The Fence

Poland2022fiction26'Konkurs polski (2022)

In subtle semi-darkness, among mist and soft photos, a drama between tenderness and enmity, understatement and the absence of acceptance, the desire to change and the need of overcoming fear unravels. In the provinces, Michał has been running a small stud farm on his own since his father’s death. But he is visited by a guest who destroys the fence at night. Are these wild bores or the wind? But none can walk with torches and make so much noise. The director and cameraman, Tomasz Wolski, tells his ballad story with the subtlety of a documentary filmmaker. Observing events from a distance, sometimes in long shots, he is building up psychological suspense in opposition to what Ingmar Bergman proposed in his works. Longs shots can be as effective as close-ups.

directed by: Tomasz Wolski
Film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor. He was born in 1977. He is a graduate of Journalism at the Jagiellonian University and of a documentary course from the Wajda School. He has taken part in the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Berlin Today Award. He has made several documentaries, which include The Clinic (2006), "The Lucky Ones" (2009), "Doctors" (2011), "The Palace" (2012), "Not for Everyone" (2012), "Festival" (2017) and "An Ordinary Country" (2020, the winner of the Golden Hobby Horse at the 60KFF). As a editor he has worked with Sergei Loznitsa on his documentaries "Babi Yar. Context" and "The Kiev Trial". He is a co-director (with Piotr Pawlus) of "In Ukraine" which premiered at Berlinale in 2023. A member of the Polish Filmmakers Association, Polish and European Film Academies, and since 2024, a member of the Council of the Polish Film Institute.
cinematography: Tomasz Wolski
script: Anna Gawlita, Tomasz Wolski
cast: Juliusz Chrząstowski, Adam Szyszkowski, Łucja Wolska, Marcel Wolski, Andrzej Wolski, Joanna Lipińska – Wolska, Martyna Józwowska, Henryk Borkowski
sound: Anna Gawlita, Enrico Zavatta
editing: Tomasz Wolski
production: Anna Gawlita (KIJORA FILM sp. z o.o.)
Photo