WHEN I AM A BIRD

KIEDY BĘDĘ PTAKIEM

MuLa lives in a Thai village by the Burmese border. She is from the Kajan people and her neck is adorned with characteristic gold neck rings. Her life has not been easy as she had to leave her native Burma and seek refuge in Thailand while her only daughter stayed home. MuLa makes her living selling souvenirs to tourists but the family’s financial situation is very difficult. Monika Pawluczuk’s documentary captures the woman’s struggle with her depressing fate and her unquenchable longing for a better life.

FILM REPRESENTED BY THE KRAKOW FILM FOUNDATION

  • Genre: Dokumentalny
  • Country: Poland
  • Running time: 28
  • Year: 2013

Director: Monika Pawluczuk

Script: Monika Pawluczuk

DOP: Wojciech Staroń, Paweł Chorzępa

Editing: Leszek Molski, Marcin Latanik

Production company: Wajda Studio

About the director:

Monika Pawluczuk

Monika Pawluczuk

author of documentaries: "When I Am A Bird", "Models", "So You Should Change",  radio and television journalist, now she is in the course of filming her next documentary film with the working title "Before the Dawn". She is the co-author (with Katarzyna Miller) of a book, translated into several languages, titled "Being A Woman and Not Going Crazy". She is a cultural studies graduate at the American Studies Center at Warsaw University, a journalism department graduate at the Journalism Centre in Warsaw, and a DOC PRO Documentary Programme graduate at the Wajda School. 

At festivals:

53rd Krakow Film Festival, Poland, 2013 (competition)

13. T-mobile New Horizons, Poland, 2013 (competition)

DOK.Leipizg, Germany, 2013 (competition)

21st Camerimage International Film Festival, Poland, 2013 (competition)

FIDÉ Brazil - International Student Documentary Films Festival, Brasil, 2013 (competition)

International Film Festival Watch Docs - Human Rights in Film , 2013 (screening)

36. Films de Femmes de Creteil, 2014 (competition)

FIDE International Student FF, France, 2014 (competition)

Norwegian Documentary FF, Norway, 2014 (competition)

Chop Shots Documentary Film Festival - Southeast Asia, Indonesia, 2014 (screening)

Documenta Madrid, Spain, 2014 (competition)

TRT Documentary Awards, Turkey, 2014 (competition)

Festival of Migrant Film in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2014 (Special Mention)

28th Pärnu International Documentary and Antropological FF, Estonia, 2014 (competition)

11 Festival du Cinema de Brive, France, 2014 (competition)

12th International Festival Signes de Nuit, France, 2014 (Signs Award for Documentary)

11th Fresh Film Fest, Czech Republic, 2014 (Special Mention)

Szczecin European Film Festival, Poland/Germany, 2014 (The Award of the President of Szczecin for the Best Polish Competition Film)

Doku Bazaar Ljubljana IDFF, Slovenia, 2014 (competition)

9th DocsDF, Mexico, 2014 (competition)

ALTER-NATIVE 22 - International Short FF, Romania, 2014 (competition)

33rd Jean Rouch International Film Festival, France, 2014 (competition)

8 th "Cinema Verite" Iran IDFF, Iran, 2014 (screening)

25th Beeld voor Beeld Film Festival, The Netherlands, 2015 (competition)

3rd DOK Leipzig Lake Festival 2015, India, 2015 (competition)

Apricot Tree - International Ethno Film Fest 2015, Armenia, 2015 (Grand Prix)