The Hamlet Syndrome by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski claimed the Grand Prix Semaine de la Critique award for best film and the Boccalino d'Oro Independent Critics’ Award for best documentary.
The publicity materials for the film describe it as an insight into “the young Ukrainian generation scarred by war and political breakthroughs.”
The starting point is the preparation for a play based on the motifs of Shakespeare's Hamlet, which, combined with an intense glimpse into the lives of the characters, creates a powerful portrait of a generation having to confront their war trauma and tackle the painful past, which now after Russia's invasion of Ukraine becomes their present and future alike.
Life, theatre and cinema blend into one for a moment, turning into a thrilling psychodrama.
Niewiera and Rosołowski wrote on Facebook: ”We dedicate both awards to all Ukrainians who suffer in the aftermath of the Russian invasion.”
Before the film’s screening in Locarno, they displayed, in front of the festival audience, banners reading "Solidarity with Ukraine," "Stop bombing Ukraine," "Russia – a country of terrorists," and "Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes."
The Hamlet Syndrome is a Polish-German co-production that was made with support from the Polish Film Institute and broadcaster Canal+ Polska.
Earlier this year, the film earned four prizes at the International Film Festival in Kraków, southern Poland.
The other Polish full-length documentary singled out for praise at Locarno is Pisklaki (Fledglings) by Lidia Duda.
The production won the Marco Zucchi Award for the most innovative film in terms of image and cinematic language.
According to the film’s website, its protagonists are “imaginative and spirited Zosia, sensitive and self-conscious Oskar, and independent, but shy Kinga, who start their first year at the boarding school for visually impaired and blind children. Like fledglings, the seven-year-olds are too young to leave home. Facing the difficult separation from their parents, they try to support each other.”
The film is described as “a journey into the world of children's inner life, compassion, sensibility, artistic expression and force of character," a "world in which the support and closeness of another child is like oxygen, which carries them through the hardest moments.”
(mk/gs)