POLISH WEDDING WITH A LIVELY DISCUSSION

Many years down the road, Wojciech Smarzowski, a popular critic of Polish society, has returned to the topic of his debut: The Wedding. Whereas there, he offered a rather cheerful observation, in his new The Wedding Day, which came away with two awards from the Tallinn festival, compares today’s xenophobia and disinterest in others with the behaviour of the Poles during WWII.

“During the period of martial law, when I was trying to dodge the draft and had no idea what to do with my life, I decided to go to film school. I bought some photo books at the store with that purpose in mind, and one was about Jews in pre-war Poland. I found out that Jews had lived in my hometown too, but I had no idea of it. I asked others where the synagogue had been, if there was a ghetto, but no one knew. Worse yet, nobody cared. Now I wanted to make a film about how it is necessary to create a memory,” the director explained the genesis of his novelty.

In Poland, The Wedding Day did not receive any financial support from the government and Smarzowski considers it a miracle that it came into existence at all. “When I made Volyn, I thought that historians would rework the topic of wartime killings between Poles and Ukrainians, and it would then make its way into history textbooks. Which was naive. Yet it is important to talk about these things. And even film is sometimes essential for raising awareness. I filmed The Wedding Day knowing that history repeats itself all the time,” the director said.

During a question-packed discussion, the Polish filmmaker also gave the audience a taste of his other projects: “I am planning a film about the Slavs, featuring a chosen people, a serial killer, as well as Duke Mieszko. I ask a fundamental question there – whether Mieszko was of Viking origin, as the Poles would like, or whether he came from Moravia – I don't know how our Minister of Culture will survive this... Before that, I want to make a more intimate film about domestic violence, because the family is sacred in Poland.”

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS OF THE FILM AT PRAGUE IFF – FEBIOFEST 3 MAY AT 9:30 P.M.