room: Broadway

admission: 15/20 PLN, buy a ticket online or at DK Kadr

How do childhood events affect our adult lives? How to reach the most closely guarded family secrets? Kamila Tarabura – awarded at the Warsaw Film Festival director, creator of the critically acclaimed series 'Absolute Beginners' – tries to answer these questions in her feature film debut, which will compete for the Sapphire Lions statuette at the 49th Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia.

'Essential Things' is a story about the search for one's own identity, inspired by the moving report 'Mokradełko' by Katarzyna Surmiak-Domańska, whose protagonists are Ada and Roksana, played by Dagmara Domińczyk, a Polish star of the global hit 'Succession,' and Katarzyna Warnke, who is also a co-author of the script. The artistic supervision of the project was taken over by Agnieszka Holland.

In the hands of Ada, a recognized journalist living in Hamburg, a mysterious package arrives. It is a book with the memoirs of a woman who was molested in childhood by her father, written under a pseudonym, with a personal dedication for Ada. The journalist decides to meet the author, who turns out to be her former schoolmate – Roksana. Together they embark on a journey to the town where they grew up, to confront Roksana's mother, a silent witness to her childhood hell. However, upon arrival, it turns out that the mother fiercely guards family secrets, maintaining the image of an ideal husband and family. Ada decides to describe this complicated and intriguing story in a report, although for her, the topic of Roksana is not the most important one in the journey. She also has to come to terms with the demons of her past – they prevent her from moving forward in her relationship with her partner, with whom she is in advanced pregnancy. The emotions between the protagonists intensify, and Ada finds it increasingly difficult to maintain distance and assess what is a lie and what is the truth.

Genre: Drama

Production: Poland 2024

Directed by: Kamila Tarabura ('Absolute Beginners')<br
Cast: Dagmara Domińczyk ('Succession', 'Priscilla'), Katarzyna Warnke ('All This Sex', 'Women of the Mafia'), Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik ('Forst', 'Feedback'), Piotr Żurawski ('Wataha', 'King'), Andrzej Konopka ('Peasants', 'White Courage')<br
Duration: 105 minutes