ZIELONA GRANICA / GREEN BORDER

In the 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 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.

AGNJEŠKA HOLAND / AGNIESZKA HOLLAND

Agnieszka Holland (Warsaw, 1948) is a Polish film director and scriptwriter. After graduating from FAMU in Prague in 1971, Holland returned to Poland to work as an assistant director of Krzysztof Zanussi and with Andrzej Wajda in his film studio. She wrote several scripts with Wajda before directing her own films, which were soon winning awards at festivals. She soon gained notoriety as part of the Polish New Wave. Her first feature film was Provincial Actors (1978) won of the International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Subsequently, she made the films Fever (1981). She has gained worldwide renown for such films as Angry Harvest (1985), nominated for the Oscar for foreign language film, and Europa, Europa (1990) also received a Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay. Also collaborated with her friend Krzysztof Kieslowski on the screenplay of his trilogy Three Colours (1993). Holland’s other films include To Kill Priest (1988), Oliver, Oliver (1992), The Secret Garden (1993), Total Eclipse (1995), The Third Miracle (1999), In Darkness (2011, again nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film), Spoor (2017) and Charlatan (2020). She was elected for a President of European Film Academy in 2021.

Reveiws:

A gripping account of the inhumanity and depravity that ensues when those fleeing persecution are made political pawns.

Jessica Kiang, Variety

 

The suffering in Green Border is painfully palpable.

Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter