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Polish Roma poet movie Papusza wins in Istanbul

PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge 22.04.2014 12:33
A biopic about a poet who was shunned by her Roma peers after she ventured into the Polish literary world has won the Special Jury Prize at the 33rd Istanbul Film Festival.

Jowita
Jowita Budnik as Papusza. Image: next-film

“We found the voice of this film out of the ordinary: loving but respectful, resisting the anecdotal, sometimes even distant and just observant, as required by such a sensitive topic,” the jury concluded in a press release.

Shot in black and white by husband and wife team Krzysztof Krauze and Joanna Kos-Krauze, Papusza explores the poet's relationship with Jerzy Ficowski, the Polish writer who discovered her in the wake of World War II.

Bronislawa Wajs was born in Lublin in 1908, but prior to the communist era she led a mostly nomadic life, in keeping with Roma traditions.

However, she was ultimately accused of betraying secrets of Roma culture and customs, and she spent some time in a mental hospital, before dying in isolation in 1987.

The biopic has already won awards at festivals in India, Greece, Spain, the Czech Republic and Poland, and the directors were awarded 5000 euros in Istanbul.

The Special Jury Prize comes second only to the festival's Golden Tulip Award, which was won this year by Norwegian director Eskil Vogt for the film Blind. (nh)

tags: Polish film
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