Zielona granica / Green Border

Agnieszka Holland: Zielona granica / Green Border (PL/FR/CZ/BE 2023).

Venezia 80 Competition

2023

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Production: Metro Films (Marcin Wierzchosławski), Astute Films (Fred Bernstein), Metro Lato (Agnieszka Holland), Blick Productions (Maria Blicharska-Lacroix, Damien McDonald), Marlene Film Production (Šárka Cimbalová), Beluga Tree (Diana Elbaum, David Ragonig), dFlights (Dominika Kulczyk), Downey Ink. (Mike Downey)

152’

Languages: Polish, Arabic, English, French

Countries: Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium

Cast: Jalal Altawil, Maja Ostaszewska, Tomasz Włosok, Behi Djanati Atai, Mohamad Al Rashi, Dalia Naous

Screenplay: Maciej Pisuk, Gabriela Łazarkiewicz-Sieczko, Agnieszka Holland

Cinematographer: Tomasz Naumiuk

Editor: Pavel Hrdlička

Production Designer: Katarzyna Jędrzejczyk

Costume Designer: Katarzyna Lewińska

Music: Frédéric Vercheval

Sound: Roman Dymny

In collaboration with (Direction): Kamila Tarabura, Katarzyna Warzecha

    Song: "Mourir mille fois" (Youssoupha).

    Sous-titres francais Isabelle Warolin (tbc).

    Viewed at UGC Danton, 99, bd Saint-Germain, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Métro Odéon, 75006 Paris, 10 Feb 2024

SYNOPSIS (Venice Film Festival)

" In the treacherous and swampy forests that make up the so called “green border” between Belarus and Poland, refugees from the Middle East and Africa trying to reach the European Union are trapped in a geopolitical crisis cynically engineered by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. In an attempt to provoke Europe, refugees are lured to the border by propaganda promising easy passage to the EU. Pawns in this hidden war, the lives of Julia, a newly minted activist who has given up her comfortable life, Jan, a young border guard, and a Syrian family intertwine. 30 years after Europa Europa, three-time Oscar Nominee Agnieszka Holland’s poignant new feature Zielona granica opens our eyes, speaks to the heart, and challenges us to reflect on the moral choices that fall to ordinary people every day. "

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

" We live in a world where it takes great imagination and courage to face all the challenges of modern times. The social media revolution and artificial intelligence have made it increasingly difficult for genuine voices to be heard. In my opinion, there is no point in engaging in art if one doesn’t fight for that voice, if one doesn’t fight to ask questions about important, painful, sometimes unsolvable issues that put us before dramatic choices. This is exactly the situation that’s happening on the Polish-Belarusian border. "

UGC opening announcements: 

Respecter:

- Sa place

- Ses voisins

- L'oeuvre

- L'environment

Vous êtes loin d'avoir tout vu.

AA: Having become a key director in prestige television drama including The Wire, Treme, and House of Cards, Agnieszka Holland continues directing high profile theatrical films. After major historical dramas about Stalinian imperialism (Mr. Jones / L'Ombre de Staline and Šarlatán / Le Procès de l'herboriste) she turns to the contemporary Putin-Lukashenko imperialism in Green Border, a devastating epic about the weaponization of the Syrian refugee crisis against the European Union.

We meet a number of dramatis personae: smugglers, refugees, the border guard, the activists, and bystanders, some of which are committed to help (Julia), and others who refuse engagement.

The movie starts in green with a view of the forest borderland, only to be reduced to black and white for the rest of the duration. This is fiction, but the often handheld cinematography aspires to the condition of candid camera.

This is a tale of immense complexity. To help the asylum seeker is a fundamental humanitarian duty, known since Hesiod as philoxenia. But the weaponization of refugees is a cruel trap designed by Putin and Lukashenko to destabilize the European Union.

Holland tells the epic tale in unflinching scenes. Her approach is that of a matter-of-fact statement. Refugees being shuffled from Belarus to Poland and back again fifteen times, suffering from hunger and hypothermia in the forest. Children drowning in the mud. An old man beaten to death. The attitude of the border guards on both sides: callous, cynical, vicious and murderous. There is an absence of dignity.

A light of hope emerges in the work of the activists, who cannot interfere but can provide humanitarian aid (food, drink, medication, clothing), documentation and support in asylum applications. Towards the end there is also a hopeful sequence with refugees joining Polish youngsters in singing "Mourir mille fois".

In the end credits we learn that 30.000 refugees have died trying to reach Europe since the Syrian refugee crisis began in 2014. Two million Ukrainian refugees have been let to Poland without harassment. Putin is responsible for the Ukrainian crisis and has a major responsibility in the Syrian crisis. Since 2023, Putin is weaponizing refugees on the Finnish border, too.

Agnieszka Holland conveys unforgettably the humanitarian catastrophe that is about to grow tenfold and hundredfold.