(SIGNIS / INTERFILM). Appointed by INTERFILM and SIGNIS, the Ecumenical Jury at the 30th Film Festival Cottbus (December 8-13, 2020) awarded its Prize to Jak Najdalej Stad (I never cry) by Piotr Domalewski, Poland, 2020.
Seventeen-year-old Ola is sent from Poland to Dublin to arrange the transfer of her father’s body, after he died in a container port. Initially interested in finding the money that her father had promised her, she instead encounters a deplorable state of affairs and a number of administrative irregularities in European labour migration.
In a moving film, lead actress Zofia Stafiej shows tremendous poise and presence in portraying the inner transformation of Ola amid remarkable hardship. Well written and subtly acted and staged, the film ably balances the personal narrative of its protagonist longing for change with a powerful portrait of a society marked by social imbalance.
The members of the Jury were Françoise Wilkowski (France), Mladen Aleksic (Serbia), Théo Peporté (Luxembourg), et Daniel Gewand (Germany).
For more information on the festival, visit Film Festival Cottbus (FFC).