Sarha
Dir. Jaśmina Wójcik / Poland / 2021 / 13’ / Warsaw premiere
Section:
New Faces
Director: Jaśmina Wójcik
Cinematography: Jakub Wróblewski
Editing: Jaśmina Wójcik
Sound: Jaśmina Wójcik, Krzysztof Sokół
Featuring: Zoja Wróblewska, Lea Wróblewska
Producers: Jaśmina Wójcik, Jakub Wróblewski
Production: Jaśmina Wójcik, Jakub Wróblewski
World sales: Jaśmina Wójcik, Jakub Wróblewski
Language: Polish
OPIS
OPIS
“To go on a sarha was to roam freely, at will, without restraint… The verb form of the word means to let the cattle out to pasture early in the morning, leaving them to wander and graze at liberty The commonly used noun sarha is a colloquial corruption of the classical word. A man going on a sarha wanders aimlessly, not restricted by time and place, going where his spirit takes him to nourish his soul and rejuvenate himself. But not any excursion would qualify as a sarha. Going on a sarha implies letting go. It is a drug-free high, Palestinian style.”
Raja Shehadeh, “Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape”
The Middle East, Palestine, the Holy Land - for the Polish artists Jaśmina Wójcik and Kuba Wróblewski, these are intense and mystical places. They wanted to share this experience with their little daughters. The two sisters observe Palestine without prejudice, with childlike curiosity and openness. They speak straightforwardly about the conflict they were directly confronted with. They build their own worlds, they stop and contemplate a nature that is so different from the one they know. The parents-artists accompany them on this adventure, trying to see the world through their daughters’ eyes. The journey continues to resonate even when they return to Poland - in conversations and memories.
The film was produced during an artist residency in Palestine as a part of the project “Everyday Forms of Resistance”, realized in collaboration between the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art and the city of Ramallah, with the support of the Capital City of Warsaw.
FESTIVALS AND AWARDS
New Horizons International Film Festival, Film and Art Festival Two Riversides
DIRECTOR
Jaśmina Wójcik
A visual artist, director, creator of participatory and socially engaged artistic activities. In her practice, she gives back the agency to those who are less heard or wouldn’t have been heard otherwise. Co-editor of the book “Sztuka ze społecznością” (“Art With Community”, 2018) centred around her most known and long-standing project at the site of the former Ursus Agro-Mechanical Industry, where she collaborated with former factory workers. The collaboration culminated in her praised feature-length documentary “Ursus Factory Symphony” (2018). Since several years she has been involved in designing alternative educational practices focused on children’s expressions. Through those practices, she gives agency and subjectivity to children, considering them to be equals in the creative process and valued partners in discussion. Recently, Wójcik has been focusing on grassroots educational practices which led up to the creation of her new film based on Janusz Korczak’s novel “King Matt the First” (“Król Maciuś Pierwszy”).
GALLERY
PARTNER ORGANIZATION