Still from "Drawn from Memory" photo: Studio Munka
A short about changing human relationships and a family’s struggle with sickness is screened at the Cannes International Film Festival as part of the Directors’ Fortnight
Having received a camera for his high school graduation, Marek starts filming his grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. The film shows the effect of filming as an medium of communication on a relationship between grandmother and grandson. The camera lens sheds new light on the figure of the grandmother, from a person who seems to exist only as part of the family structure, she starts to become a real human being with desires and fears. Film director Marcin Bortkiewicz adds "Marek gets to know a person who he spent his life with but did not know. If it wasn’t for the camera, he would still perceive her through “stereotypical”, motionless feelings".
Starring Polish actress Irena Jun, best known for her theatre roles, as the grandmother who agrees to be filmed only under the condition that she can make her dream come true: to play a vampire in a series of amateur horror films. After realising that his grandmother is losing her memory, Marek decides to go in a different direction with the movie.
In an interview with Polish journalist Zofia Ścisłowska, the film director mentioned two new projects he is working on. Nakręceni / Wound Up - a short documentary mini portrait of high school students facing problems with learning, adapting to society and abiding by the law and another short documentary – Lewa połowa twarzy / The Left Side of the Face about the photographer Leszek Krutulski who travels around Poland photographing the left side of people’s faces only to take the picture of the right side ten years later.
Marcin Bortkiewicz – film and theatre director, playwright, scriptwriter and comedian born in Słupsk in 1976. Graduate of the University of Gdańsk and the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing, he has worked in several theatres throughout Poland.
Screening:
Portret z Pamięci / Drawn from Memory will be screened in Cannes on Thursday May 24th at 2:30 pm and on Saturday May 26th at 7:30 pm as part of the “Programme Courts 2”, for more information see: http://www.quinzaine-realisateurs.com/programme
As a continuation of the Directors' Fortnight, Drawn From Memory will be screened in Paris, Marseille, Rome, Milan and Brussels.
Sources: Polish Shorts, culture.pl, Directors' Fortnight Cannes
Editor: Marta Jazowska