The documentary film “In Touch” was shown at the Skjadborg Film Festival in the Main Competition and was given The Spotlight, Skjadborg’s Grand Jury Prize. The film was appreciated by the jury for creating its own language to tell a complex story in a touching way. According to the jurors, the director used the possibilities of the film medium in a perfect way in order to make the audience realize the essential elements of our culture, of which we are not aware during our everyday lives.
“In Touch” is a Polish-Icelandic co-production, telling the story of the Masurian village Stare Juchy, from which over four hundred inhabitants emigrated to Iceland at the beginning of the 1980s. It is more than a half of the entire community. The collective emigration of the part of the population contributed to the emergence of an extraordinary bond between this faraway island and the provincial part of Masuria. Those who left began their new lives. Those who remained — mostly the representatives of the older generation — still hope that their loved ones return to Poland. The long distance between the members of the broken families does not enable them to stay in direct contact. The only alternative which remains in this situation is to meet in the virtual world. The film, through its innovative method using the screenings and recordings of the Skype conversations, tries to capture how freedom, openness to the world, mobility and modern technology influence the re-evaluation of perceiving yourself and your loved ones and redefine the importance of the other person’s physical presence.
You can read more about the festival on the website.