Accreditation
 
European Film Academy - Young Audience Award 2016 v Bratislave
Tuesday 19.04.2016

European Film Academy - Young Audience Award 2016 v Bratislave

Martin Žiaran, ASK
Tuesday 29.03.2016

Martin Žiaran, ASK

Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
Sunday 20.03.2016

Fridrik Thor Fridriksson

Bartosz Konopka
Wednesday 16.03.2016

Bartosz Konopka

EFA master class with Paco Delgado
Tuesday 08.03.2016

EFA master class with Paco Delgado

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The Art of Disappearing

Spiritual clashing of cultures

The film gained a special mention during Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival in 2013. An unknown real story of a Haitian voodoo priest, who visited Poland in 1980 and conducted a ceremony to free the Poles from evil. A metaphysical view on the time of communism through the eyes of a stranger from a different culture.


Poland was a strange place for him. Even the rain was louder, as if in a land of deaf people. People gathered in queues for hours but they never spoke to each other. A romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz led him to the underworld and helped him contact Polish spirits. He survived the martial law period when the evil white water came from the sky, water that could not satisfy thirst. Finally, he decided to perform a great voodoo ceremony to free the Polish people from evil forces. The dead and alive unite in battle. The spirit of the Polish romanticism unites with the Haitian Loa spirits just as 200 years ago, during the great revolution in Haiti.


"Some people said the Poles were crazy with their history and we were crazy as filmmakers to make such a film. But for us, it was a very interesting journey into Polish mythology and romanticism, we didn’t expect that it still exists so strongly in our veins, this great need to work magic. We wanted to call the Polish spirits again and show them on the screen. It was very exciting for us."

Bartosz Konopka


After the international success of Rabbit á la Berlin, Bartosz Konopka once again teamed up with Piotr Rosolowski as co-directors of this film. Firstly, they did a lot of research about the real priest to find out everything about him. They also visited Haiti. And this was the main turning point of their work – they decided that the “spirit” of this priest is more important for their film than the priest himself. Trying to keep the balance between documentary and fiction they show certain historical events in Poland from a different perspective.

 

Directed by Bartosz Konopka, Piotr Rosolowski | Produced by Anna Wydra | Cinematography  Piotr Rosolowski | Editing Mateusz Romaszkan | 51´ |Poland, Germany| 2009

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