“FRAGMENTS” SELECTED FOR DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT AT CANNES

“Fragments” – a graduation film by Aga Woszczyńska, produced by the Polish National Film School in Lodz in co-production with AT Productions and Before My Eyes will be screened as a part of the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Directors’ Fortnight) during the 67th Cannes Film Festival between 14th and 25th May.

Created by the French Directors Guild in the wake of the events of May ’68, the Directors’ Fortnight seeks to aid filmmakers and contribute to their discovery by the critics and audiences alike. From its initial program in 1969, it casts its lot with the non-compromising, avant-garde cinema. It was here, where the biggest names of author-driven cinema such as Werner Herzog, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Ken Loach, Jim Jarmusch, Jerzy Skolimowski, Dardenne brothers  and  Michael Haneke showcased their first films. The following awards are presented to the films screened as a part of Directors’ Fortnight - SACD Prize, Label Europa Cinemas, Art Cinema Award and Illy Prize Short Film.

The selection of “Fragments” by Aga Woszczyńska to Director’s Fortnight marks a success of Polish cinema. So far only few films including “Four nights with Anna” by Jerzy Skolimowski, “Code Blue” by Urszula Antoniak, short fiction film “Drawn from memory” by Marcin Bortkiewicz and “Congress” by Ari Forman which was selected last year -have made it to its prestigious programme. The exact dates of screenings for “Fragments” will be revealed at the beginning of May.

“Fragments” is a collection of loosely connected scenes, depicting a breakdown of a relationship and a collapse of the world to which the main female character is desperately clinging on to. Anna and her partner have well-paid jobs, intense sex and go jogging every other morning. They live comfortable yet monotonous bourgeois life. That makes Anna slowly fall apart.

“Fragments” features young, talented actors such as: Agnieszka Żulewska and Dobromir Dymecki as well as following supporting actors - Sławomir Orzechowski, Sebastian Stankiewicz, Katarzyna Wajda and Tomasz Borkowski. Bartosz Świniarski is the film’s director of photography.

Aga Woszczyńska is a graduate of Film Directing faculty at the Polish National Film School in Lodz. She directed several short films including „Luiza Hert” and „Wake up”, which were successfully screened at numerous film festivals in Poland and abroad. Currently she is working on her documentary debut film and first full-length feature film.

This is what she said about working on “Fragments”: In a film the protagonist usually goes from spot A to spot Z and in spot P he/she undergoes a transformation. This has proved to be a truly attractive construction for the audience to follow. While in real life we don’t really know what comes next, have a precise plan or can tell where the spot Z is. That is exactly what I’ve shown in my film and it may seem unattractive. However, the incredible engagement of the cast and the crew helped us bring something very unique onto the screen. I thank them for all their effort – this is the best thing a director can get.

The compelete list of selected fims and more on Directors' Fortnight can be discovered here

Source: press release by Polish National Film School in Łódź