno. A strong woman is also at the centre of her international production ELLES (2011), which stars Juliette Binoche as a Parisian journalist who interviews two students working as high-class call girls and re-discovers her own sexuality in the process.

WORKSHOP TALK WITH MALGORZATA SZUMOWSKA
Festival Centre: 12.04. / 16.00 h
Moderator: Nikolaj Niktin