Body

Director: Małgorzata Szumowska
Poland | Polish
2015 | 90min | Colour 
Subtitles: English
Saturday, Nov 7 Club House, 8:30 PM
Presented in collaboration with the Polish Institute, New Delhi.

Set in present day Poland, Body explores the intertwined stories of a criminal prosecutor, his anorexic daughter and her therapist, who claims to be able to communicate with the dead. The three characters come together to offer explanations of what it means to live- viewing the body as an object, a site of loss, or a thing of beauty and hope. The widowed prosecutor is worried that his daughter, Olga, is suicidal and sends her to therapy. However Anna, the quirky psychiatrist, has her own way of overcoming depression. The  film deals with loss and grief in unfamiliar ways, lending a dark, comedic undertone to the plot as it follows three different approaches to coming to terms with loneliness. 

Małgorzata Szumowska

Małgorzata Szumowska is a screenwriter, producer, documentary and feature film director from Poland. Winner of several international film awards, including the Teddy Award for her feature film, In the Name of at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Silver Leopard Award at the Locarno Film Festival for 33 Scenes from Life. She was nominated twice for the European Film Awards for Happy Man and Stranger. Her movie Elles, featuring Juliette Binoche and Anais Demoustier, was sold to over 40 countries. Her latest film Body was selected to be screened at the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival where it went on to win the Silver Bear for Best Director.

Credits

Director: Małgorzata Szumowska
Producers: Jacek Drosio, Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert
Screenwriters: Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert
Cinematographer: Michał Englert
Editor: Jacek Drosio
Sound: Kacper Habisiak, Marcin Kasiński
Production Company: Nowhere SP. Z.O.O, Poland
Cast: Janusz Gajos, Maja Ostaszewska , Justyna Suwała , Ewa Dałkowska, Adam Woronowicz, Tomasz Ziętek, Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik, Ewa Kolasińska, Roman Gancarczyk, Władysław Kowalski

Festival Appearances & Awards

Berlin International Film Festival 2015 – Silver Bear Award for Best Director
Brussels Film Festival 2015 – Jury Prize
Kino Pavavsaris IFF, Lithuania 2015 – Best Actor Award for Janusz Gajo
Al Este de Lima Festival 2015 – Main Prize
International Women’s Film Festival Dortmund 2015 – Special Mention
Toronto International Film Festival 2015
Busan International Film Festival 2015