Documentary film. Director: Borys Lankosz, 2001.
St. Albert's House of Social Assistance in Ojców is situated in the heart of a beautiful nature reserve. Several dozen men have found shelter here. They are medically handicapped, demented and crippled. They live in their own world, whose boundaries are set by the walls of the house. Outside there is nothing for them, only intrusive gestures, from which they cannot free themselves, words and thoughts they are unable to voice. Here, a man lies in a fit of convulsions. Another appears and tells the first one to get up. He helps him dress and leads him to breakfast. From now on he will not leave him and will help him with everything. He will caress him, hug him and coddle him. And though no words are uttered, it is visible that the two are very close. If Down's syndrome raises walls between people, they knock these walls down every day with incredible tenderness and love. A New Year is drawing and a new millennium is about to begin. Residents of the house in Ojcow greet it with a carnival ball. One of them, seeing a Virgin Mary figurine in the garden beckons at her and shouts from behind the glass "come, come". Another one is repeating "I will not disappear, there is no exit". Yet, they go. Helping and supporting each other, they lead each other by the hand and glide through the snowy wilderness. Are they really walking or do they only dream of a journey?
"While seeing films like this one, I always think whether the director does not mistreat the helpless protagonists. Where does the border of decency lie? What can be filmed and what should remain not shown? I think that everything is all right when the director stands on the side of his protagonists. Not against us, but with us. This is what happens in 'Rozwój / Evolution'." (Lech Kurpiewski, "Film")
- Rozwój / Evolution. Director: Borys Lankosz. Screenplay: Marcin Koszałka, Borys Lankosz. Cinematography: Marcin Koszałka. Music: Abel Korzeniowski. Sound: Anna Rutkowska. Editing: Marek Krol. Producer: Jacek Gwizdala. Executive production: Contra Studio, Telewizja Polska (Lodz). Production: Telewizja Polska Channel II. 2001, colour, 45 min.
Awards:
- Golden Gate Award in the category of documentaries at the San Francisco International Film Festival, 2002;
- Silver Dragon to the director of the best documentary in the international competition of the Cracow Film Festival, Bronze Hobby-Horse [Lajkonik] and "Pi Gallery" award at the national competition of the same festival in Cracow, 2002;
- Bronze Turon and Student Jury Award at the Cadca Festival of Ethnographic Films "ETNOFILM" in Slovakia, 2002;
- award for best documentary at the Dubrovnik International Film Festival, 2003.
Source: the catalogue "Young Polish Cinema", published by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, June 2007