Communion

In her film debut, filmmaker and anthropologist Anna Zamecka places her camera right in the middle of the family of Ola, a teenage girl who almost singlehandedly cares for her little brother Nikodem and her alcoholic father. Her mother is completely out of the picture, as she moved in with her new boyfriend some time ago. Ola is forced to grow up extremely fast, and Nikodem’s autism doesn’t make her role as surrogate parent any easier. In spite of it all, she hasn’t given up the hope of a better future. As Nikodem’s First Communion approaches – and he wonders why greed is a sin, even getting into an argument about this with a priest in one fantastic scene – Ola strives to reunite the family. A tragic, in parts humorous and even cautiously optimistic portrait of two children left completely to their own devices, and an ode to the incredible strength of a combative fourteen-year-old girl.