Tomasz Śliwiński’s lucky streak continues, and the number of awards won by his film grows from week to week to become more and more imposing. Last weekend, Śliwiński’s documentary “Our Curse,” won another two awards and a special mention.
The film is one of this year’s award-winners of two American festivals: Woodstock Film Festival and Heartland Film Festival. The jury of the short documentary competition at the first of the aforementioned festivals, consisting of: Leon Gast, Emily Rothschild and Todd Wider named “Our Curse” the best film in this section and honoured it with the Diane Seligman Award for Best Short Documentary. At the second festival, the documentary by Śliwiński won Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Award. In addition, “Our Curse” was given a special mention in the Best International Short Film category at the Indie Cork festival in Ireland.
"Our Curse" is a personal confession of the director, who, together with his wife, has to face a very rare, incurable disease of their new-born child – Ondine's Curse (congenital central hypoventilation syndrome, CCHS). People afflicted with this disease stop breathing during sleep and require life-long use of respirator to support their respiratory functions. The director documents the first months of his family's life after the birth of the child. At the beginning, the boy is still in hospital, but soon comes home with the entire medical equipment, necessary for his life. The film shows the process of getting accustomed to the fear related to this disease and the gradual adaptation to this new situation.
The full list of the winners of the Woodstock Film Festival can be found here, of Heartland Film Festival – here, and of Indie Cork festival – here.