Kwassa Kwassa Three Conversations on Life​ Matongé Through the Wall – Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art

directed by Tuan Andrew Nguyen and Superflex, Denmark/Vietnam 2015, 19'

Mayotte Island — a French enclave on the Indian Ocean – attracts residents from the neighboring islands dreaming of a better life. Kwassa Kwassa is the local name for small, rickety boats that are used for crossing the distance of several kilometers to the "European" enclave. We are observing people working laboriously, step by step building a boat that will carry them along with their dreams of new beginnings on a perilous journey.

[Trzy rozmowy o życiu], directed by Julia Staniszewska, Poland 2016, 25’

Julia Staniszewska decides to record three conversations with her mother regarding a very painful topic. It turns out that the same concepts, such as understanding, support and love, are understood very differently by the mother – a doctor and devout Catholic – than by the daughter – an agnostic, whose children came into the world via in vitro. The difficult questions posed by the daughter are disturbing the mother’s dogmas, which are influenced by the church, and the words of the mother differ greatly from the daughter's value system. Despite the passage of time between the conversations and the efforts made by both women, there is a lot of misunderstanding and pain between them. Only the appearance of the grandchildren brings joy and hope for consensus and peace to the film – not only for the director and her mother, but also for all the other mothers and daughters in Poland.

directed by Amadej Petan, Anatole Mandroyan, Elise Ooms, Luka Cvetko, Nuno Cristino Ribeiro, Belgium 2015, 13'

The customers at a tailor's store of "Madame Chapeau" are used to saying that its owner is a black woman with white skin. And indeed, although she is the last white Belgian woman running a boutique at the Gallery Ixelles in the Matongé district of Brussels, her skills are appreciated by both the Congolese and the Cameroonians who constitute the majority of the district's inhabitants. Ixelles is a place that, beyond Africans, is only visited by Belgians feeling nostalgic for time spent in Africa and the white participants of bus tours with a thirst for something exotic. Despite the somewhat anarchic atmosphere at the mall, Madame Chapeau never considered abandoning her store. She feels good there also because of her personal experiences connected with the place.

​directed by Tim Nackashi, USA 2016, 6’

Through the Wall is the story of a Mexican family of illegal migrants: while Uriel was deported to Mexico, Abril and their two-year-old son remained in the United States. Once in a while, they meet on a beach, at the border, where they are separated by a wall with thick bars that a finger could barely fit through. Tim Nackashi captures one of these meetings—reminiscent of a prison visit—in his film. Although the documentary lasts only a few minutes, its emotional impact will remain with you for a long time.