The Hamlet Syndrome

Director: Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski

Country: Poland, Germany

Year of production: 2022

Duration: 85 min

Subject:

Human dignity
Human rights

Audience:

Students
Pupils
Employees of penitentiary system
Institutions of the state penitentiary system of Ukraine
Teachers
Journalists
Activists / NGOs

Inclusive component:

Sound description
Audio description

A few months prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, five young women and men participate in a unique stage production that attempts to relate their war experiences to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. For each of them, the stage is a platform to express their grief and trauma through the famous question, “to be or not to be,” a dilemma that applies to their own lives. The protagonists fight against disappointment, powerlessness, and anger, trying to put their lives back in order while processing their painful past: SLAVIK, who went through a hell of war and captivity as a soldier, KATYA, who longs for her mother’s forgiveness for joining the army, RODION, who escaped from Donbas and is now facing growing homophobia, ROMAN, who is still struggling with the traumatic memories of his war experience as a paramedic on the battlefield, and Oxana who struggles on an artistic frontline as an actress. The rehearsals for the play are combined with an intense glimpse into the characters' lives: a powerful portrait of a generation coping with the trauma of war which, after Russia's invasion, is now their present and future alike.

director

Elwira Niewiera

Elwira Niewiera is a Polish/German director and screenwriter of the well-known documentary films Domino Effect, The Prince and the Dybbuk and The Hamlet Syndrome. Winner of many international awards, among others Grand Prix Semaine de la Critique for the Best Film at 75th Locarno Film Festival, Best Documentary on Cinema at the 74th Venice Film Festival, Polish Film Academy Award for Best Documentary, Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig Film Festival, Young German Cinema Award 2019 and the American Chicken & Egg Award 2021. In her artistic work, she focuses primarily on political, social and cultural transformations in Eastern Europe. Elwira is a member of the European Film Academy.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY

Bulgarian Stories (2007), Domino Effect (2014), The Prince and the Dybbuk (2017), The Hamlet Syndrome (2022)

Piotr Rosołowski

Piotr Rosołowski is a Polish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer based in Berlin. He graduated from the Katowice Film School and was awarded an Academy of Media Arts scholar-ship in Cologne. Piotr co-directed together with Elwira Niewiera already three successful feature documentaries: Domino Effect prized at the Krakow Film Festival and DOK Leipzig, The Prince and the Dybbuk awarded with the Lion for Best Documentary on Cinema at the 74th Venice Film Festival, and The Hamlet Syndrome honored with Grand Prix Semaine de la Critique at the 75th Locarno Film Festival. Piotr also works as a director of photography, he shot many awarded feature and short films, among them: On the line dir. Reto Caffi - Academy Award-nominated short fiction, Rabbit a la Berlin dir. Bartek Konopka — Academy Award-nominated short documentary, and The wall of Shadows dir. Eliza Kubarska — nominated for the German Camera Award and honored with the annual prize of the Polish Society of Cinematographers.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY

Bulgarian Stories (2007), Domino Effect (2014), The Prince and the Dybbuk (2017), The Hamlet Syndrome (2022)