09/08/2023 - The first documentary directed by the actress born in Poland but naturalised Italian is both an intimate diary and a denunciation of refugee policy

Mur, a documentary marking the filmmaking debut of actress Kasia Smutniak (The Hummingbird [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benedetta Porcaroli
film profile]), is set to be presented in a world premiere within the Official Selection of TIFF Docs, unspooling within the Toronto International Film Festival. Written by Smutniak in league with Marella Bombini, the movie is being produced by Fandango in association with Luce Cinecittà and will be distributed in Italy by Luce Cinecittà. International sales are entrusted to Fandango Sales.

“I’m happy and honoured that this film is being presented in the Toronto Festival’s Official Selection”, the director enthused. “Mur was born out of the need to communicate the difficult situation on the Poland-Belorussia border, but ultimately it turned out to be an unexpected, intimate journey”.

Mur begins in March 2022, a few days after Russia has invaded Ukraine and the whole of Europe has mobilised to grant asylum to Ukrainian refugees. The country which stood out most for the speed and warmth of its welcome was Poland, the very same country which has just begun building the most expensive wall in Europe aimed at preventing other refugees from entering the country. A strip of land running the full length of the Belorussian border, known as the red zone, prevents anyone from getting close to or seeing the wall under construction, the latter being the true protagonist of this particular story.

An uncertain and risky foray into the red zone which isn’t open to the media, the journey begins in front of a wall and ends in front of another. With the help of local activists and equipped with minimal technical gear, the director reaches the border and films the very thing people don’t want to talk about. The first wall repels migrants arriving from far off lands through the oldest wood in Europe, an impenetrable frontier in a sea of trees. The wood in question is Puszcza Białowieża, which, much like the sea, is a brand-new experience for the thousands of people attempting this journey. The second wall, opposite the window of the Smutniak’s grandparents’ house in Łódź where she played as a child, is the wall of the Jewish cemetery in the old Litzmannstadt ghetto.

In her attempt to reconcile with her own past, Kasia Smutniak returns home with an acute realisation: we shouldn’t make distinctions in how we welcome people; everyone in danger should be helped and a continent which describes itself as democratic shouldn’t be building walls.

(Translated from Italian)