dir. M+M Hawkins
year. 2012/2018
country. UK
run-time. 1h 40min
£6.00 (£4.50 conc.)
Doors 14:00 Film 14:30
Part of London Migration Film Festival 2018
This original double bill and panel discussion offers two observational documentaries exploring everyday struggles of two Polish women in London. Violetta lives in shared accommodation with her adopted friends, lovers and family. Beata has travelled to London to collect her husband’s ashes and achieve closure on a traumatic period of her life.
Following the films there will be a panel with: the protagonists of the film, directors M+M Hawkins, Candida Yates (Professor of Culture and Communication, Bournemouth University), Dr. Kathy Burrell (expert on Polish Migration, University of Liverpool), and Dr. Elena Marchevska (Senior Lecturer in Drama and Performance, LSBU)
Violetta: A Private Life with a Polish Migrant: This observational documentary reflects the life of a group of Polish immigrants living together in one house in Plumstead. The everyday life of the tenants, connected by the shared space of the Victorian terrace, captures their relationships, cooking, interests and leisure. Ordinary life is seen from the perspective of one woman: Violetta, who expresses her feelings and experiences of migration in intimate interviews, stories and memories.
Husband and Wife: The wife of a Polish migrant comes to London to pick up the ashes of her late husband, who lived in Lewisham, for a few years before a tragedy changed their lives forever. Beata finds herself in a hostile environment which she doesn’t understand, but is committed to bringing the remains of her husband back home.
The filmmakers follow her in a relentless journey through bureaucratic procedures and personal flashbacks until she sets her mind and her marriage at peace again.