Mr. Inkblot in Love & War

Poland2022documentary56'Panorama polskiego dokumentu (2022)

Can you survive a war and fail to notice it? Only powerful feelings can have such an effect – and that is how love influenced Jan Brzechwa. The writer fell in love with a hairdresser’s wife, but due to his Jewish roots and the wartime conditions, his feelings were put to the test. No able to pursue his love affair, he lived in solitude, which gave rise to timeless literature. When his life was in great danger, when he longed for Janina, Brzechwa created his most famous work, ‘Mr. Inkblot's Academy’ (Akademia Pana Kleksa). The director employs archival photos, numerous contributions of experts, fictionalised scenes and an extraordinary narrator to create a colourful documentary – a fairy tale about a poet in love.