KING MATT THE FIRST
POLISH TITLE: KRÓL MACIUŚ PIERWSZY
The world of sisters Zoja and Lea is filled with shared games, discoveries, and conversations, alongside their daily squabbles and disagreements. Initially, the girls, who bear a striking resemblance to one another, seem to share an extraordinary bond of sisterhood. However, as time passes, the older sister, Zoja, begins to grow apart from Lea. She loses interest in playing in the sand or swimming in the river, retreating into the realm of books and spending increasingly more time with her peers instead of her sister. Despite their differences, both girls share a deep-seated fear of crossing the threshold into adulthood, which they perceive as a source of danger. They observe how adults seem indifferent to the destruction of their world, ignoring environmental catastrophes and fueling war conflicts.
Jaśmina Wojcik’s creative documentary “King Matt the First” invites us into a realm unbound by adult hierarchies and constraints. It offers a contemplative journey into the intimate lives of the protagonists, where curiosity leads the way, and emotions and senses serve as vital tools. Yet, contemporary crises— war, pandemics, and cli- mate disasters—echo ominously in the background. Can we truly determine when childhood ends and adulthood begins? As adults, do we actually remember what it’s like to be a child? And when we enter adulthood, don’t we lose a sense of vulnerability forever? Most importantly, what can children teach us if we simply listen to their words? These questions, among many others, are explored in Jaśmina Wojcik’s film, inspired by Janusz Ko- rczak’s (Henryk Goldszmit) novel of the same name. More than a century after its publication, the author’s words remain profoundly relevant, resonating with the tensions and uncertainties of today’s reality—especially from the perspective of young people standing on the brink of adulthood.
- GENRE:
- documentary
- COUNTRY:
- Poland
- RUNNING TIME:
- 75'
- YEAR:
- 2025
- COLOUR:
- colour
- DIRECTING:
- Jaśmina Wójcik
- SCRIPT:
- Jaśmina Wójcik, Igor Stokfiszewski
- DOP:
- Jakub Wróblewski
- EDITOR:
- Anna Garncarczyk
- MUSIC:
- Dominik Strycharski
- PRODUCTION:
- Pinot Films, Marta Dużbabel, Agnieszka Rostropowicz
Jaśmina Wójcik »
Director, visual artist, and creator of listening-oriented participatory socio-artistic actions. She focuses on the inclusion and empowerment of communities that lack visibility and opportunities for expression. She is the author of the award-winning creative documentary “Symphony of the Ursus Factory” (2018), which has been screened at festivals including IFFR Rotterdam, Hot Docs, DOK Leipzig, DOC NYC, RIDM, and Millennium Docs Against Gravity. The film was also nominated for the Cinema Eye Honors and ORŁY film awards. She received grants from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage in 2007 and 2013. Winner of prizes and awards for her artistic work, including first prize at the Samsung Art Master Competition in 2007. Her works have been exhibited and can be found in the collections of the Zachęta National Art Gallery, the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art and the Bunkier Contemporary Art Gallery. For several years she has been involved in empathic education, developing original practices for children’s artistic expression. She gives children agency and subjectivity, treating them as co-creators and inviting them into dialogue. Currently, Wójcik mainly focuses on bottom-up educational initiatives, resulting in her new film based on Janusz Korczak’s novel of the same name, “King Matt the First”.