Synopsis

When adults are ineffectual, children have to grow up quickly. Ola is 14 and she takes care of her dysfunctional father, autistic brother and a mother who lives apart from them and is mainly heard the phone. Most of all she wants to reunite a family that simply doesn’t work like a defective TV set. She lives in the hope of bringing her mother back home. Her 13 year old brother Nikodem’s Holy Communion is a pretext for the family to meet up.

Director

• 

  Anna Zamecka
  

  Communion (2016)

  Having met Ola, Nikodem and their father I knew I wanted to make a film: about the strength of unconditional family love and the bonds forever securing it. In a cramped flat – where everything gets lost, deteriorates or falls to pieces—I saw three people so connected that a mere gesture from one of them led to an avalanche of reactions: anger,
  fear and concealed emotions. To capture this throng of objects and feelings the camera had to become the fourth family member.

Review

A 14-year-old girl named Ola, living in a shabby cramped apartment in the suburbs of Warsaw, takes care of her home by herself. Her father is on the drink all the time and inadequate as a parent, her mother left home and get in touch by telephone with her sometimes, and the autistic brother, two years younger than her, has always been mentally unstable.
<Communion> revolves around her preparing for the celebration of her brother Nikodem's First Communion, and carefully observes the life of which she takes responsibility unsuitable for her age. The celebration of the First Communion is one of the most important events in Poland, where more than 95 percent of its population is Catholic, and the day of the First Communion is when the whole family gathers together to celebrate it. For the day, she helps his brother, distracted by the autism, to memorize the phrase of the Bible, and she takes care of his father with poor ability. Further, she also tries to persuade her mother, living away from home, to attend the ceremony. By the way, her mother moved in with her baby after the Communion, and the course of the story is unfolding quickly in unexpected ways.
The director Anna Zamecka succeeded in having intimate relations with the persons and in capturing the dramatic moments in her first feature-length film. She made this film near perfect with careful shooting and refined style of editing, though standing at a respectful distance. Since the documentary won the jury prize of ‘Semaine de la critique’ at the 2016 Locarno International Film Festival, it has been favorably reviewed and had the attention in Europe. [Han Sun-hee]

Credits

• Director  Anna Zamecka
• Producer  Anna Wydra, Anna Zamecka, Zuzanna Król
• Cinematographer  Małgorzata Szyłak
• Editor  Agnieszka Glińska, Anna Zamecka, Wojciech Janas
• Sound  Anna Rok, Katarzyna Szczerba

Contribution & World Sales

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