The film begins when it seems that Agata’s illness, her companion for almost twenty years, is finally a thing of the past. The protagonist undergoes final surgeries and hopes to “start a new life” soon. She lives and works in London, her artistic career begins to develop, and love appears in her personal life. Unfortunately, the disease returns. The struggle with it determines the main narrative axis of the film, just as successive surgeries determine the rhythm of Agata’s life. What is the most significant though, is the heroine’s creative and spiritual quest, which occurs simultaneously. Agata faces not only her illness – in trying to understand her experience, she confronts the trauma of the past. Can forgiveness of the wrongs suffered in childhood have a liberating and healing power? Each stage of the illness corresponds to another stage of the artist’s work, which becomes more and more interesting, mature and profound. And this is also why Agata’s approach, filled with determination and extraordinary vitality, is impressive and yet at the same time she is seen in all her fragility and defenselessness as she is facing what she is unable to come to terms with – the changes that the disease imprints on her body. Using a variety of visual means, from created, dreamlike scenes to raw footage recorded with a smartphone, the film is an emotional, mesmerizing tale of dying and rebirth, accomplished through flesh and matter – paint mixed with printouts of examinations, records of ultrasounds and other people’s memories, the coexistence of heartbeat and brushstrokes.
Małgorzata Kozera
Malgorzata Kozera studied cultural anthropology at the University of Warsaw and Copenhagen, followed by directing at PWSFTviT in Lodz. She is the author of award-winning short films and the winner of the Teresa Torańska Newsweek Award for her documentary film “The Rebellion” (2014, 56 min, co-produced by Vision House, Al Jazeera Documentary & TVP Kultura). She regularly collaborates with the Polin Museum and other cultural institutions, writes song lyrics and short literary forms, and is raising two sons. “Faces of Agata” is her feature-length debut. Film was nominated to Polish Films Award (Best Documentary Film).