Polish film director (born 1973)
Małgorzata Szumowska
(
Polish:
[maw????ata
?u?m?fska]
; born 26 February 1973) is a
Polish
film director, screenwriter and producer, born in
Krakow
.
Her 2013 film
In the Name Of
received the
Teddy Award
for Best Feature at the
63rd Berlin International Film Festival
,
[1]
[2]
and received the Grand Prix at the 32nd annual
Istanbul Film Festival
.
[3]
Her film
Body
was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the
65th Berlin International Film Festival
.
[4]
Szumowska won the
Silver Bear for Best Director
for
Body
. In 2018, she received
Jury Grand Prix
at the
68th Berlin International Film Festival
for her film
Mug
.
[5]
Career
[
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]
Szumowska spent two years studying
history of art
at the
Jagiellonian University
before she started
film studies
.
[6]
Szumowska graduated from the celebrated
National Film School in Łod?
, which boasts such alumni as
Andrzej Wajda
,
Roman Pola?ski
or
Krzysztof Kie?lowski
.
[7]
As a student, Szumowska made a short which was ranked 14th in the history of
Łod? Film School
.
[6]
Cisza
(
Silence
) is a short documentary film in which Szumowska tried to capture a simple life of a Polish rural family.
In 2001, she became a member of the
European Film Academy
.
[8]
In 2016, she was a member of jury headed by
Meryl Streep
at the
66th Berlin International Film Festival
.
[9]
In 2018, she was also selected a member of the jury headed by
Guillermo del Toro
at the
75th Venice International Film Festival
.
[10]
In 2020, her film co-directed with
Michał Englert
Never Gonna Snow Again
was selected as the Polish entry for the
Best International Feature Film
at the
93rd Academy Awards
.
[11]
Szcz??liwy człowiek
(
Happy man
)
[
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]
Szumowska graduated from the film college in 1998 and made her debut feature film
Szcz??liwy człowiek
(
Happy Man
) in 2001. The film was nominated to The
European Film Award
and Szumowska became a member of the
European Film Academy
in the same year.
[12]
The plot explores complicated relationships among three people facing enormous difficulties who nonetheless strive to achieve happiness, or, at least, steer clear of tragedy.
[6]
Ono
(
Stranger
)
[
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]
Her next film,
Ono
(
Stranger
), focused on the relationship between a pregnant woman and the baby she is expecting. Having decided not to have an abortion, the mother tries to prepare her child for the experience of the outside world. Things get complicated when the woman faces health problems.
[13]
Ojciec
(
Father
)
[
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]
In 2005 Szumowska made a short film
Ojciec
(
Father
), one of thirteen contemporary stories written by Polish film directors to celebrate
Solidarity
which made up the film
Solidarno??, Solidarno??
(
Solidarity, Solidarity
). Based on her father's experiences, Szumowska's film uses archival footage from his documentaries.
[13]
[14]
33 sceny z ?ycia
(
33 Scenes from Life
)
[
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]
A significant breakthrough in Szumowska's career came in 2008, with
33 sceny z ?ycia
(
33 Scenes from Life
), starring Julia Jentsch, which won a Special Prize at the
Locarno International Film Festival
.
[6]
Inspired by her own life, but, as she is careful to emphasize, "not autobiographical",
[6]
the film tells the story of Julia. A talented photographer married to Piotr, a successful composer, Julia has a perfect and financially comfortable life until one day the idyll is interrupted.
Elles
[
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]
Szumowska worked also as a co-producer of
Antichrist
,
Lars von Trier
's horror film released in 2009.
[13]
In 2011, she completed her international project,
Elles
, starring Juliette Binoche. The worldwide premiere of
Elles
took place at
Toronto International Film Festival
.
[15]
It tells the story of Anne, a Parisian
journalist
investigating prostitution among the students. Her research takes her to two girls, Charlotte and Alice, whose lives differ greatly from her own. They let her discover a world which she finds both repulsive and seductive.
[13]
[16]
In the Name Of
[
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]
Adam is a
Catholic
priest who discovered his calling as a servant of God at the relatively late age of 21. He now lives in a village in rural
Poland
where he works with teenagers with
behavioral
problems who fight and yell abuse. He declines the advances of a young brunette named Ewa; saying he is already spoken for. However; celibacy is not the only reason for his rejection. Adam knows that he desires men and that his embrace of the
priesthood
has been a flight from his own
sexuality
. When he meets Dynia; the strange and taciturn son of a simple rural family; Adam's self-imposed abstinence becomes a heavy burden.
Personal life
[
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]
Szumowska is the daughter of journalists Maciej Szumowski and
Dorota Terakowska
and the sister of Wojciech Szumowski, a documentary film director. She has been married to actor
Mateusz Ko?ciukiewicz
since 2011. They have one daughter Alina born on 3 December 2012. She has a son Maciej from a previous relationship with the editor Jacek Drosio.
References
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External links
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2001?present
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