In their filigree drawings populated by hybrid creatures, Polish twin sisters Alicja und Bożena Wahl didn’t just explore themselves, but also the close relationship they shared. Helena Stańczyk’s animated film brings these drawings to life and supplements them with collages and texts taken from Alicja’s diary entries from the 60s and 70s. At times directly addressing her sister Bożena, Alicja’s voice gives an account of surreal dreams and events involving her daughters while reflecting upon memories. Shot through with different physical and mental motifs, “I’m Painting a Self-Portrait, but All I See Is My Sister’s Face” is a film teeming with different elements, abruptly propelling the viewer into a place of artistic symbiosis and female self-discovery. A tribute to two women who left their mark on the Warsaw art scene and have received increasing international attention posthumously too.

Carolin Weidner

Information only trickles out sporadically from isolated Belarus. And those held in Belarusian custody seem almost out of reach. Having fled to Poland himself in the wake of state repression, Andrei Kutsila brings the fates of three detainees to light in this film testimony, which is polyphonic at both a narrative and visual level. They represent the more than 65,000 people who have been criminalised and detained since Alexander Lukashenko’s controversial re-election in 2020. There is Kasia, a student who uses her art to find a way to cope with everyday life in captivity. Rendered in dark tones, her drawings offer insights into a harrowing situation, while simultaneously serving to guide the viewer through “Letters from the Silenced Country” in animated form. Then there is the activist Witold Aschurak, who receives photographs from a friend while in prison. Footage from surveillance cameras documents his mistreatment before his eventual death in custody. Meanwhile, former detective Andrei Astapovich is in Poland investigating the crimes committed in his former homeland and compiling evidence for the Belarusian opposition organisation BYPOL. An anonymous man also gets his say; he lives in constant fear of being arrested. Andrei Kutsila’s film is a compilation of true horrors – right in the midst of Europe.

Carolin Weidner