THE QUEEN OF SILENCE WINS THE BIG GOLDEN NANOOK
The documentary film by Agniesza Zwiefka was given the grand prix at the recently finished Flahertiana festival.
15. International Documentary Film Festival "Flahertiana" was held in the Russian city of Perm from 18 to 24 September. The name of the festival refers to the surname of one of the world precursors of documentalism, Robert Flaherty - the director of the famous film "Nanook of the North" (1922).This is why the awards given at the festival are called "Nanook Awards." This year, the festival's Grand Prix, that is, the Golden Nanook, went to Agnieszka Zwiefka for the film "The Queen of Silence".
The film "The Queen of Silence" is a film telling the story of deaf and mute girl, 10 year-old Denisa, who lives on an illegal gypsy encampment, but also the story of the place itself, threatened with eviction. Like other children on the encampment, Denisa has never been to school, she can neither read nor write, and lives in extremely difficult conditions, without running water and constant access to electricity. In addition, she is also laughed at by her peers, who call her "the deaf one" or "the silly one," rarely using her name. However, Denisa lives in her own world. Since she found a box with Bollywood films among the rubbish, she finds escape from the everyday reality in them. The girl spends all her days watching Bollywood choreography and tries to imitate it. Because Denisa never learnt to speak, dance is her only language. Only by dancing she can give vent to her anger, show sadness or joy. In the film, two layers - the documentary, strictly observational one, and the musical one, inspired by Bollywood, smoothly intertwine with one another, creating one, consistent story.
You can read more about the presence of Polish films at Flahertiana festival in our last news article.