OFF WORLD

The Off World series is an original idea for the screening of films that describe specific cultural climate and social phenomena characteristic for a certain part of the world, regardless of whether the director used a form of documentary, feature or animation. The films in Off World are a specific reaction to those phenomena in the given cinema, allowing us to look at the matters of people from other cultural circles through their eyes, and not through the perspective of the Western culture.

We finish issuing tickets 30 minutes before the screening or when there are no more left.

Screening curator: Andrzej Rusin

The American Bull, dir. Fatemeh Tousi (Iran) 2019, 15’

Teenage Saheb is the only one in his village who has an American breeding bull. He treats him like a friend and is very proud of him. The animal gives the boy a secure livelihood and unique social position. Local cattle breeders have always been satisfied with the American bull’s numerous offsprings, but that is starting to change…

Polish premiere.

Mother Mariam, dir. Mustafa Gürbüz (Turkey) 2020, 9’

Mother Mariam is the last christian in the village where muslims and christians have been living together for many years. One day the woman dies, and muslim villagers wonder how to bury her according to the rules of her religion.

Film presented e.g. at Ankara IFF. Polish premiere.

Smoky Mountain, dir. Albert Oriol (France) 2019, 20’

Sony, the 8-year-old Cambodian, lives off what he can find at the landfill site. When his father throws him out of the house, the charity institution takes him in. Now he seems to have everything that he was deprived of before…

European premiere.

The Wake, dir. Riad Bouchoucha (France) 2019, 24’

Salim returns to his family house to collect money for his mother’s funeral. He feels like a stranger in a crowd of his religious relatives. The day before the funeral his prodigal brother Imad shows up. Film presented e.g. at ISFF in Clermont-Ferrand.

Polish premiere.

All on a Mardi Gras Day, dir. Michal Pietrzyk (USA) 2019, 23’

Demond lives in the worst district of New Orleans. Throughout the year, he sews a feathered outfit in which he will perform as the Great Chief at the Mardi Gras parade, celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday.

Film presented at the Berlinale and the FF in Tribeca.