Arabic Secret
One who doesn’t have roots won’t be able to grow wings – a documentary film about a man tracking his origins to the Middle East and trying to establish a connection with his father, whom he have never met before. Read more below.
ABOUT FILM
DIRECTOR'S BIO
PRODUCER'S BIO
CREDITS
SCREENINGS AND AWARDS
ABOUT FILM
One who doesn’t have roots won’t be able to grow wings – a documentary film about a man tracking his origins to the Middle East and trying to establish a connection with his father, whom he have never met before.
Imagine you are 35 years old and you haven’t met your own father yet. Moreover, the man who gave life to you, in the Middle East region is a star as famous as Bono from U2. What would you do if you had a chance to get to know your father and confront your ideas about him? Kamil, the protagonist, decided to take the last shot to reach Ilham Al Madfai and look him in the eyes. It is a universal story of finding the courage to confront the past in order to be able to face the future.
56 minutes in Polish with English subtitles
DIRECTOR'S BIO
Julia Groszek
A documentary and short fiction movies director, Julia Groszek is a graduate of the DOK PRO documentary course in Wajda School in Warsaw.
Her work focuses on the search for peoples’ identity. “Dodge’s Palace”, her first movie explores the male community of railway workers in Romania and their sense of self defined by their home-away-from-home. A short movie “Fairground Revenge” made within 48 Hour Film Project
won the awards for the best use of genre and for best cinematography. Julia holds a Master degree in Humanities and speaks 4 languages.
PRODUCER'S BIO
Wajda School & Studio was created in 2001 by Andrzej Wajda and Wojciech Marczewski with a mission to provide professional training to Polish and international filmmakers on a master level. Thanks to the close co-operation and support from the Polish Film Institute Wajda Studio produced over 70 documentaries, short features directed by our graduates and over 300 school films awarded and recognized at numerous international film festivals. With a strong focus on local and cross country co-production, in 2012 Wajda Studio produced its first full feature international co-production “Sanctuary”, a joint project with Ireland directed by Nora McGettigan. In 2013 Wajda Studio Produced “Joanna”, a documentary that went to be one of the most awarded Polish productions of the decade and an Academy Award nominee for “Best Short Subject” in 2015. Wajda Studio’s new production “The Performer” directed by Maciej Sobieszczański and Łukasz Ronduda premiered international at IFF Rotterdam 2015 and IFF Berlin 2015, where it received the THINK: FILM AWARD.
CREDITS
Director/Screenplay:
Julia Groszek
Photography:
Bolek Kielak
Editor:
Hubert Pusek
Music:
Wojciech Błażejczyk, Ilham Al Madfai
Producers:
Zuzanna Król, Wajda School & Studio
Distributor:
LOGTV, LTD
SCREENINGS AND AWARDS
SCREENINGS AND AWARDS
• 1st LHI Film Festival – Competition – 2020, Spain
• FEST — New Directors / New Films Festival – Competition – 2018, Portugal
• Ismailia International Film Festival – 2018, Egypt – Jury Prize
• HumanDoc MFF, Nov 24-26, 2017, Warsaw, Poland – Grand Prix for the Best Polish
• Media Festival “Man in Danger” – 2017, Łódź, Poland – Award of the Polish Filmmakers Association Nationwide Film Art
• Festival Prowincjonalia – 2019, Września, Poland
• Solanin Film Festival – Competition – 2018, Nowa Sól, Poland
• Poland V Polish Film Festival BAP Cine – 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Argentina Off Cinema FF – Competition – 2018, Poznań, Poland
• Poland Rolan International Film Festival for Children and Young People – 2018, Yerevan, Armenia
• Cinema With Soul Festival – 2018, Warsaw, Poland
• Krakow Film Festival – National Competition – Premiere 2017, Poland
• Lubuskie Lato Filmowe – Competition – 2017, Łagów, Poland
• Ińskie Lato Filmowe – Competition – 2017, Poland
• Festival FilmOFFisko – 2017, Jastrzębie Zdrój, Poland
