How much would you be willing to do for love? Is a beach trip along the Baltic Sea to save a relationship a sacrifice or madness? The characters in Maria Zbąska’s film are charming, crazy, unpredictable and, after the audience’s reactions, I even dare to say that they are a mirror in which many people look through and find scenes from their lives in this picture. This is not an idealized film, which are not hard to come by these days – it is at times a brutally honest story about a life that not even so much that could have happened, but happens in every real relationship every day, bit by bit. And that’s what we like it for.

I love authorial cinema, where the filmmaker even melts with the project and sells us his whole heart to give us the story he loved so much. Maria Zbąska is just such a filmmaker. It’s Not My Film is very much her film – she was responsible for the direction, screenplay and cinematography in it. This makes it all so coherent, so true, and it feels like it flows from what’s in her soul. She wrote an excellent text, created a fantastic story for us, which she painted beautifully. The portrait of Wanda and Janek is very intimate and, despite the long beaches of the Baltic Sea, close as the space between the sleeping bags in the tent. It is so real that at times we feel a bit like persistent voyeurs of someone’s private life

Zofia Chabiera and Marcin Sztabinski’s on-screen relationship is downright mesmerizing. How skillfully they played Wanda and Janek is speechless and causes a mighty gulp in the throat from emotion. We root for their characters to finally get along with each other, because we believe that what they have in common is truly special. And even when things don’t quite go smoothly, when they seem to be losing patience with each other, when that bitten cable of theirs doesn’t charge and the radio hums too much, somewhere deep down we feel that they will find their way to each other. That they are made for each other.

And finally, this Baltic, which on the one hand is the background, and on the other hand is a hero. It reflects to us a relationship that is once flat, shallow, calm, and at other times agitated, foggy, stormy. He witnesses the story, which he also influences, as the weather tests the protagonists – throwing waves under their feet to bring them closer together. It’s not hard to be happy together when the sun is shining. The real art is to be with each other despite everything.

I have only one huge regret about this film – I’m convinced that every time I order fries with a view of the sea in my hometown again, they will have a bittersweet taste, because the images from It’s Not My Film will accompany me until the last bite. Mrs. Maria, you look so beautiful – please do more!

The film “This Is Not My Film” (directed by Maria Zbąska) to be screened at the 18th Mastercard OFF CAMERA as part of the Main Competition “Making Way”.

Screening list:

• 01/05/2025 | 15:00 | ASP Auditorium | Academy of Fine Arts

Q&A meeting with the filmmakers will take place during the film’s screening on May 1 at 15:00 at the Academy of Fine Arts.
Q&A in Polish.

The screening takes place in the ASP cinema, which is equipped with an induction loop for the hearing and hearing-impaired.

Kinga Majchrzak