"THE HAMLET SYNDROME" WITH A SPECIAL MENTION
Another festival appreciated the documentary by the duo Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski. This time, the production captivated the jury of the Budapest International Documentary Festival in Hungary.
The Budapest International Documentary Festival is the only international documentary festival held in the capital of Hungary. It presents the most interesting productions from around the world and also invites their creators and organizes Q&A with them after every screening.
One of the films invited to this year's programme was The Hamlet Syndrome by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski. The documentary did so well that it received a Special Mention from the Jury.
The war had a strong impact on the generation of young Ukrainians. A few months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 five protagonists, inspired by the motives from Hamlet, on stage come back to brutal experiences from previous years, trying to fight their traumas. Each of the characters in their own way struggles with some kind of disappointment, helplessness or anger. SŁAWIK as a soldier went through a real hell of war and captivity. KATIA wants her mother to finally forgive her for going to the front. RODION fled the conflict-ridden Donbass and, as an LGBT person, struggles with the growing homophobic behaviors in post-revolutionary Ukraine. ROMAN as a war medic rescued wounded soldiers and still struggles with traumatic memories. OKSANA as an actress struggles on the artistic front. But the significant thing for all of them is that, regardless of what values they represent, the last years were a series of shocking experiences that brutally left marks on their psyche. For each of them, the stage becomes a tribune from which they can shout their griefs while asking themselves the Hamletian question: to be or not to be?
The list of awarded films can be found here.