Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.06.2019, Síða 38

The Virtual
Village
Pawel Ziemilski’s ingenious documentary
‘In Touch’ reunites fractured families
Words: Josie Gaitens Photos: Movie still
Documentary
‘In Touch’ won the Jury’s Prize at the
Skjaldborg Film Festival 2019. Get
more info at skjaldborg.is
The Skjaldborg Film Festival took
place in Patreksfjörður this June
for the 13th year running. The doc-
umentary festival is a place for the
great and good
o f I c e l a n d i c
filmmaking to
get together, as
well as a mec-
ca for mov ie
fans, with the
films screened
for free in the
town’s cinema.
The winner
of the coveted
jury’s prize this
year was Polish director Pawel
Ziemilski, for his poignant and
artistic portrayal of the fractured
community of Stare Juchy in
Northern Poland. 400 inhabitants
of this village—something like a
quarter of the population—now
live in Iceland.
Sense of isolation
The documentary, ‘In Touch,’ is a
unique viewing experience. The
film shows individuals watching
and interacting with ingenious-
ly projected footage of their dis-
tant family members as if they
were together—for example, by
hugging, walking “together,” or
saving shots from each other at a
simulated football practice. This
briefly brings the residents of this
divided town back together for
a heart-breakingly fleeting mo-
ment.
In the director’s own words,
this rejoining created a “virtual
village,” which
is accompanied
by recordings
of the individ-
uals speaking
via Skype. As
we watch these
ph a nt om i n-
t e r a c t i o n s ,
we hear out of
sync conversa-
tions—a stylis-
tic choice that’s
incredibly effective in evoking the
sense of isolation between the in-
dividuals.
The outcome is a haunting
and moving affair. In one scene,
an older Polish woman in her
shirtsleeves wanders around her
garden at night, staring out at a
snowy Reykjavík that gleams all
around, enveloping her and her
surroundings. In another, a young
woman in Iceland steps out of her
house in full weather-proof gear,
animatedly showing an invisible
family member around her neigh-
bourhood. As she walks out of
view the shot switches to show the
person she is speaking to watch-
ing the footage projected onto a
huge school gym wall, their tiny
figure dwarfed by that of their be-
loved, who is marching away from
them towards a cold sea.
The company of family
Surprisingly, this key stylistic
choice—the very essence of the
film—was not decided on until
very late in the filmmaking pro-
cess. “I made this film over al-
most six years and probably the
first four years were just trying
different stuff,” explains Pawel. “I
really believe that in a documen-
tary film you need some kind of
an exchange. It’s not just that you
find a good story and you tell that
story. It’s more like, you find a sto-
ry, you find characters—but then
you have to find a way to give them
something back.”
What Pawel gives them back is
a chance to be once again in the
company of their family. You can
tell how much this means to the
characters in the film by the way
they interact with the projections,
often physically reaching out to
touch them.
In one of the most affecting
scenes of the film, an old man lies
on his bed, watching a projection
of his very young granddaugh-
ter trying to fall asleep in hers.
“You’re sleepy, aren’t you?” he says
quietly, to the image of the tired
child lighting up his wall. “Kin-
ia, honey, will you sleep now?” He
gently sings the girl a lullaby, as if
he has completely forgotten about
the trickery involved in making
the scene possible. And, for just a
second, we do, too.
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Distant family members interact across space and borders
“Pawel has briefly
brought the resi-
dents of this divided
town back together
for a heart-break-
ingly fleeting
moment.”
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