ELA -
SKETCHES FOR A DEPARTURE
Ela lives in a small provincial town in Poland. Her daily life is stuck in a routine, balancing work and family. But Ela has a dream: Like many young Polish people, Ela, too, wants to escape the tristesse of the housing estate and move West, into a better life.
GERMANY 2017 | FICTION | 25' 40" | DCP | 5.1 | Polish OV I STILLS © MARCO MÜLLER
Ela - Sketches on a Departure has won the GOLDEN HORSEMAN for best short film at the 29th International Short Film Festival FILMFEST DRESDEN and was selected for the short film competition of the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes
In 2017 it was shortlisted for the German Short Film Award LOLA and scored the Deutsche- Film und Medienbewertung's top certification mark for outstanding quality.
Ela - Szkice na Pożegnanie (Ela - Sketches on a Departure) is the melancholic and solar portrait of the hope and pain a definite uprooting can stir. Shot "like a jazz piece" in the director's own words, this intimate gesture, yet universal in scope, bears its author's experience in documentary and evokes heroines of the Dardenne brothers and Andrea Arnold. A powerful poem.
- Carole Milleliri
EDITOR NOTE
Editing Ela brought me to an intimate place of artistic freedom, to the deep thoughts and feelings of the protagonists, as well as of each talented team member, which I sensed in the powerful improvised and very sensitively directed and shooted film footage.
It was a bit like writing a surreal poem, trying to piece it together and then take it apart again.
In this way it showed me that gaps, supposed ‘mistakes’, fragility and the seeming absence of narration can sometimes tell more and be stronger in telling a story.
This work of editing ultimately brought me to my way of editing.
DIRECTED & SCREENPLAY BY OLIVER ADAM KUSIO
PRODUCER SIMON B. STEIN
CINEMATOGRAPHER MARCO MÜLLER
EDITOR ANNA-LENA ENGELHARDT
PRODUCTION DESIGNER FANNY WELZ
GAFFER JAKOB REINHARDT
SOUND DESIGNER & MUSIC BY AZADEH ZANDIEH
PRODUCTION FILMUNIVERSITÄT BABELSBERG
ACTRESS ELA KAROLINA ROMUK-WODORACKA
ACTOR KUBA BARTOSZ SAK
