The house where Jan now lives used to belong to Tzvika Aigerman. He survived the Shoah and actually wanted to return to his home, and yet he disappeared without a trace. Jan has never spoken about that time; neither during the socialist period, nor afterwards. When Karolina tries to confront him, he reacts angrily. And Ksawery doesn't really want to talk about the past either: his grandfather is his grandfather, and the two love each other even though Jan, for political reasons, has no time for gays, even if he does for his grandson.
With this, his sixth feature film, film and theatre director Przemysław Wojcieszek alludes to the desire of many Poles to sweep Polish antisemitism both during and after the Second World War under the rug. Addressing postwar pogroms such as the one in Kielce, in which over 40 Jews were murdered in 1946, continues to lead to accusations of treachery, as Michal Jaskulski and Lawrence Loewinger's documentary BOGDAN'S JOURNEY (also part of the JFBB 2025 programme) demonstrates. The familial affection between Jan and Ksawery doesn't make the conflict any easier: each of them is forever the outsider in this toxic three-way relationship.
A film about a dispute that, though painful, heals no one. Because the truth, which no one here knows or wants to know or believes they know, has been lost from the very beginning behind a complex web of speculation and accusations, whitewashing and concealment.
Text: Bernd Buder
Following the screenings there will be a Q&A with director Przemyslaw Wojcieszek.