The film about an artist living in a Polish province redraws the boundaries of coexistence

Nothing is anonymous when living in a rural community. Contemporary Polish artist Daniel Rycharski has nothing to hide - his neighbors accept his public art, together they protest against wild boars destroying crops, pray together on Sundays, and the fact that he is gay seems to be of no concern to anyone. When a disaster occurs in the village, the boundaries of coexistence are redrawn.

The feature film All Our Fears by Polish directors Łukasz Ronduda and Łukasz Gutt tells about this real episode of the artist's life. The drama, which was selected as the best film at the Gdynia Film Festival and received seven nominations at the summer Polish Film Awards, from June 10. shown by Lithuanian cinemas.

 

Village street artist

D. Rycharskis is called the pioneer of rural street art. It all started with a mural depicting a hybrid animal, which the artist painted on his grandparents' house. Imaginary creatures lurking in the local forests have piqued the interest of the locals. Many wanted similar designs on their sheds. This is how a kind of outdoor gallery appeared, decorating the walls of stables, barns, and bus stops. The artist's works are presented in the galleries of big cities, he has won several awards.

"I am homosexual. I live in a small town. I am a Christian. Conceptualist, teacher and doctoral student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Szczecin. I can perform all these functions and at the same time be 100% Polish," - this is how the artist introduces himself, emphasizing that different people can coexist in modern Poland, although there is a lot of hostility in the country.

A reflection of modern society

As is typical of Polish cinema, "All our fears" is a sharp look at contemporary Polish society, which perfectly reflects our Lithuanian reality.

The film surprises from the first shots, when the main character Daniel, played by Dawid Ogrodnik, appears on the screen. He prays fervently, wears a tracksuit decorated with rainbow stripes (Daniel's grandmother calls the stripes "elbebets"), a cross dangles on his chest, and the element of the rosary in his hands are Xanax pills. Daniel drives a motorcycle, is an active member of the community and participates in a rally in which the village wants to draw the attention of the authorities to the fact that wild boars are terrorizing their fields. Daniel lives with his grandmother, but longs for his father who rejected him. In the barn, he creates beautiful chickens that immediately go to exhibitions. Daniel loves and is loved, even though his lover is afraid to admit that he is gay. At the beginning of the film, it seems that it is already too ideal, but life soon destroys the idyll.

After a teenage girl commits suicide in the town, the community finds a scapegoat - the artist Daniel. On the screen, we watch how the relations between the villagers change.

Most of the film was shot in the Lithuanian town of Punskas, whose community, according to the creators, well understands what it means to be a minority. Residents of this region allowed filming in their surroundings, lent props, and filmed themselves as extras.

"All our fears" at Romuva Cinema from June 10.

Skip to content