Friday 19 July
Selected UK cinemas only
TBA
'My Friend, the Polish Girl' - Dir. Ewa Banaszkiewicz, Mateusz Dymek, UK, 2018, 94 mins.
Cast. Aneta Piotrowska, Danusia Samal, Gareth Lawrence.
After a full house preview during KINOTEKA 2019 and following widespread acclaim and significant awards buzz from the festival circuit (Edinburgh Film Festival Best British Feature Film nominee 2018; Grand Prix at Koszalin Film Festival/Polish BIFAs, 2019), the film will be released in the UK on Friday 19th July in selected cinemas nationwide.
My Friend the Polish Girl watches as a contrived documentary told through the eyes (and lens) of amateur filmmaker Katie (Emma Friedman-Cohen): an American rich kid following unemployed Polish actress, Alicja (Aneta Piotrowska). Intended as a serious portrayal of Alicja’s partner’s supposed cancer, the film gradually starts to reveal the darker sides of the two female protagonists. Set in a post-Brexit-vote London, Katie’s colonising, disruptive presence in Alicja’s life mirrors the treatment of migrants in the UK: welcomed, used then discarded. A raw, sexual, and visually brash drama exploring the abusive power and control over someone’s intimacy.
Bringing to life a powerful and fresh visual language that combines drawn animation and style elements from vlogs, this convincing feature debut provides a reflection on the rapacious relationship between filmmaker, subject and spectator. The feature borrows from cinéma vérité and video bloggers to create a rare naturalism in style and performance.
You can watch trailer HERE.