Forest / Las

country, year

Poland, Czech Republic, 2024

genre

documentary

running time

84′

directed by

Lidia Duda

languages

Polish

subtitles 

Slovene subtitles

about the film

Asia and Marek moved to the edge of one of the oldest forests in Europe, on the eastern Polish border. For their children, the forest is not only a playground, but also a second home. But when the Polish border becomes one of the centres of the refugee crisis, refugees, unwanted everywhere, are stranded at the border, in the forest. The idyllic family life is over, and questions of solidarity and personal responsibility come to the fore.

what was said about the film

“The state puts pressure on people not to help. Pushbacks are legal. I have found that I have a problem with this. Because politics in my understanding is a concrete person that I see. It’s a family in the middle of the wilderness, it’s a person who is malnourished, it’s a family with children. It is different to talk about politics on a human level, and it seemed to me that the state has abandoned the citizens, it has put the problem of ‘people on the move’ on them. And, as a result, instead of thanking them for saving the country with this humanitarian aid, it is directing criminal charges against them. /…/ I am full of admiration for the people who have decided to help, especially the people of Podlasie. They had to reconcile this with their normal lives, with their children, with school, with work. At some point, Asia and Marek lost their lives. At a certain moment, when this area was closed, everything revolved around the calls from the forest. Someone needed help, someone was sick, someone was hungry, someone was freezing, a woman was dying in the forest … And they went to help, and what they saw in that wilderness – which may sound very sterile and nice, that they went to help, there are images behind those words – a woman dying, children hypothermic, people with open fractures. These are images that stay in your head and you can’t get rid of them.”

– Lidia Duda for TVP info

trailer

about the author

Lidia Duda (1958) is a screenwriter and documentary film director. Her achievements include several important documentaries. A two-time winner of the Grand Prix at the Kraków Film Festival for her films Hercules (2005) and Entangled (2012). A Grand Prix winner at: Chicago, New York, Houston, Istanbul, Mexico, Moscow, Banff, Canton and Prague. Duda is a Grand Press laureate for My Home in Pietrasze at Prague film festival. She has worked as an independent artist for several years. A member of the Association of Polish Filmmakers, Polish Academy of Film and Polish Documentary Film Directors Guild.

festivals and awards

 39. Dok.fest Munchen 2024, Germany, 2024 

–  64. Krakow Film Festival, 2024, Poland, 2024 

– 26. Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, Greece, 2024: Silver Alexander Award

– Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz 2024, Austria, 2024 

– Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, Poland, 2024:  Lower Silesia Grand Prix (Wrocław); Best Polish film award; Amnesty International Poland award; Smakjam award for best production in polish competition; All About Freedom award 

– 26. Shanghai International Film Festival, Shanghai, China 2024

filmography

– At Home in Pietrasze (2001)

– Hercules (2006)

– Entangled (2012)

– Everything Is Possible (2013)

– Newborn (2018)

– Fledglings (2022)

– Forest (2024)